BMW 507

Welcome (or welcome back, as some of you recently unsubscribed/subscribed again to this blog and I have to admit that I've lost track of some of you) to escala43, A.Sivianes, rosslann and Totò. Enjoy your visit(s) here!

A little history

The BMW 507 was another idea from the man who single-handedly made the small Volkswagen Beetle a huge yet unexpected success in America: Max Hoffmann. BMW having nothing more to offer in the U.S. than its baroque 501 and 502 models during the early Fifties, Hoffmann insistently requested a more appealing model for this particular market. BMW had increasing financial difficulties at the time and finally accepted, seeing its salvation in the potential American sales. The Bavarian company answered the call with not just one, but two new models: the elegant 503 coupe and convertible, and the striking 507 roadster. Both cars had been penned by Albrecht von Goertz.

Apart from its stylish body, the 507 tried to make good use of as many parts as possible from the existing BMW models, in order to keep production costs relatively low. Still, it was deemed necessary to enlarge the 2.6-litre light-alloy V8 engine on hand to 3.2-litre in order to reach the level of performance expected from such a car. Fed by two Solex carburettors, it was rated at 150 hp, propelling the 507 at 200 kph.

Alas, despite all the efforts from BMW’s engineers, the cost per unit of this wonderful automobile somehow got out of control. Mainly made from aluminium and other light alloys, the 507, which body was entirely hand-formed, would ultimately sell for about twice its intended price… A commercial success was hard to forecast and, though the car was an excellent image-builder, providing BMW still needed one, its maker could not afford more financial loses. Introduced in 1955, produced from 1956, the 507 retired three years later, simultaneously with its cousin the 503. Their combined production did not exceed a few hundred copies, which did nothing for the company but aggravating its problems. In the end, BMW was not saved by these supercars, but by their exact opposite, as the company started to produce under licence the tiny Isetta, the Italian bubble car.

About the models

Model: BMW 507
Year: 1955
Maker: Motor Max
Scale: 1/24
Distributed by: Motor Max
Acquired: brand new, in December 2005, in Manila, Philippines

Simple, even perhaps crude as Motor Max knows as to produce die-casts, but this time at least, it’s quite well assembled. One last remark: the windshield appears somewhat tall. My rating is 11/20.

















Model: BMW 507
Year: 1956
Maker: New Ray
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: New Ray, "Auto Model Kit" series
Acquired: brand new, in September 2003, in Manila, Philippines

New Ray also proposes this model, as poor as usual: 8/20.









Model: BMW 507
Year: 1957
Maker: Del Prado, or whoever builds models for Del Prado
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: M-Smart
Acquired: brand new, in February 2007, in Shenzhen, China

Finally, this die-cast has been offered by M-Smart, which actually got its hands on a stock on unsold Del Prado press models. And guess what? It is very well made for the price, accurate and fitted with good-looking wheels - only the headlights could have been much better. It deserves a 12/20.

Lamborghini Diablo

A little history

In 1985, Lamborghini decided to replace its most iconic automobile, the Countach. Temporarily dubbed Project 132, the new car was to reach 315 kph, establishing itself as one of the fastest cars in the world. On the outside, penning its body was entrusted once again to famed designer Marcello Gandini, to whom had been credited most Lamborghini designs up to then. Alas, development was slowed down by Lamborghini’s serious lack of funds. Having narrowly escaped a bankruptcy, the Sant’Agata company was still in poor shape by the Eighties. Then, Chrysler entered the stage. The American giant too had closely avoided its ruin, turning the tides around 1980 with successful vehicles such as the L-platform cars (Plymouth Horizon and Dodge Omni) then the K-Cars (Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aries). Though it had just sold its many branches overseas, it was willing to add a little prestige to its name by investing the cash it had lacked for so many years into the purchase of a reputed European auto maker.

Lamborghini’s takeover took place in 1987, and though the Italian company lost its independence in the process, it insured that it would have sufficient budget to complete its Project 132. This was achieved, but not without having Chrysler’s management interfere with the car’s development. Marcello Gandini’s radically angular body displeased the American executives, so Chrysler’s designers drew a heavily modified body for the car, which ended up being much more curved and rounded than intended. Dismayed, Gandini left with his drawings and put them to good use to create the Cizeta-Moroder V16T.

The new Lamborghini finally appeared in January 1990 at the Detroit motor show, under the name Diablo. Though its engine was the well-known 5.7-litre V12, this time rated at 492 hp, the car exceeded its initial goal and could reach an impressive 325+ kph. Compared to the departing Countach, the Diablo was also designed to be a much more comfortable GT and not solely a performance-oriented machine, so it came with a long list of optional equipments, though the base model remained relatively spartan.

