Shite in Miniature II

[junkyarddog]

Only one Mercedes 123 wagon left now.

I also have this old slot car,if anyone is interested in it?No idea what make it is,but it looks 1960's.

As well as some Tomica recovery trucks. 

 

Also,Tomica Honda s2000.

Open to offers of trades on any of the above.

[sierraman]

I had a load of stuff I offered on here still in the cupboard at home. I’ll rummage through what’s still there if there’s anything of interest

[Split_Pin]

I went to a different Tesco today, same one I found the green Merc in a while back and there was a new box of Matchboxes. No Mercs, Minis or Alfas but there were a few Lotus Europas which aren't really my thing. There were also about 3 of these. Correct box artwork this time, earlier ones depicted an Audi 80-based S2. Pleased with this one.

[Datsuncog]

I've been greatly enjoying some hot aircraft carrier action ever since Friday's tat market.

I absolutely bloody loved MkIV Zodiacs when I was in my mid-teens.

Although I'd been lusting after a MkIV Cortina for years, I didn't know anything at all about the last of the Z cars - Ford's vast and ungainly 'Project Panda' - until I encountered a derelict Executive parked up at St Comgalls in Bangor in 1994 or so.

On enquiry, this car was apparently the former official transport for the Bishop of Down and Dromore, although why it was lying at the side of the church on flat tyres with a tattered blue tarp covering a smashed-out windscreen was never clear to me. But I was in love with the metallic bronze paint (falling off it in sheets), the full-wraparound rear lights and the sheer presence of that grille topped off with the 'gun sight' emblem.

I pictured it rolling on a set of Wolfrace rims, abundant chrome sparkling... oh yeah baby.

The ludicrously, pointlessly long nose married with the comically short boot did not, it seems, deter me one jot. Nor did the prospect of 18mpg.

The fact it was beyond fucked - with the doorskins having long since parted company with their frames, and holes in the rear quarter panel big enough for Eamonn Holmes to fit his ego through - didn't bother me. I schemed about how I could conceivably acquire it for my very own.

I doodled Zodiacs all over my school files, priced up jumbo-size tins of U-Pol in Motortune, and wondered just how hard it would be to strip down a V6 on a driveway, anyway...

Then one day, it was gone. Naught but a substantial heap of rust and a lot of green streaking on the tarmac to mark where my love had lain.

Probably for the best, to be fair. It was hanging.

But, I'd also turned up a Dinky police version of the MkIV at a car boot sale, so that was kinda the next best thing...

Although it was missing its bonnet, and the all-opening doors were more trouble than they were worth, to be quite honest.

Still, any MkIV was better than no MkIV at all, amirite?

But then I bought my own full-size Cortina (fucked) , and then followed it up with a freebie Mini Clubman (even more fucked) and then a Viva HC (moderately fucked, but at least repairable), and diecast took a bit of a back seat for a while...

...although I experienced a pang of jealousy when John Simm rocked a suitably shite Executive in Human Traffic.

What better vehicle to waft around the dodgy Cardiff club scene in?

 

I didn't even know that Matchbox had made a MkIV Zodiac model until I encountered a Superfast version at a car boot sale in Brighton Station car park in 2002. Which I bought, of course.

It's the green one on the right, which isn't cosmetically perfect (and suffers from a bonnet that never wants to close straight) but wasn't bad going for £1.

It lived on the dashboard of my Fiesta for a few years, secured with Blu-Tac, until the real Ford proved itself to have less structural integrity than the smol Ford - and the Zodiac found itself hidden away in a carry-case, while the Fiesta found itself being fed into a fragger at Shoreham docks.

But, after finding a regular wheels version at the Charity Stall Deluxe Tat Box last week, I was moved to dig it out for a little comparison exercise. So! Here we are.

Other than the eye-popping green paint (a slight nod to Hot Wheels' Spectraflame finish?), the main difference is the transition from Regular wheels to Superfast wheels - requiring a re-working of the baseplate. Lesney opted to bring the wheels further inboard to facilitate free running

The result is a model that looks a bit weird on such a narrow track when viewed from the front - but, after exhaustive testing, I can confirm that the Superfast wheels are much better for scooting along the kitchen worktop. It also sits a fair bit higher, as you can see in the earlier pics.

