Spottedlaurel

That LS400 is the spitting image of mine.

Brilliant! Seems like it was ver all too quickly, but so pleased to see you got there and back without incident. I was interested to see there's a white Panda on the Dash to Dubrovnik student rally that my daughter and her BF are starting on tomorrow. It's the oldest car on it by some margin, it might belong to one of the leaders/organisers? Will have to get them to send pic's.

Indeed, I reckon the RW stance is better than either of the Superfast. I didn't realise how terrible a job they'd done with the arches on the wide-wheel version! A set of those smooth-centred wheels as fitted to the current LS400 or Civic might suit it well if they could be persuaded to fit under the arches?

I haven't seen that one. Quite faithful to the original?

On these very pages I recently mentioned that I 'needed' a Superfast Flying Bug to complete my set of Matchbox Beetles. It was just after I'd picked up a boxed Volks-Dragon down at Kempton Park, and by happy chance @bunglebusfound one in very nice condition at a boot sale. Last night I got round to taking some compare-and-contrast photos, I was curious to see what similarity there was (or wasn't) between them. Notes on dates etc are taken from my Claudia Nancy Schiffer book "Matchbox Toys". 15 VW Beetle 1500 Saloon - I believe it was a carryover from the Regular Wheels range, launched as a Superfast in 1970. Dropped for 1972, I suppose having all four Beetles in the range at the same time was a touch OTT, and by then the custom/fantasy cars were taking over from the crisply-detailed early Superfast road cars. 31 Volks-Dragon - Launched 1971, replaced the Lincoln Continental (as recently discussed on here). It's clearly based on the 1500, but with widened front wings and running boards and a lot of changes around the rear end. Seats appear to be similar but oddly there's no steering wheel. 11 Flying Bug - Replaced the attractive Mercedes scaffolding truck in 1972. It's lost the separate headlights and gained some fairly obvious additions, but it still seems to be a development of the original via elements of Volks-Dragon. 43 Dragon Wheels - Another one from 1972, replacing the Pony Trailer. Remained in the range for a fair while until 1978, you can see mine is a later issue with the dot-dash wheels and stripey box. It has no suspension but does gain a lift-up body - I don't know if the funny car chassis is similar to the Dodge Charger's? Again the basic 1500 bodyshell appears to have been the starting point. Lots of modifications around the back end. More differences than similarities in the baseplate casting. My Flying Bug appears to be the original issue, with square sticker on the front bootlid and unreinforced baseplate - it gained some little triangular gussets behind those thin parts ahead of the front wheels (although surely they would have been protected by the deeper front wings?). The front bootlid shape is the most recognisably similar element between them all (albet stretched ahead of the windscreen on Dragon Wheels). And finally, I thought it ought to have a quick comparison with 14 Mini-Ha-Ha. Both equally silly, with the same head moulding but different helmets. The only one I recall having as a youngster was the Flying Bug. I have a feeling it was one that got taken to primary school when I was about 5-6 and got borrowed/pinched/lost, so it's the first time I've had a good look at one for 45+ years. Pressing down on the big wing at the back makes it do a satisfying wheelie, and there's a bit of boing to the front suspension when it comes down again. With a scrap 1500 road car and appropriate skills there's probably scope to make a decent custom Beetle out of it.

Structural gaffer tape repairs undertaken on the trusty Honda mower, which is doing a Honda i.e. still runs well enough, but the tinwork is becoming a concern.

It's from a 2015 C&S article:

Another '90s Toyota joins the extended family fleet: Having put his 1970s Mini-in-need-of-restoration up for sale, Miss SL's boyfriend has just spent the forthcoming proceeds* on this. Between them their fleet now comprises 2010 Impreza, Yaris Mk1, Avensis SR and this MR2. Not bad for a couple of 18-year olds.... *The Mini hasn't sold yet, I imagine there's a bit of man maths applying here.