The early Nineties were a time of severe competition in the supercars field, with many projects from both established companies and newcomers. Lamborghini could not afford to wait too long to update its Diablo, which was done in 1993 with the introduction of the VT. The new variant enjoyed an all-wheel-drive transmission which was based on the experience gleaned from the LM002 off-road vehicle, a new suspension, improved brakes, a new dashboard and a wide array of minor modifications. The car came standard with air-conditioning but, surprisingly, still had to wait for an ABS system.

The Lamborghini Diablo’s range was widely augmented during 1995. The year saw the introduction of a long-awaited VT Roadster, and a new version fitted with a conventional rear-wheel-drive transmission, the SV. Finally, after Chrysler sold Lamborghini to the VAG group, the Diablo was facelifted, receiving a front end treatment that was somewhat reminiscent of the Bugatti EB110, ironically another Marcello Gandini creation. It also gained a V12 engine enlarged to 6.0-litre and good for 550 hp, and a modified all-wheel-drive transmission… which wasn’t necessarily an improvement over the previous version. Under this latest guise, the Diablo was produced until 2001, when it was succeeded by the Lamborghini Murciélago.

About the model

Model: Lamborghini Diablo
Year: 1990
Maker: Maisto
Scale: 1/18
Distributed by: Maisto
Acquired: second hand with neither box nor stand, in April 2007, in Brive, France

This is a correct yet inexpensive model of the Diablo. Nothing extraordinary about it, and furthermore the thick plastic-made harnesses fitted to the seats somewhat spoil the passenger compartment, but still worth a 13/20 rating.











Model: Lamborghini Diablo
Year: 1990
Maker: Bburago
Scale: 1/24
Distributed by: Bburago
Acquired: second hand with neither box nor stand, in April 2007, in Brive, France

This die-cast is simple, even toy-ish perhaps, but correct enough and extremely cheap. Bburago has always had a problem with the width of its tyres, which the Italian brand represents much too wide, but it’s obviously not really an issue with this particular model. My rating is 10/20.







Model: Lamborghini Diablo VT
Year: 1993
Maker: Del Prado, or whoever builds models for Del Prado
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Del Prado through an unknown Japanese press series
Acquired: brand new, in December 2006, in Hong Kong, S.A.R.

Del Prado has offered a surprisingly agreeable model of the Diablo – this cannot be said of all die-casts proposed by the Italian distributor. This effort is certainly worth 12/20.

Maserati A6 road cars

Welcome to juanh, for whom I had in mind to make a Formula One post today... but I completely forgot about my initial plan, so here is something quite different.

A little history

Though its road cars are probably more renown today than its racing cars are, Maserati basically remained focused on competition for the first four decades of its history. Even if this dramatically changed after the introduction of the 3500GT in 1957, some road cars, closely related to the machines raced by the little factory, had already been produced in very small numbers since the end World War Two. This all started with the A6/1500, a small 1.5-litre car usually bodied by Pinin Farina. Though its six-cylinder engine was based on the machinery of the pre-war Maserati single-seaters, its power was down to a modest 65 hp, mostly due to the mandatory low-grade gasoline that was available – hardly easily, still – in the country at that time. Following its introduction at the 1947 Geneva motor show, the A6/1500 was produced in sixty-one copies until 1950, when the company seemed to distance itself from road-going automobiles to concentrate again on racing cars. This situation didn’t last and, at the Turin motor show in 1951, Maserati presented the A6G, based on the A6’s chassis, but fitted with a 100-hp 2-liter engine again based on a racing block. Unfortunately, the A6G’s design was too much dated and its engine still too modest despite its larger displacement to compete with Ferrari’s models, resulting in abysmal sales – no more than sixteen A6G were produced until 1954. For the anecdote, a Maserati light truck, the 550 cc or electrically-powered TM15, was also introduced at Turin in 1951 and didn’t really fare better, with only fifty-one being built until 1956 when the utility market was abandoned without regrets.

With its placid engine but excellent tubular chassis, the A6 soldiered on for a few more years. The A6G was succeeded at the 1954 Paris motor show by the more potent 150-hp A6G/2000. Just before this, five copies of the A6GCS/53 sportscar had been converted to a 170-hp Gran Turismo coupe fitted with a muscular Pinin Farina body, but these were the result of a private initiative rather than a venture from the factory. The A6G/2000 gave way to the much more ambitious Maserati 3500 GT in 1957, by which time its production number had reached the staggering figure of sixty...

