Category Archives: Model Auto Review Magazine

Online Since 2013

By Karl Schnelle, US Editor

Text and photographs copyright of the Author(s) unless otherwise stated.

Welcome to 2024; Maz. Rod, and I hope you have another successful year in model auto collecting. Now that 2023 is over, I thought I would mention why our Banner says Online Since 2013.

Our very last print edition of Model Auto Review was in December 2013. and immediately after that, we were 100% online. The transition from print to online was not a simple process, as many transitions are! The last print editions also appeared in parallel online and the first online format (another website) was not working well so we moved over later to the current format at maronline.org.uk.

The full story can be seen at the HISTORY OF MAR, while many early online articles during the transition are at the bottom of the ARTICLES ARCHIVE. An interesting artifact of the transition was that the first online issues in 2014 actually had covers produced (in PDF format). Three of these covers are shown below.

How many of you, our readers and authors, have been around for the last 10 years? Who had a hardcopy subscription to Model Auto Review? I have been, and I did!


We welcome your comments and questions.   Please go to our Model Auto Review Facebook page or email the Editors at maronlineeditor at gmail.com.

Model Auto Review Back Issues

A long-term reader has print versions of MAR (Model Auto Review) from issues 16 to 276 for the taking. All for postage cost only. They are located in San Francisco, CA USA. Contact the Editor at maronlineeditor at gmail.com for more information.

We welcome your comments and questions.   Please go to our Model Auto Review Facebook page or email the Editors at maronlineeditor at gmail.com.

More Capri’s in the Print Edition of Model Auto Review

By Karl Schnelle, US Editor

Text and photographs copyright of the Author(s) unless otherwise stated.

Dave Turner wrote a series of articles on the Ford Capri over the years. His last article on the Capri III was published by MAR Online in 2017. Because of reader interest, we recently republished his Capri I article, part one, from our previous print edition, Model Auto Review 49, Feb/Mar 1991.

After publishing part one from MAR 49, Dave Turner published in the next two issues, MAR 50 and 51. Here are the covers and Table of Contents for these 2 issues.

MAR 50
MAR 51

The back cover of MAR 50 had this old Dinky Toys small poster for retailers reproduced!

Then Dave published his Capri II article in MAR 265, October 2012. Again here is the cover and TOC.

MAR 265

In addition to the yellow Capri II on the Cover, the following color page was included with the article.

Our Editor, Maz Woolley, has scanned these three articles as PDFs. Please contact us via email or Facebook for copies.


The Ford in Miniature – Capri I (Part One)

By Karl Schnelle, US Editor

A MAR Online reader noticed that Dave Turner’s recent article on Ford Capri’s mentioned that he had written several previous parts. Our reader wanted to read those other installments so we aim to please!

Dave published Part I many years ago in Model Auto Review 49, Feb/Mar 1991. Here is the front cover and Table of Contents from that issue.

The Capri article had some B&W photos and the text spread across two pages. We hope you can read it; click on the images to see larger versions.

To be continued…


Supermini and Minimac – more photos

By Karl Schnelle

In our previous post about these Brazilian model trucks, we asked if any readers knew more about them.  Several replied with many, many photos.  Since these diecast from Brazil are not well documented anywhere that we know about, we will show them here.

Arpra Trucks

Here are several more 1:50 Supermini Mercedes trucks (made by Arpra).  Three different versions of the Mercedes 1513 refrigerated box are below, from Ivan a collector in Brazil, collector Robert  Brodowski in the US, and the author. It’s fun to see them all together (at least in print).

Many of Robert’s have been sold off over the years, but he still has these photos.  Here is his Mercedes 1513 dump truck (same cab as above).

This next Arpra Supermini Mercedes Benz 1924A truck tractor was not sold in the US as a cab unit, but was very popular in the 1980s as a delivery truck (with single round headlights) and well into the 1990s with rectangular headlights like this one.

Here are the round and square headlight versions together.

Two Scanias from Robert are the LKS 141 and Talbert dump trailer (sold as a set or separately)…

and the 112M truck tractor and gas trailer.

The boxes from the dump truck set are very nice and reflect the ’80s!