Like the later BMC 1800 Pininfarina though, it appears that later on the wheelarches were expanded to accommodate wider Superfast wheels, losing the original lines in the process.

Narrow wheels Superfast:

Wide wheels Superfast:

You can see the arches now extend above the side crease, and the arch edge of the rear door has been obliterated.

The base casting remains unchanged. Like the 1800 Pinin, I think the wider arches kinda spoil it.

 

So what's better? I reckon the blue Regular wheels version is the more accurate model (and quite a bit better than the slightly awkward Dinky effort), but the green Superfast is certainly the better toy, in terms of colour and free-rolling.

The opening bonnet, complete with detailed V6 unit and spare wheel, is also a nice touch.

So I'll be keeping the green Superfast version for the foreseeable, but I believe @Tenmil Socket had put his hand up for the blue regular wheels? Plus the all-orange Capri? All yours, dude.

The car itself may have been a bit of an ugly duckling, but this model's a real winner.

 

But then, while comparing the pair, I also noticed...

Ah, now.

Something I'd failed to spot previously, but which a rummage through my box of cars confirmed - pretty much every Matchbox car of the 1960s and 70s had some means to attach it to a towing hook.

Sometimes as a numberplate, sometimes as a lip cast into the base.

Genius.

Looking at one of my other prize finds, the Lotus Europa, it seems it was designed with a dedicated slot for just such a purpose.

It's such a small touch, but added a helluva lot of play value when your breakdown truck can be used to rescue stricken miniatures.

Corgi Juniors, it grieved me to note, did not. Quite a few of their models would be incapable of receiving such assistance.

It pleases me to finally be in a position to spend a bit of quality time with my collection, and notice these details!

 

I'm not sure that I'll ever own a real MkIV Zodiac, but I just wish Vanguards would produce a decent 1/43 version... in bronze.

[eddyramrod]

DC, that's positively poignant!  I'm almost sniffling.....

[Amishtat]

I shared your fascination for Mk IV Zodiacs and came across a presentable enough example at a small car sales lot a few miles south of Coventry around 2002. It was the same colour as your Superfast (Aquatic Jade I think, my joint favourite colour for them along with Aubergine) and sitting on a set of polished slot mags. Can't remember why I didn't buy it in the end, it was about four hundred quid which wasn't bad even then. Still never had one and it doesn't look likely now but I was lucky enough to receive a silver Dinky one last Christmas. I'll get it off the shelf for a photo or two when I get home

[sierraman]

My dad had a pink Mk4 Zodiac. Before I was born sadly. 

[Split_Pin]

Excellent write- up, I love the Dinky version!

I have a green Zodiac with the wide Superfast wheels and of course no bonnet.

I'm going to look out for a better one now! Really nice period registration mark on the back end too.

Quite a few MB models were sculptured out to accommodate these big wheels as you probably know. I have a metallic pink VW 1600TL so treated however I preferred it over the earlier superfast version due to the latter's purple paint. I also bought another example of the former as the one I bought in the early 1990s at a Swapmeet is very faded on one side. The pink is actually a much darker shade on my recently purchased example.

[Datsuncog]

13 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

DC, that's positively poignant!  I'm almost sniffling.....

Trust me, there would have been more tears if I'd ever managed to buy the Bishop's old Zod…!

[C1am]

My Dad had a Mk IV Zephryr 6. I absolutely loved that car for the styling, the gorgeous dashboard and its size. I cried when he agreed to sell it.  Luckily the person who agreed to buy it never turned up, so we had it a further few months, until it went to a cousin. He had for another year until it was stolen and written off. 

[egg]

The Lincoln Continental was another to suffer arch enlargement. The one DC sent me recently is a narrow wheeler SF.

[Split_Pin]

I always found the narrow wheel Superfast to travel much further and smoother than the wider items. Once the latter roughened up with play outside, there was just too much rolling resistance.

[junkyarddog]

The late great Irish guitar legend Rory Gallagher was also fond of his mk4 Zodiac.

Fond of the old mk4 myself, I remember one in the locality, a mettalic green executive converted to diesel.