About the model

Model: Maserati A6GCS/53 Berlinetta
Year: 1954
Maker: Ricko Ricko
Scale: 1/18
Distributed by: Ricko Ricko ref. 32151
Acquired: brand new, in March 2006, in Manila, Philippines

Ricko has tastefully reproduced one of the four coupes Pinin Farina built out of the A6GCS for Maserati’s dealer in Rome and occasional racing driver, Guglielmo Dei. My point of view is certainly debatable, but I’d like to think this is one of the most striking car ever penned by the famous Italian coachbuilder, allying in equal proportion feline beauty and brutal strength. The die-cast model is well worthy of the original, and deserves a good 14/20 rating.

Porsche 928

A little history

Introduced at the 1977 Geneva motor show, the 928 model was the second step of a plan to transmute Porsche from the traditional maker of rear-engine GTs to a producer of a range of more luxurious front-engine cars. It followed the 924 by two years and, at term, was to replace the 911, then perceived as reaching the limits of its potential. In the end, it would be the venerable model to survive all of its younger siblings.

When the 911 had replaced the 356 almost a decade and a half earlier, Porsche had had concerns about the whopping price of the newcomer, so much actually that it felt obliged to offer a cheaper alternative, the four-cylinder 912. The 928 again showed a steep increase in price over the 911, but this time, no other choice would be given to Porsche’s customers, apart from the traditional 911 itself. Right after the introduction of the front-engined, Audi-powered 924, the most faithful among Porsche’s fans were more than ever reluctant to accept a front-engine car as the company’s flagship. The choice of a water-cooled V8 didn’t help, either, nor did the hefty weight. The modern design was indeed elegant, but the choice of such odd pop-up headlights was debated by some. Overall, the large and luxurious car, which enjoyed a much forgiving handling than the tricky 911, seemed to aim at the North American market more than any other. The 928 started to sell rather poorly, at least by comparison with its maker’s expectations; this would never improve over time.

Soon enough it had to be admitted that the 928 would never be able to replace the 911. As a luxury coupe crowning Porsche’s range, it was a worthy automobile though, and enjoyed a long career. More and more equipment and constantly enlarged engines brought ever-increasing prices. If the sales of the original 4.5-litre, 240 hp cars were limited, those of the last 928 GTS, with their huge 5.4-litre, 350 hp V8 were almost anecdotic. The car was retired in 1995, and Porsche would not renew the experience of proposing a front-engine V8 car until the Cayenne, introduced seven years later.

About the model

Model: Porsche 928 S4
Year: 1986
Maker: High Speed
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: High Speed
Acquired: brand new, in May 2005, in Manila, Philippines

Crude when it comes to details, but well-proportioned interpretation of the slightly face-lifted 1987 model year 928: 10/20.

Ford GT40

Hard to keep it concise, but here is…

A little history

As the story goes, what would become the most successful American racing sportscar in history was born out of Ford’s resentment to having been turned down by Enzo Ferrari while attempting to purchase the old man’s famous company. Revenge would be sweet if the Dearborn giant could beat the Commendatore’s small outfit on its own grounds. Enzo Ferrari cherished endurance races above anything else, well above Formula One actually – this would be right where Ford would defy him. The clearly stated objective was to win the Le Mans 24 hours, in which Ferrari was triumphant since 1960.

Though Ford has huge resources at its disposal, it had absolutely no experience in sportscar racing. The American company therefore shopped for the most valuable partners available, recruting John Wyer, the team manager who had led the Aston Martin team to a brilliant victory at Le Mans in 1959 ahead of the Scuderia cars, and acquiring the services of Eric Broadley, Lola’s founder.

A few months before, Broadley had unveiled the Lola GT, a fibreglass coupe powered by a centrally-mounted engine – a V8 borrowed from the Ford Fairlane… Great promises were perceived in this sleek little car. Though Broadley refused to see Lola directly involved in Ford’s racing program, he accepted to personally cooperate on a short-term basis. Progressing at a high pace, the “Ford GT” project was already quite advanced when the Lola GT was entered at the 1963 Le Mans race, and though it ended up in smoke (literally), it was able to put up a potent demonstration beforehand, comforting Ford in its technical choices.

By the end of 1963, Broadley ended his direct involvement and the project was moved from Lola’s factory to a plant set up in Slough near London by a specially-created division of Fomoco, named Ford Advanced Vehicles. By the spring of 1964, the GT40 was ready to race.

Despite all of Ford’s efforts and investments, the beginnings of its touted sportscar were difficult. The GT40 was fast indeed, but all too often unable to reach the finishing line. After a dismal 1964 season, Ford installed Carroll Shelby, of A.C.-Cobra fame, at the helm. Things slightly improved, a GT40 winning at Daytona early in the season, but failing again in most other major events. Ferrari remained victorious, and the American effort started to raise some smiles in the Old World.