Minimac Construction

Robert says most collectors will be familiar with the excellent construction models from Conrad, NZG, and Norscott. There are many other lesser known but just as good (or even better) brands such as Minimac from Brazil. This Dresser A450E motorgrader from Minimac is so well done with the best articulation he’s ever seen on a 1:50 scale model.

Arpra Catalogs

Robert, Ivan, and Sergio Sergio Luis Dos Santos from Brazil sent us photocopies of catalogs that have been in their collections.  We have some very knowledgeable MAR Online readers!

Here is a black and white sheet, taken in 2 photos.

A second sheet (or the backside of the one above) shows that Arpra sold the cabs and trailers separately.

These color sheets show some of the same models and could be folded up to include in the box.  No dates are evident on these catalogs, so the black and white sheets might be older?

Finally, another box insert is shown below.  Here is the full view.

Each section is blown up below.

Thanks again to our readers for supplying these images!


We welcome your comments and questions.   Please go to our Model Auto Review Facebook page,  or email us at maronlineeditor at gmail.com.

 

Supermini and Minimac – A Blast from the ’80s!

By Karl Schnelle and Maz Woolley

One of our readers asked the Editors if they had more information on some specific 1:50 Brazilian trucks from our retrospective reviews of the 1985 (Mercedes fire appliance) and 1989 Model Auto Reviews (the Coca-Cola Scania).  Both Editors dug into it and discovered a little bit about each one.

The two trucks originally were made in Brazil.  Actually the Mercedes is a Brazilian/English ‘hybrid’.  Here is what MAR reported in the 1980’s about these two trucks and the companies that made them.

Sun Motor Mercedes Fire Appliance (Supermini base)

The Mercedes fire appliance was a Sun Motor Co 1/50 handbuilt. The chassis/cab was from Arpra/Supermini of Brazil, while the resin body and diecast fittings came from from Britain. It was to be a  limited edition of 150, according to MAR back in 1985.

Sun Motor Co was owned by Rod Ward at that time; he is now the MAR Online Consultant Editor and Founder.  Here is what he says about these models: “Yes, we handled Arpra Supermini in the UK at that time, and we had a lot of fire appliance collectors who couldn’t get enough different and interesting models. We commissioned a pattern from Geoff Moorhouse for a resin body and other parts. I think Geoff actually built them for us as well. It was a pleasing little model, and it sold out quickly. I can’t remember the total quantity actually made – it depended on how many of the Arpra Mercedes we could get hold of. It was certainly no more than 100, maybe only 60 or so, as that was the expected life of a resin mould at that time.”

“It was in the early days of the Sun Motor Co, when we mostly made up the range from adaptations of diecast, etc., models (like this one) or models adopted from defunct or moribund ranges (like Geoff’s AGM range, from which we adopted a number of models, including the DeSoto and Bristol 450). Geoff made a few more patterns for us, before he began his own new truck range, and we moved on to other pattern makers.”

The Modelauto shop, also owned by Rod, were the importers of the Brazilian models into UK at the time and also used them as a basis for their own conversions. Sadly the Sun Motor Company built models are very scarce as they were made in such small numbers and were sold by mail order all over the world.

Minimac Scania

The Coca-Cola Scania L76 was by Minimac of Brazil, also in 1:50 scale.  In 1989, this was a restock item at Modelauto. No other information was shown, but it appeared in color twice in Mar in 1989.

A Jeep 4×4 was also shown in similar Coca-Cola livery.

At that time, Modelauto was also selling the Scania is Plus Vita livery.

More Information

Digging around some more in the old 1980’s issues of MAR, two articles were found on Brazilian models.   In MAR #3, Winter 1982, many pages of a then-current Supermini catalog were published: trucks, construction equipment, and a bus.

Then, in MAR #11,  Extra 1984, frequent contributor Clive Chick wrote a two-page summary of Brazilian cars and trucks from a  recent trip of his.   He pictured Supermini and Minimac on the first page.

He also found Muky, Corgi Juniors by Kiko, Schuco-REI, and Solido, all made in Brazil

We would love to hear from other readers who collect these older Brazilian toys or know the history of these companies.


We welcome your comments and questions.   Please go to our Model Auto Review Facebook page or email the Editors at maronlineeditor at gmail.com.

