RoadworkUK

That's gorgeous!

Of course! Oh, well that changes everything. Out it comes. Freedom! Feels GOOD. Plus it really is mint as a minty thing.

I'd actually rather have the white one. I always thought the Texaco livery a bit silly on something road-car spec, but I've never seen a plain black one. Trouble with the white ones are that the bumpers ALWAYS go yellow with ambient UV light like a 90s PC case.

In a veritable flurry of inevitability, @bunglebus's car-boot / toy fair Superkings XR4i / Sierra Cossie encounters had me pining for an example of the latter myself. It is, really, the only thing missing from my model toy Sierra collection; I have a MIB first-issue XR4i, a number of 1:36 Corgi examples and that lovely 1:43 Latin American partwork, which handily represents the Sierra Ghia my dad used to ferry me around in. It's even basically the same colour; Glacier Blue. I didn't, though, ever have the Matchbox Superkings Cossie as a kid. I had the K-100 XR4i, and it was one of my very favourite playthings (and is now in an extremely playworn state), often being raced across my primary school hall floor against my mate Tim's K-162 Cossie. I always preferred the XR4i because it didn't have a silly race car livery on it. Nevertheless, I still coveted the Cossie. So, I'm a big boy now, and I can have whatever toys I can stealthily sneak into the house. I got to wondering how cheaply I could secure a boxed example on eBay. A quick search found one that had six days on the auction, and no bidders as yet. Possibly due to utterly dire photography: "Oops, not quite. Try again" "Bit better, but I'll have one more go" "Ah, that's grand". So, that pic was good enough to confirm that it... exists... in theory, but all bets were off when it came to actual condition. Nevertheless, in order to ensure that I didn't forget about it, I put an opening bid in. I then forgot all about it. UNTIL, that is, I was doing the washing up on Sunday night, and my phone vibrated with a panicked "AUCTION ENDING SOON". Bidding had, at that point, reached the giddy heights of £4 plus P+P. Hmm. High stakes for a dubiously described and portrayed model. But then... what if it's perfect? And, it's only money, isn't it? I can always, like, get some more if I need it, can't I? Somehow. So I did my usual thing of waiting, and waiting, and then entering the absolute maximum I could possibly justify, with seven seconds remaining. Out of the air, I plucked a figure that I thought excessive enough that I'm bound to secure it for substantially less. So I slammed a max bid of £14 in. And won it. For £14. Plus £3 postage. Ouch. Anyway. It arrived today, in the hands of DHL, no less, and with fancy DHL packaging. Entirely unexpected. Within nanoseconds of its arrival, I had it out of the packing and in my mitts. And as it happens, I don't feel entirely ripped off. There's a bit of wear to the box corners, and the plastifilm has cracked at the top in the usual manner, but it ain't bad at all. But most importantly, the innards are mint. Well, I mean they weren't always entirely mint on leaving the factory. Strange highlights in the pic above make it look as if there are scratches, but there aren't. There's some orange peel to the paint, but I don't know if that's occurred over time or was there when it went in the box. The interior is entirely dust-free, though. I LOVE this casting, just as much as I love the K-100 XR4i casting. It's not 100% true to reality, but it kind of emphasises the features that make the Sierra the Sierra, if you get what I mean. It's like essence of Sierra. Same thing is true of the inside, too. The dash isn't 100% (or even quite a deal less) accurate, but it nails the essence of the original, that wrap-around shape and tiered layout. And the tilting seats, slightly oddly proportioned as they are, nicely portray the Cossie's deeply bolstered items. More than anything, though, it feels weighty in the hands. And with details like the clear headlights and glassy red rear lights, and wheels that resemble the Cossie's cross-spoke rims (incidentally, the flat-faced chrome items with the pepperpot-style circles embossed in are the One True Wheel for the K-100 XR4i), it feels authoritative. Proper. Official. Finally, I choose to believe that the presence of Matchbox's proprietary keyhole-and-twisty-thing mechanism points to this example possibly having never left its box. I'm tempted not to change that. It goes into my collection of "things I now own that I always wanted", even if I never actually play with it. Besides, turning up at my primary school 30 year on to play in the hall would probably be viewed with suspicion.

Being that the vendor is in Chertsey, I wouldn't mind betting that was the one I saw yesterday on the hard shoulder of the M25 near Heathrow, with its hazards on.

That's rather lovely. Rather lovelier than I've come to expect from MotorMax.

That XR4i is the same as the one I got circa age 8 and played with HARD. My mum taught at a primary school, and after school I used to play cars with my friend Tim, wazzing the XR4i and his K162 Texaco Cossie from one end of the hall to the other. I can still hear it on the sprung pine floor now. Seeing it MIB is amazing. Sent from my SM-G986B using Tapatalk

Oooh that XR4i.

This thread is a proper boost to the Rover mojo. Fantastic work. One thing led to the next this year and my 825 has only seen the light of day a few times this year; it's been slumbering in the garage. I started it up last weekend and spent a while sitting in it, though. Magical. I've just now pulled my finger out and joined the 800 club. Finally.

