The first purchase is a Classic Carlectables, 1/43 Holden VY SS Utility - with Canopy (factory). Effectively, a VY SS Panelvan. I have only seen a handful of these on the road, and was quite taken with the 1/43 version.
The casting is very good, and the fine detail is captured accurately. None of the doors open, but this is rare in 1/43. The interior is very good, with multicoloured and patterned seats, and a nice dash. The body colour is called 'Phantom'.
The wheels are nicely cast, not too 'chromey' and capture the sheen of the real cars rims accurately. You can also see tiny brake calipers on the disc brakes if you squint. Best of all, this car was on special - and cost $25. As one of only 1250 produced, this is quite a scarce model. I am not a big Commodore fan, but this is a nice example of design, and is a little different to your normal Commodore.
The second car was a very attractive Biante/AutoArt 1/43 Ford XB Falcon GT, as raced by Allan Moffat in the 1976 Bathurst 1000.
This is a beautifully rendered version of the XB Coupe. The body shape is accurate, the colour scheme is accurate, and the racing wheels and interior are accurately represented. This was also on special at Fisher Discounts, at $45.
The limits of my photographic skill dont truly capture how well presented the interior of this car is. You can see a racing seat and various racing modifications which are different from the road version. In this scale, its impressive.
The underside is also different. The front wheels actually turn! The suspension and underbody look accurate, and notice the racing pipes. Apart from the fact its clean, and there is a dirty big hole that a screw goes into to hold it on a baseplate, it could be a real car flipped on its side.
This shot nicely shows the beauty of the racing paint scheme. I wish more people would paint their road cars in more interesting paint schemes than the factory monocolour offerings. After driving a car painted in flames for 20 years, its definitely easier to find your car in a parking garage, among other advantages.
My final photo. Those are tiny clip on plastic covers over the headlights. On the real car, there were little angled curves on the inner edges, directing air into the radiator. Its the only inaccuracy I can find. Dont XB Coupes look good from the front ? Rhetorical question.
Final purchase, from Ebay, was this Matchbox Superkings K7 Racing Car Transporter. I already own one of these, but it was in 'much played with' condition, and I lost the racing car when I was a child. Box ? Also gone. I have no idea what the scale of this vehicle is. It could be 1/87.
A total fantasy design, not based on any real car, this was a childhood favourite. I saw this on ebay and even though it was without its box, i decided to bid anyway. It is in excellent condition with only a few very small chips, and the plastic car cover is unmarked. There was also a white version of this model produced. I've never seen it though.
This model came with the No 24 'Team Matchbox' 1:75 F1 Racing Car. Also in excellent condition. The stickers are in excellent condition. As a toy and not a model, like the other cars reviewed in this post, the paint quality is different, and it has thick stickers, not tampo printed or decals for detail. The paint colour screams 'Shell' to me. but it has 'Firestone', 'STP' and 'Team Matchbox'.
I like the gullwing doors. The rear door lowers, and the tray that the racing car rides in also pulls out to form a ramp. The design itself dates from 1972. Im not sure when this actual model was produced. By entering the garage it replaces the much played with version. I plan to update my Superking collection piece by piece. Id prefer boxed versions, but an unboxed version in this condition is fine by me.
Ratings
Classic Carlectables 1/43 VY SS Ute with Canopy
Quality 8
Design 8
Colours 8
X-factor 6
Rating: 30/40
Biante/AutoArt 1/43 Ford Falcon XB GT Moffatt-Schuppan 1976 Bathurst
Quality 9
Design 8
Colours 9
X-factor 9
Rating: 35/40
Matchbox Superkings K7 Racing Car Transporter
Quality 7
Design 9
Colours 6
X-factor 9
Rating: 31/40
The MB K7 is a model that has always intrigued me - although I never owned one when they were new. But I do have a couple of tatty yellow ones I've acquired since - I was intrigued to see that one version has no A Posts, but the other does - I'm presuming they were added to later versions (to add strength?), since the later white version has them, too. The K36 version is one I have yet to find.
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