 

 

 

 

 

Model Auto Review 1989 – Part Two

By Karl Schnelle

The second half of 1989 saw three issues,  39 – 41, published.   Continuing the same format as before, Rod Ward used different cover designs featuring various cars and trucks.  All three back covers were ads for Modelauto Wholesale Supply, Rod and Val’s company back then in Leeds.

If you see any interesting articles in the Contents (or photos) from any of these articles, please let us know and we will re-publish them in MAR Online.

No 39 Extra 89 August/September

The Extra summer issue had a blue theme for the cover with 1:43 resin and handbuilts from France, Switzerland, and UK.  The Krupp truck is actually a 1:87 Brekina.

The Contents reflect the same Editorial decisions as previous issues:  a mix of articles on cars and trucks, mostly 1/43.    Being a Tekno Denmark collector from way back when,  Clive Chick’s article on Made in Denmark piqued my curiosity.   On a personal note,  I met him many years later at the Chicago Toy Show.    I recognized his name from MAR 30 years later!  Of course, the best article of 1989 (and perhaps of all time) was on p. 1790.  Seriously,  Rod was nice enough to publish my Marklin RAK article and even added his own footnote.

The inside color cover shows 1:50 scale construction and fire equipment.  Some 1:87 plastic buses are at the bottom. [Click on the photo to read the Contents more easily using the larger image.]

The back cover has an international mix available in the UK in 1989 from Argentina, Brazil, France, Japan, and Spain!

No 40 Autumn 89 October/November

The Autumn cover had an appropriate brown theme with cars and trucks (kits and handbuilts) again.  A MAR tradition started with the very 1st Competition – what is the brown motor car on the cover?  (answer below).

The inside cover had mostly buses this time in various scales.  Contents were similar to the previous issue.  Clive Chick continued his Denmark series;  four other continuing series were published as well.

The back cover has some nice 1/43 diecast Collectors Classics shown from Argentina.

No 41 Christmas 89 December/January

The final issue of the year has a red and green theme, naturally.   The vintage Santas were made from old Barclay molds!   As an Alfa Romeo collector, I should have picked up one of the Milestone Models Disco Volantes (black or red), but they were over my price range.

The Editorial was moved for this issue to the next page.  Rod had a lot to say about the MAR Competition, missing parts, and the economic downturn.  The brown car from #40 was a 1917 Chalmers Seven from The Saturday Evening Post.

For the Christmas issue, it was nice to see photos of Rod and Val and all their staff on the back cover.  I think those are the only photos I have ever seen of them.

I hope you enjoy this nostalgic peak at the hardcopy MARs.  We will continue to review them as time goes on:  we have 100’s to go!


We welcome your comments and questions.   Please go to our Model Auto Review Facebook page or email the Editors at maronlineeditor at gmail.com.

Model Auto Review 1989 – Part One

By Maz Woolley

All text by, and copyright of the Author. Artwork from Model Auto Review copyright of Rod Ward.

This is the ninth in a series of articles looking at each year’s output of the original Model Auto Review magazine.   This time we look at the first half of 1989.  We show you the  colour pages and contents to give a flavour of what the magazine looked like. 

What was happening at MAR in 1989?

1988 had seen an increase in the number of pages in MAR including the inclusion of colour centre pages and MAR was to continue in that format right through 1989. Many expert contributors continued to record what was happening in their specialist area were now contributing regularly and the magazine was developing a very international outlook with writers from round the world.

As Rod Ward pointed out in the first editorial in the year model sales had increased ten fold in recent years and new players kept coming into the market so this was a very buoyant time for model collectors.

1989 in general

1989 was an important year for me. I had recovered my childhood toys and was buying battered Dinkys, Corgis, and Spot Ons for restoration. I had discovered Model Aut Review and subscribed and though I admired the many kits and hand builts available bought very few. Suddenly Mattel’s Dinky and Corgi Classics were producing models of the cars of my childhood at a reasonable price and I was hooked.

The biggest events of the year were undoubtedly the fall of the Berlin Wall, Tiananmen Square Massacre, and the terrorist destruction of a British Airways Jumbo jet in Scottish skies. But it was also a year when we had a major plane crash at Kegworth in the East Midlands and the sinking of a pleasure boat on the Thames.