It ended up in a quarry smashed up,sadly.

Was quite rotten by then.

[155V6]

On 11/4/2019 at 9:01 PM, junkyarddog said:

The 180 would be of interest,have a look in your own time and let me know.

 

Here's the Chrysler with the caravan from my for sale thread,plus a couple of Seat 131's.Let me know if there's anything you like there.

[Split_Pin]

If JYD doesn't want the green 131 I'd happily buy it. I have the silver Guisval one, albeit with clear glazing. I bought it new in Menorca in 1993.

[sierraman]

The two at the back are Majorette 

[flat4alfa]

3 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I went to a different Tesco today, same one I found the green Merc in a while back and there was a new box of Matchboxes. No Mercs, Minis or Alfas but there were a few Lotus Europas which aren't really my thing.

Yes new batch is on the way, already released in the States, there is a dedicated FB page on them

was the  Lotus the JPS one? I’d like one of those

[egg]

As soon as someone spots a Subaru SVX...let us know!

[bigstraight6]

Great write up on the MK4 Zodiac DC, although the look of them was quite a controversy when new they look very stylish and graceful when you see one these days, still not a patch on a MK3 though!

[flat4alfa]

5 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

I also have this old slot car,if anyone is interested in it?No idea what make it is,but it looks 1960's.

Yes please 

It’s a Porsche Carrera 6, 1970s reissue as in blue it was only available as part of a track set with their 250LM. I think that’s right.

Was originally a static Airfix kit from 1968 and then later adapted by MRRC (for Airfix) as a slot car

I have one already in the green. Here it is with a Strombecker release for comparison. 

As I said, yes please 

[flat4alfa]

On 11/4/2019 at 10:21 PM, junkyarddog said:

This poorly example any good?

Thanks.  Crikey that one's been off the track a few times..!

I have my eye on another, for some reason the pipes are missing on many.  Will keep it in mind, especially as it has the clear glass as I'm not too fond of the vivid green alternative and it looks like I'd have to source a few examples to make a complete one.  But imagine this one eh, running a giant radial off a 1:25 aircraft kit 

[Split_Pin]

52 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Yes new batch is on the way, already released in the States, there is a dedicated FB page on them

was the  Lotus the JPS one? I’d like one of those

Dark green I think, didn't look properly. If I see another I'll nab it for you.

[flat4alfa]

54 minutes ago, egg said:

As soon as someone spots a Subaru SVX...let us know!

Likewise either of these 

 

 

[flat4alfa]

4 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

The ludicrously, pointlessly long nose married with the comically short boot did not, it seems, deter me one jot. Nor did the prospect of 18mpg.

 

 

[155V6]

Both already mentioned on here I think,but Poundland have got Hotwheels in at the moment,& Lidl have got some Matchbox 5 packs for £4.99.

[flat4alfa]

Looked in yesterday and Tesco Matchbox 5-packs are now up at £5.  Last week they were sold out at £4.50 and new delivery came in on Monday.

 

[flat4alfa]

4 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

...although I experienced a pang of jealousy when John Simm rocked a suitably shite Executive in Human Traffic.

This opening episode of Auf Weidersehen Pet will do more than pang

Jump to 2:00

[eddyramrod]

On 11/6/2019 at 6:17 PM, Datsuncog said:

Trust me, there would have been more tears if I'd ever managed to buy the Bishop's old Zod…!

When I was at L plate stage, about 1977, I knew of a 1966 mk4 Zephyr sitting in a back street in Southport - KLE 200D iirc - which I would have loved to get my hands on.  I never did, of course, and eventually it disappeared.  I never even saw it driving.  18yo me would have been king of the road in that, but it wasn't to be.  I've still never owned a Zephyr of any sort.

[egg]

Anyone spotted the hot wheels Alpine A110 in the shops? That's one I'm after.

[junkyarddog]

2 hours ago, 155V6 said:

Here's the Chrysler with the caravan from my for sale thread,plus a couple of Seat 131's.Let me know if there's anything you like there.

Chrysler is just what I'm after,Does it come with the caravan too?

I do like the silver 131 also.

What would you like of mine for those 3 items please?