Cheers Tim. Also top bombing on the Yaris. Ye Olde 306 passed its MOT today, too, so good vibes must be floating around.

I'm more into civvie-spec stuff, but if it's a case of Granada or none, I'll gladly swoop on a patrol car!

Goodness me. If that Ghia with the vinyl roof is going begging... in place of the patrol car. .... although if you've already procured the latter for my benefit, I won't leave it homeless and you £7 down.

GAAAHHHHH Consul GT, please, if mint.

Bargain!

One particular "DO NOT INVEST" Black area is, I suspect, 1:18 cars. Yes, some are quite desirable; certain AUTOart models get hankered after some time after their production run comes to an end. And there are extra super-duper models by the likes of CMC, which start at £several and will probably forever be worth £several. The models at the Bburago end of the market, though, are pretty much the same as Days Gone, but extra inconvenient because of their greater size. My first 1:18 Bburago, the inevitable Jaguar E-Type, was a gift from my parents for Christmas 1988. Later that day, when the second round of presents was dished out, I got a second, identical model, from my Grandparents, so I decided to keep one boxed up in the attic as a future collectible. My thinking must have been the same as for several million other kids, because eBay is crammed full of Bburago cars from the last 20 years or so, and they're lucky to sell at anything above initial bid, if they sell at all. Today, being that they're not especially sophisticated models by modern standards, they can only possibly sell on the basis of nostalgia. Certain Maisto models have actually found themselves getting desirable on the back of the popularity of the prototype. The Honda S2000, frixample, hasn't been modelled well by many companies, and it tends to change hands for several dozen quid on eBay. Same is true of Gate's rendition of the first-gen Mazda MX-5, as well as their Peugeot 406 Coupé; those who are eccentric enough to own examples of the latter are also eccentric enough to want a model of same. I just buy stuff because I like it, and have to grin and bear the fact that I'm wholly unlikely to ever see my money back, even if I could be bothered to put myself through the rigmorale of attempting to sell them on.

Cheers! It was specifically the Coupé i was after, though, for the shape, but I'd completely forgotten that Maisto had a shot at the mk1 TT! It looks good, too, judged by the pics I can find. Maisto generally has a good stab at things, and quite often dredge up much more detail than you'd expect at the price. I'd say the body casting of the Revell is just a hair more crisp, though. And it has separately detailed side indicator repeaters, which are quite obviously the most important thing in the entire world.

Oops, I did it again... A BNIB 1:18-scale model car, bought having possibly had one too many ciders while watching live music in the wilds of Devon turned out to be TWO BNIB 1:18-scale model cars, bought having possibly had one too many ciders while watching live music in the wilds of Devon. Still. In the words of Orbital, it's better to regret something you have done than to regret something you haven't. So, what have I done this time? This. I've always been quite keen on Revell stuff, and there aren't many Mk1 Audi TTs to choose from. To be honest I've wanted to get my hands on one of these for quite a long time, but they rarely seemed to come up for less than a brisk scalping. Ideally I'd have liked one in silver, for the full Bauhaus 'concept car made real' effect of the early launch cars. But Avus Blue isn't a bad compromise. It is, indeed, BNIB, and again I'm the first to ever remove the plastic securing strips. FEELS GOOD. Feels SO good. Looks quite good, too. The main thing is that they captured the TT's shape absolutely perfectly, to my eyes, anyway. I've never thought the TT was an especially good looking car. It's pig ugly, really. However I do recognise it as a design classic, and I can't help but admire it. A TT deserves a spot in my collection, particularly a base model TT, which has the same 1.8 turbo engine as my own A4. This is the first model I've ever bought to have a model of the engine in my own car. How very exciting. It strikes me that this model comes from a bit of a transitional period in Revell's history. They were following the right lines, but they weren't quite nailing the detail in the way they would soon. I rate the Opel Manta of the same rough age as being markedly better, and the Renault Clio V6 and Renault 5 Turbo 2 that would follow soon after absolutely blows this TT away. That's not to say it doesn't do some things well, though. The interior is, for the most part, great. Certain details, such as the 'alloy' support struts, the HVAC controls and the air vents are really nicely rendered, complete with knurled, silver-finished surrounds to the latter. The steering wheel is ace, too. Only the dash cluster disappoints, with oddly small cut-outs for the instruments and a rather simplistic housing. Ha'porth of tar stuff. Things are 'adequate' under the bonnet, too. Creditably, the engine looks pretty good. The '5V Turbo' decal is true to life, the oil filler is picked out, as is the intake manifold and injector dooberries. It's all a bit over-shiny, but it's passable. Front headlights pass muster, too. A few dozen points must be awarded to the wheels and, particularly, the tyres. They're great, with their Michelin Pilot SX branding and dimension markings – even down to the load ratings. The centre cap is nice, too, if a bit shiny. Brake discs and calipers are modelled, too. Always nice to see. I really like the accurate clamshell bonnet opening, and the overall feel of the thing is more model than toy. Good. I can't be letting a toy into my amassed adult collectibles, can I? Only thing that really lets this model down for me is the rear lights. They're frankly terrible. Yes, Revell has made an effort to represent the roundy-bits in each unit, but there's no depth or detail to speak of. They're the most toylike aspect of the whole endeavour, so much so that I forgot to take an up-close picture. So that's that. No more suspiciously 1:18 car-shaped parcels are expected, and there's a whole year until the next festival.