In the Cinema Little Mermaid and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade made there first appearance. On UK television we were all watching Fools and Horses and January saw the episode featuring Del Boys casual falling through the bar – one of the comic TV moments frequently voted as one of the best comic scenes of all time.

#36 Winter 1989

 

An arty cover started the year, something that was to be come quite a feature as the year went on.

Many well known names wrote in this edition which was also full of the new for 89 features.

Inside Front Cover

Inside Colour Pages

with New Dinky prototypes.

And here are Corgi Classics models.

Inside rear had Model Road and Rail Vauxhall Victor amongst exotica from France and Italy.

#37 Spring 1989

 

Another artistic interpretation of the MAR logo on this cover.

An interesting range of articles but fewer colour pictures this time as Catalogues from Shinsei filled the centre spread.

Inside Front Cover

Inside rear cover

Rear Cover

 

#38 Summer 89

 

Another completely different approach to the front cover.

Again a list of contributors who were hugely expert in their fields or becoming so!

Centre Pages

Inner rear cover


We welcome your comments and questions.   Please go to our Model Auto Review Facebook page or email the Editors at maronlineeditor at gmail.com.

 

Model Auto Review 1988 Part Two

By Maz Woolley

We are sorry for the long gap in this series of articles this was caused by the fact that the way that we had been preparing them was very time intensive and was starting to squeeze out other content we felt needed to be posted. So from this posting on we will be posting colour pages and contents details but minimising the analysis of the content. 

This is the eighth in a series of articles looking at each year’s output of the original Model Auto Review magazine.   In October 2017 we reviewed the first half of 1988 so this month we look at the second half from the Summer Extra through to the Christmas Edition.  We show you the Cover and Contents pages of the magazines and some colour pages to give a flavour of what the magazine looked like. (Click on the images to get a larger copy.)

What was happening at MAR in 1988?

1988 saw an increase in the number of pages in MAR including the inclusion of colour centre pages which would be an ongoing feature. Expert contributors were now contributing regularly and the magazine was now established and developing a worldwide circulation.

What a year 1988 was!

The summer hits of the US and UK were as usual completely different. Over in the US “Roll With It” by Steve Winwood was the biggest summer seller whilst in the UK it was Yazz and the Plastic Population’s “The only way is up”.

In cinema a few classics hit the screen in 1988. That included the award winning Rain Man and the first of the Die Hard films which were to become a profitable series for 20th Century Fox. In the US it would have cost you about 3.5 Dollars to see the films and just over 90 cents a gallon to put fuel in the car to drive there.

In the computer world the IBM PC was a popular choice and one with a  30 Megabyte Hard Disk, Mono Monitor and 512K Memory would have cost 1,249 US Dollars.  If you fancied a new car instead a Ford Taurus started at around 9,996 US Dollars or you could go compact and buy a Volkswagen Rabbit (Golf) for 7,104. 

Around the world:

  • the Iraq-Iran war ended after 1.5 million people had died
  • A BA Jumbo Jet was blown up over Lockerbie in Scotland by terrorists
  • In England the pound note was replaced by a coin
  • In Poland Solidarity were starting their strikes.
  • In Afganistan the Soviet government withdrew their troops

#33 Extra 88 August/September

Front Cover

Inside Front Cover
Contents

Sample of Middle Pages

Inside Rear Cover

Rear Cover

#34 Autumn 88 October/November

Front Cover

Inside Front Cover

Content

Sample from Middle Pages

Inside Rear Cover

#35 Christmas 88 December/January

Front Cover

Inside Front Cover

 

Contents Page

Inside Back Cover

Back Cover


 We welcome your comments and questions.   Please go to our Model Auto Review Facebook page or email the Editors at maronlineeditor at gmail.com.

Model Auto Review 1988 Part One

By Maz Woolley and Karl Schnelle

This is the seventh in a series of articles looking at each year’s output of the original Model Auto Review magazine.   In August we reviewed the year 1987 so this month we have reached 1988, a year when 6 issues were produced. We show you the Cover and Contents pages of the magazines and some colour pages to give a flavour of what the magazine looked like. (Click on the images to get a larger copy.)