For 1966, a new GT40 Mk.II was unveiled. Thanks to this improved version, benefiting from a huge 7-litre engine, fortune started to smile at Ford. The Mk.II dominated the season, most notably taking a historical win at Le Mans. For this latter race, a specially designed J-Car, with refined aerodynamics and all-new chassis, had even been designed, but not raced after the tragic death of its test pilot Ken Miles occurred during its development. Some characteristics of the J-Car were used to design the Mk.IV for the 1967 season. It ended with another Ford triumph. Having nothing more to prove and being one of the major teams targeted by the new rules in effect in 1968, Fomoco decided to pull out of endurance racing.

Some were still seeing some potential in the GT40. Though its most recent versions were now outlawed, the older Mk.I respected the requirements of the new 5000cc Sport class. Many privateers continued to race GT40s with various degrees of success, but none as brilliantly as the stubborn John Wyer himself. With Gulf’s support, Wyer allowed the ageing car to remain one of the major contenders in endurance for two more seasons, and also scored two more wins at Le Mans for Ford. In 1969, the manufacturer’s fourth straight success was a narrow one, Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver beating the Porsche 908 of Gérard Larrousse and Hans Herrmann by a tiny margin in the race’s very last lap. Though insufficiently prepared yet, the new Porsche 917s had dominated the beginning of the race. It was clear that the GT40 wouldn’t be able to follow the pace in 1970. Wyer and Gulf carried on with their successful partnership but switched to the 917, while only a few private teams entered GT40s until the end of 1971, when FIA’s rules definitely excluded all prototypes with engines displacing more than 3000cc.

This could have been all, if not for the wave of nostalgia which engulfed the automotive industry from the Nineties on. During the 2005 Detroit motor show, Ford presented a modern GT40, which closely mimicked the style of the original but was larger overall. Finally named “GT” due to trademark ownership problems, this exclusive gran turismo coupe was designed as a limited-production image-builder, officially selling for a whopping $140000. In reality, Ford never even built as many GTs as it planned, and the very last one was sold in 2007. Interestingly, a few GTs returned to the racetrack, more than forty years after the legendary machine which they took their inspiration from.

About the models

Model: Ford GT40 Mk.II
Event: 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon (overall winner)
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.33 of its Les Plus Belles Voitures des 24 Heures du Mans press series
Acquired: brand new, in February 2005, in Souillac, France

Rather detailed compared to other models within this Altaya series. Nice wheels, too. My rating is 14/20.





Model: Ford GT40 Mk.II
Event: 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon (overall winner)
Maker: Del Prado, or whoever builds models for Del Prado
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Del Prado through an unknown Japanese press series
Acquired: brand new, in December 2006, in Hong Kong, S.A.R.

This is exactly the same car as the previous one, but this time as seen by Del Prado. Unsurprisingly, overall quality is inferior to the Altaya/Ixo, but it remains quite good compared to other models distributed by the Italian company. My rating is 12/20.





Model: Ford GT40 Mk.II
Event: 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Dan Gurney and Jerry Grant (retired)
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.5 of its Les monstres sacrés de l'endurance press series
Acquired: brand new, in April 2007, in Souillac, France

Here is a second works Ford from 1966. Though they set the fastest time in practice, Gurney-Grant's radiator forced them to retire. Altaya released this model in a later, more detailed series, so #3 ended up being even better than #2: I'd give 15/20 to it.







Model: Ford Mk.IV
Event: 1967 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt (overall winner)
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.23 of its Les Plus Belles Voitures des 24 Heures du Mans press series
Acquired: brand new, in August 2004, in Souillac, France

A nice model of the 1967 Le Mans winner: 13/20.







Model: Ford GT40
Event: 1968 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Pedro Rodriguez and Lucien Bianchi (overall winner)
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.42 of its Les Plus Belles Voitures des 24 Heures du Mans press series
Acquired: brand new, in September 2005, in Souillac, France

Ford's third victory at Le Mans was not the most joyful, as winner Lucien Bianchi learnt on the finishing line that his brother Mauro had been severely injured in the accident and subsequent fire of his Alpine. Another good die-cast by Ixo for Altaya, deserving a 13/20.









Model: Ford GT40
Event: 1969 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver (overall winner)
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.18 of its Les monstres sacrés de l'endurance press series
Acquired: brand new, in May 2007, in Souillac, France

One of the most extraordinary race in the Sarthe: after Ickx started last in protest against the safety flaws induced by the typical Le Mans start, he and Oliver won the race after a final sprint run to the finishing line. This time, the switch to the slightly more refined Monstres sacrés series didn't bring much improvement over the previous car, hence an identical 13/20 rating.









Model: Ford GT
Year: c.2005
Maker: Yat Ming
Scale: 1/72
Distributed by: Road Signature, "Petite" series
Acquired: brand new, in April 2006, in Manila, Philippines

Very correct rendition, despite the small size. My rating is 14/20.