I have several ways of of recreating it at 1:24 too, and with numerous 2-door C110 Skylines in the stash I ought to someday. This one is about it, minus the decals:

Wonderful! I've enjoyed keeping up with your progress during the week. Enjoy the show. Reminds me of when four of us took our Datsuns up to Norway for an event.

I don't think I have a Majorette 245 yet, fingers crossed for a few finds this year if/when we make it to a French boot sale or two.

Very pleasing to be able to get to the East Coast Retros monthly do down at Shotley on Friday evening. A lot of great stuff in attendance and excellent to finally catch up with the mighty Astra 1200 saloon of @trigger It even had a friend with it. AS contingent. Got to have a drive around the field in the Astra, it's a lovely little thing. And got a good bridge shot on the way home. Just about to jump in the Laurel for the periodic long commute to head office.

Looks like an interesting selection of stuff there. I used to enjoy trips there in the late '90s/early '00s, got lots of good brochures at the autojumble too. Strange to see cars there that weren't even produced when I was going....

I've been pondering this one over the last few days and thought I'd dig out my Superfast version for a little compare and contrast exercise: Box art shows an even lairier green, fortunately the actual metallic colour is a little more subdued. I imagine there must be an earlier Superfast box style as it was in the range from the outset, but this is what I ended up with. I think this one suffers due to the higher stance more so than opened-up arches (the latter being very slight, perhaps only on the rear?). Also the sporty wheels don't really go with the Continental's styling, as at 1:1 they look better on steels with full covers. Despite having sprung suspension it's not as effective as on others, being a little too firm to satisfyingly 'boing' off the desktop. Whizzes across it nicely though - musn't lat it do a Thelma and Louise onto the tiled floor though..... Similar casting lines evident. Front arch doesn't seem to have changed, but the rear gets closer to lining through with the top of the back bumper. My base also still shiny. No slots at the axle ends. Boot large enough for 1:64-ish golf clubs, dead bodies or WHY. Tragically unpainted and no bonus items as per Majorette.

Flying Bug is the only Beetle I'm now mssing from my MIB-ish '70s Superfast collection. I'm curious as to what commonality there is (or isn't) between all four of them.

Probably your best bet is to swap panels and parts with a banger racer?

With thanks to your advice the Civic 5-door found a new home recently. I think he put the ad on FB and they had a lot interest, it ended up going up to Leicester I believe and they got a four-figure sum. He'd said how long it had been off the road and that it should be recovered, but they just turned up and drove it away.....

Nice one. The Majorettes draw me eye, I've got a tattier example of the BMW and for some reason I've ended up with a few of the trucks at that scale. They often seem to have missing mirrors, broken horns etc.

Lovely selection of Majorettes there. Fingers crossed I'll be finding some at French boot sales this summer....

Of those on your list that I've seen, it's a shame that K923 TGV now appears to be out of use, but K568 NMG is still showing up as having tax and test. Looks like it should click over 100k before its next MoT.

Interesting to see that comparison between the old and new Capris. New one looks a lot better, just somehow needs the front and rear valances to be done in body colour. It's a shame the original wasn't done as crisply as the Mk2 Cortina.

PM sent....

I remember one in the little toybox at my grandparents, the front of the roof was caved-in but it still got played with. I think the trader who I bought my stuff from yesterday had one if you feel like reacquainting yourself with it.....

Like this? I have this one in my collection, it's a particularly nice little model.

I had my playday at the Kempton Park toy fair today. I could easily have spent a four-figure sum there, I was tempted by a large Joustra R/C Toyota Land Cruiser at £65 and Hong Kong-made R/C Datsun 240/260Z for £25, both boxed. Also an AMT Lexus LS400 kit and numerous examples of bigger Corgis, Matchbox Superkings etc. In the end I got most of my haul from one chap who had a great range of Superfast, plenty to choose from and fill some gaps in my MIB-ish collection. Don't recall the Corgi Reliant. The 1:36 Corgis came from someone else: They had a boxed red Jaguar XJ-C just like the one I was given at around seven years old, but the Merc is one I've been after for a while and I already have a playworn Jaguar to fill that gap in my life.