Now that each issue is so large, and there are six a year, future articles will cover half a year at a time. 

What was happening at MAR in 1988?

1988 saw an increase in the number of pages in MAR including the inclusion of colour centre pages which would be an ongoing feature. Expert contributors were now contributing regularly and the magazine was now established and developing a worldwide circulation.

What a year 1988 was!

1986 was a year to remember. A Soviet nuclear plant at Chernobyl  became critical and melted down spreading fallout across Europe. It was a huge loss of face for the USSR and a reminder of how risky nuclear power could be.

On the brighter side, MIR, the Soviet Space Station, was successfully put into space and years of visits and experiments started.

Here in the UK,  France and Britain agreed to the building of the Channel Tunnel.  With the Conservatives still strongly dominating the political scene under Margaret Thatcher public assets continued to be sold and the National Bus Group (NBC) was “privatised”.   This was also the year that the M25 “London Orbital” motorway was opened.

In the car industry in the UK, Nissan opened their Sunderland plant which went on to be one of the most efficient in the world.

Here in the England and Wales, the secondary school examination system people sat at 15 to 16 and which had been in place since the 1950s was radically overhauled. The General Certificate in Education (GCE) and Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) exams were combined to become the single combined GCSE . Even today looking at a CV, the types of examinations they sat gives away when people were educated.

The UK economy was at a high point and the Lawson “boom” of the late 1980s was fuelling increases in wages and spending. For established wage earners this meant a little more disposable income for hobbies and was a fertile environment for the continued growth of the market for “collectors models”.

#30 Winter 88

The front cover again shows Rod Ward’s playful use of graphics, who could miss the fact that the magazine contained news of new models for 1988!

The cover had quite a range of models with resin kits from Starter  (Porsche CART racer) and Automany (ACE Ace), as well as a Marsh model (Porsche 917L Gulf) that could be a kit or hand built – all to 1:43 scale. An A Smith model in striking yellow livery to 1:48 scale (Nubian fire tender) represented bigger vehicles.

Finally industrial collectors products were shown from Matchbox Yesteryear (Mack – new Kiwi livery) and Corgi (Bedford Pantechnicon in Fender removals livery).

The front inside cover showed a nice array of emergency services vehicles and a few Herpa Coaches to fill in the space! The Nine Double Nine Austin Wadhams Ambulance based upon the obsolete Spot-on is an impressive model (Ed: this caught my eye as I bought it as a kit, built it, and still have it). Other emergency vehicles include a set of Auto USSR models of the UAF, GAZ and Lada 2105. Other interesting models are the MVI transkits to allow many vehicles based upon the Solido Citroen C4. There are also a number of 1:87 scale models from Roko and Herpa. MAR was the only UK magazine with a good coverage of 1:87 models.

Three wheelers start off one of the centre pages with Tober Models Messerschmidt and BSA. Track cars from Starter in colourful liveries keep the page lively. The large, already old, Wills Finecast kit to  1:24 scale of the 1930 Bentley is shown beautifully built by DGF models. Some Precision Miniatures Hudson Convertibles are noted as not being to their usual standards. The Praliné 1:87 Cadillacs that still turn up in the Busch range today put in their first appearance.

1:76 scale gets a look in with a set of the latest Piccolino releases: Bluebird, Thinwall special, Jaguar XK120, and Auto Union. A whole set of Solido special models for Denmark are shown, not much changed from the standard release other than the prints on the side. Further down the page is van territory with the Dandy H Van in Christmas logo, JRD Citroen vans in various liveries and at the bottom of the page is a set of Lion Car Commer Step-thru vans.

Looking at the back inside cover we see a range of commercial vehicles from a scattering of 1:87 from Albedo, Roskopf, Brekina and Roko to a large scale ERTL bulldozer.

Amongst the others we see Kim’s Classics which for many years had models made by Alan Smith in the UK to 1:48 scale of Continental subjects. We also see more Lion Cars in the form of 1:50 scale DAF trucks.

Browsing through the magazine there is lots to catch the eye. John Quilter, who is still a regular contributor today, writes suggesting that more Jaguar models should be made, but then he would have done as he worked for Jaguar Cars inc in North America.

John Shelford’s hand crafted models in wood often featured over the years and an assortment of his Rolls-Royce models is shown in this issue.