I believe UT's Willys Jeep is identical to the version released (later) with Gate branding (part of the same conglomeration). I have the latter and think it relatively splendid.

Want softens palpably.

Want quite hard.

Sounds like it recaptures that old MGB magic...

The cost of living crisis has hit home in a big way. Namely, it's virtually impossible to find new 1:18 scale models for less than £50 these days. What's a fella to do? Well, I could do the sensible thing and not buy them. But that does little to appease the FOMO pangs of a childhood that I ought really have moved away from by now, but which keeps bobbing to the surface like dead goldfish in a hot pond. The other thing you can do is buy second-hand models that nobody is particularly interested in, that have somehow lasted for 25-odd years without having been unboxed. And that's exactly what I did, giddily intercepting an eBay listing while slightly inebriated at the Beautiful Days festival a few weeks ago. It arrived on Saturday, to no little rolled-eyes contempt from my other half. When I was 17 or so, UT models always seemed a step above the Maisto / Bburago norm. That bit more exotic and special. They certainly weren't stocked in any of my go-to diecast purveyors; the three I bought at the time (McLaren F1, Ferrari F355 and Ford Escort Cosworth) came from motorshows at Earls Court and the NEC. UT, along with Gate were, I believe, precursors to AUTOart, and some of UT's latter releases ran AA fairly close for detail. This one somewhat predates that era, though. As you've possibly spotted, it's a BMW Z3. But not just any Z3 – the base model! For whatever reason, I really like it when model companies choose to depict models other than the flashiest range-toppers. UT actually modelled a whole host of Z3s; I have the Goldeneye-spec Z3 3.0i elsewhere, and they also did the 'Breadvan' Z3M and a number of other versions, and they also went as far as updating the model when the facelift front and rear lights arrived. I like this version best of all, though – mainly for those wheels. Full disclosure, then: I found rather more pleasure in being the first person to remove the door-retaining strips from this BNIB model for probably 25 years than I ought to have done. I was taken back to those times when you know there's something coming to you on the horizon; perhaps pre-christmas, when Mum and Dad hide your Christmas present in the top of their wardrobe, and you know it's there, so you occasionally sneak in and take a look at it. Maybe hold it for a bit, but you can't open the box. This box is mine now, though, and having removed the straps, it's now officially second hand. It is, I would say, 'quite nice'. Most importantly, it captures the Z3's proportions very nicely indeed, and that's the most important thing. The paint is good, but it does seem to be quite thickly applied. either that or the metalwork is of a thickish gauge; certainly the edges of the panels seem to be radiused somewhat, like they might if the 1/1 original was made from armour-plated steel. It's not forensically detailed in the way AUTOart models are, but there's been enough attention paid to the prototype for UT's portrayal to be convincing. The headlights and slightly naff orange painted indicators let it down somewhat, though; UT actually improved these (and added details such as brake calipers and seatbelts) on later Z3 releases. Inside, everything is in its right place, but the details are reflected a little 2-dimensionally. AA releases have individually modelled and annotated switches and dials. The Z3's dashboard air vents look great, though, as do the steering wheel, gearstick and pedals. There's 'enough' detail under the bonnet, too. The single-cam, 1.8-litre M43 engine looks about the right shape, and has a nice BMW badge stamped into the intake manifold. The mouldings have some unwelcome sharp edges, but it's still an adequate rendition of the 115bhp powerhouse of the prototype. Sidenote – the 1.8 and 1.9-litre Z3s were commonly derided by the contemporary motoring press for being wet and hopeless, and not as speedy and athletic as a sports car should be. Now, though, I'd probably rather have one of those than any of the quicker versions. I really like the idea of having to wring every iota of power out of a sports car, rather than just sipping on massively overadequate reserves of grunt. Plus, country lanes are surely for ambling along in a carefree manner. Why rush things? So, this isn't the best model in the world. But it's entirely adequate as a representation of a kind of car that we just don't see any more. Truth is, having now entirely sobered up from the festival, I feel a little bit of buyer's remorse on this one. But then again, you don't get a huge amount for £25 these days. (EDIT: What the bloody hell has happened to the pics? The resolution appears to has gone all to buggery post-upload for some reason)

Good purchases. Beverley Hills Cop remains a staple of my "just arrived home, Nicola's out this evening, I'll stick a DVD on that she wouldn't like" antics.

Just returned from the music festival I attend as an annual pilgrimage ( Beautiful Days, curated by The Levellers). As ever, one of the (generic hippy accessories) stalls had a Tub O' Tat; diecasts of various breeds for a quid each. I've had reasonable luck with them in the past. Alas, no end of fevered rummaging unearthed anything even vaguely interesting this time. Maybe next year.

Properly astounding work.