As ever the columns of MAR featured experts calling model makers to task for inaccuracies. In this issue Chris Batten, an expert on Ambulances, took Lledo to task fro their errors. Tony Greeves, another long time contributor, called out Corgi for just printing on windows and calling a model a minibus.

Amazingly Adrian Swain’s ABS is being called a “Bermuda Triangle ” of kits even then. A description that is more than ever true today. Although many of the old multi-part models have had their day their are other castings collectors would still wish to buy were they available.

Articles of interest include Don Elliot on old US models as well as Garfield the Cat ones, Rod Ward on Morris models and Stuart Schaller on the Brumm Bugatti T57 SC. Fun Ho buses pop up written about by Roger Bailey and Tony Steenmeyer, whose beautifully made models of Dutch Lorries entertained readers for many years, provided an article on restoration looking at restoring Dinky Guy and Bedford vans.

Regular contributors like Andre Blaize on Rolls-Royces were joined by Geoff Moorhouse who would write a regular Truckstop column for some years.

In the new for 1988 announcements was hidden one of considerable significance as Matchbox announced the Matchbox Dinky range. A range that persuaded many collectors of obsolete models to buy collectors models for the first time.

Another model announced was the white metal Ford Consul from Model Road and Rail as well as pages of Days Gone, Matchbox Yesteryear, and long lists from Starter Provence Moulage and other kit makers.

The magazine ended with adverts from MAR and model shops which took up nine pages and there was a half page of small ads.

#31 Spring 1988

Spring brought an appropriately green look to the cover as well as handwritten titles for each of the models. The models themselves covered a wide range of the collectors market. A detailed and very expensive FYP Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith heads the page which continues with a Brooklin Dodge van, Formula One Chapparal, Ashton Mack Fire appliance, Mini Racing Alpine and Vitesse Chrysler Windsor.  All were to 1:43 scale except for the Mini Racing which was a substantial 1:20 scale.

The upper part of the inner cover was dominated by emergency vehicles including the highly detailed Ashton models Ahren Fox fire pumper, Zaugg‘s Chevrolet fire, ambulance and hearse, Solido Mack rescue trucks, and a batch of Sun Humber Imperial Ambulances .

Lower we have buses including one from the Thomas the Tank Engine range  as well as more serious 1:76 scale white metal kits from Garrick Leisure Consultants of a 1950 AEC and a 1975 Fleetline. An Oldcars Fiat coach was included too as well as a small cluster of earthmoving equipment from Oldcars and Conrad.

The rear cover featured American cars. A Starter Thunderbird NASCAR started the page colourfully. Zaugg‘s contribution was a Cadillac with working suspension, but at over £100 in 1988 there must have been few buyers. Portugal was still a major model producer and Vitesse and Rextoys models made there dominated the centre of the page.

Lower down we see budget priced ERTL Mustang, Corvette and Checker cab alongside expensive white metal Mini Auto Emporium Cadillac V16s.  The page ends with a Minimarque white metal Auburn and a Provence Moulage Studebaker Commander Starlight coupe in resin.

Inside the magazine we get letters from Harvey Goranson on Brooklin models and a long letter from Robin Godwin on how MAR approached reviewing models. Both still very active in the modelling world, Robin’s latest article was posted quite recently here on MAR Online as well an article by Harvey.

Many other letters add detail or provide corrections to articles in the recent issues. Such corrections and additions often added significantly to the body of knowledge about obsolete models in particular.

Another topic in the letters pages was which Land Speed Record holders had not been modelled. LSR models were a major topic covered by MAR for many years though as time went on and more were modelled it appeared less often. In fact inside the magazine another definitive tabulation of LSR models from Fred Kaesmann helped identify many holders unmodelled.

Finally on the letters pages we have the topic of model copying raised. This was a regular feature of MAR over the years as makers “let of steam” where they felt others had copied their models. Unlike the commercial magazines MAR provide an airing for this topic.

Articles again covered a diverse range with Jim McLachlan writing about models from Communist countries a change from his usual VW related contributions. Don Elliot continued his coverage of the less well known US obsolete models as well as Pac Man models. Roger Bailey looked at some model coaches and the vehicles they may have been based upon whilst Dave Turner covered the 1957/8 Mercury. Wyn Edwards coverage of Indy Cars continued as did Greg Keane’s coverage of construction equipment.

Model listings are full of references to all sorts of models and photographs of prototypes of new 1:43 scale Corgi Classics models appeared. It is interesting to see the prototype Jaguar Mark II casting there in 1988, a casting last seen used by Atlas in their Police Partwork only a few years ago.  Vitesse were “on a roll” and announced a lot of models for 1988. All of a sudden UK collectors of more modest budgets had three ranges of reasonable accurate vehicles from the 1950s and 60s available to them and many collectors started at this time.

 

#32 Summer 88

Summer 1988 brought a cover full of models with a new Corgi Club Morris 1000 van being joined by a Lion Cars Commer step-thru in Coca Cola livery. The rest of the cover has some beautiful racing models including a Bosica Ferrari with removable panels revealing a super detailed engine and a Remember Ferrari P314. The foot of the page featured  a nice Minicars Ford Galaxie and an A Smith Tractor unit. Bus lovers were not forgotten with a LBS Renault coach  being featured.

Inside colour pages featured a wide range of models: cars on the inside front cover, buses and trucks on the middle four pages, and fire and military on the inside back cover.

The back cover shows a nice Pandora Land Speed record car and the latest Chryslers from Solido which were contrasted with old American cars in the Dinky 39 series.  At the base of the page the ubiquitous Lion Cars Step-thru appears again this time in KLM livery.  Also, five Coca Cola vans are shown from Trax, CB Modelli, and Autohobby.

Inside this issue some classic articles appear including Chris Sweetman on Dugu which is an excellent view of that obsolete range.  MAR Online recently covered Dugu again with Chris’ help.

Gerald Watkins had an interesting theme which started in MAR 32: 1/43 Norevs made by Norev in plastic and no one else (at least as of 1988)!  Many French, Italian, and German  are are pictured in black and white.

McGregor was written about and pictured by Don Elliott.  This very rare and undocumented brand was from Mexico and produced ex-Politoys in 1:41 plastic.  Most of them have the McGregor script on the baseplate so they should be easy to identify, if you happen to ever find one.  In this same issue, Don also wrote Part 2 of his Made in USA series, on lesser known American toy cars from the 1950s. On a personal note before Don sadly passed away, the McGregor Alfa Romeos shown in his article found their way to KS’s collection in 2007.  It’s a small (collector’s) world, as they say.

The other 2-page articles this time were East German HO by two Czech collectors and Ford MkII GTs by Dave Turner.

Peter Pain wrote about he Dinky 39 series, shown in color on the back cover.  Graeme Watt’s long running series of military re-creations kicks off. Graeme wrote many articles over the years with Graeme’s final model conversion appearing just as MAR Online started.

John Hanson’s Trojan vans must have been interesting to many who had wondered about the Dinky and Matchbox models and who Trojan were. Morris also got an update with Patrick Trench, now a well known author, adding to Rod Ward’s initial article on the subject.

Then after the Truckstop column by Geoff Moorhouse and the colour center pages on trucks and buses, twelve pages of News and Views and ten pages of ads made up the remaining part of MAR 32.  As usual, News and Views covered smaller producers from Spain, Holland, Canada, USA, USSR, Australia, Switzerland, as well as the big guys from Italy, France, and UK.

Actually Rod Ward covered small producers as well:

  • UK: Colin Fraser with Formula One, Steve Archibald with Sapphire Modelcraft, Indycars by Wyn Edwards, MPH Model by Tim Dyke, Little Smashers by David Wade;
  • France: IDEM by Serge Leuba, Automany transkits, FYP by Yves Pebernet, Tenariv by J.P. Viranet, JPS by J.P.  Schwartz, ESDO by Dominique Esparcieux, C.C.C. by Georges Pont, HECO by Herve Colombet, and Hostaro;
  • Italy: C.B. Modelli, Bosica, Meri, and HE14 by Paolo Tron.

As expected, Modelauto had the last four pages of ads at the end of this issue.

 


We welcome your comments and questions.   Please go to our Model Auto Review Facebook page or email us at maronlineeditor@gmail.com.