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CARD SHARKS LEARN HOW TO SPOT THE DIFFERENCES ››› THE PASSION, PRODUCTS & PERSONALITIES DEAN JEFFRIES’ Maisto C7 ’Vette LEGACY p.32 RAMAAYZSING $W2OW,0! S0tr0ucto Mantaray 77 NEW MODELS & FRESH MINT GEAR REVIEWED Danbury Mint’s Display until September 30, 2013 New ’48 Chevy COLA NUTS Motor City Classics’ Coca-Cola line FALL 2013 | DCXmag.com







contents Die CAst x | fall 2013 features OUT OF THE BOX 30 | Dean of Design 26 | CMC 1929 Bugatti Type 35 “Monaco GP” A visit with the legendary Dean Jeffries Accidental Tourist 46 | Cola Nuts 34 | Structo Dean Jeffries “Mantaray” Motor City Classics “Coca-Cola” lineup adds life Catching Rays 38 | Danbury Mint 1948 Chevrolet Fleetline Aerosedan Just in Time 42 | ACME 1932 Ford Five-Window Coupe Hot Rod Heaven 4 DCXmag.com

REGULARS UP FRONT QUICK LOOKS 50 | Hot Wheels Highway 6 | On the Web 54 | Paudi Nissan Teana/Altima 55 | Minichamps Mercedes-Benz Spot the Difference e ultimate diecast portal SLR McLaren “Stirling Moss” 56 | Esval 1941 Packard One- 66 | Collector Profile: “Crazy” 8 | Editorial Eighty Limousine Jack Struller ... 57 | Auto World “Al Joniec” 1968 Passing. Changes. Mustang Cobra Jet ... isn’t really crazy, he’s just focused 58 | Hot Wheels Elite e Dark 10 | Scale Mail Knight Rises “Bat Pod” 59 | AUTOart Lancia Delta S4 Questions, answers, comments 60 | Hot Wheels Elite Ferrari FF 62 | Maisto 2014 Corvette Stingray 12 | Inside Line 64 | Kyosho Ferrari 250GT “Sebring 1963” Events and industry news ON THE COVER: Summer may 14 | Showroom be drawing to a close, but the best “rays” are inside our pages, along New releases & first looks with Dean Jeffries, Danbury Mint, and so much more! THIS PAGE: Danbury Mint’s 1948 Chevy is a new ray of hope for 1:24 collectors. Check it out on page 38. Die Cast X (ISSN 1551-854X) published quarterly by Air Age Inc., 88 Danbury Rd., Wilton, CT 06897 USA. Copyright 2013, all rights reserved. Application to Mail at Periodicals Postage Prices is Pending at Wilton, CT, and additional offices. Canadian Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40008153. CONTRIBUTIONS: All materials published in Die Cast X magazine become the exclusive property of Air Age Inc., unless prior arrangement is made in writing with the Publisher. Descriptions of products were obtained from manufacturers or their press agencies and do not constitute an endorsement by the Publisher or guarantee their safety. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Call (866) 298-5652. Outside the U.S.: (386) 246-3323, or go to our website: DCXmag.com. Rates one year (4 issues): U.S. $25; Canada, $28, including GST; all others, $32. All international orders must be prepaid in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank. Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express accepted. ADVERTISING: Advertising rates are available on request. Please send advertising materials to Advertising Dept., Air Age Inc., 88 Danbury Rd., Wilton, CT 06897 USA; phone (203) 431-9000; fax (203) 529-3010; email: sales@ airage.com. EDITORIAL: Send correspondence to Editors, Die Cast X, Air Age Inc., 88 Danbury Rd., Wilton, CT 06897 USA. Email: [email protected]. We welcome all editorial submissions but assume no responsibility for the loss or damage of unsolicited material. To authors, photographers and people featured in this magazine: all materials published in Die Cast X become the exclusive property of Air Age Inc. unless a prior arrangement is made in writing with the Publisher. CHANGE OF ADDRESS: To make sure you don’t miss any issues, send your new address to Die Cast X magazine, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 USA at least six weeks before you move. Please include an address label from a recent issue, or print the information exactly as shown on the label. For faster service, go to DCXmag.com/cs, and click on the customer service link. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Die Cast X magazine, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 USA.

ON WEBTHE DCXMAG.COM: THE ULTIMATE DIECAST PORTAL Git ygoiuvregaowatay! DCXmag.com I t’s been an exciting few weeks for us on the web. Our social media channels have been humming, and with all the new releases, we’ll have more video on deck as you read this. Your feedback and response to our quick-moving, high-definition reviews on both the Die Cast X website and our YouTube channel means that we’ll be doing more and more — so keep watching! Also, remember that DCXmag.com is still the place to go for new release info, bonus photos, and the latest DCX videos. You can comment on what you see — and tell us what you’d like to see — with a couple of simple mouse clicks. We check it every day, so jump on and let us hear what you have to say. Want to join the fun in “real time”? Our biweekly spreading the word, too — so check it out, and already in! And here’s the best part: if we hit live show, Cup O’ Joe, has been enjoying an join us every other Sunday at 11 a.m. EST. 5,000 “likes” by the time we close the contest upswing in viewership, and as we approach (August 1), our own editor in chief will give away a 200,000 viewer minutes, we’ve been seeing Our Facebook page (facebook.com/Di- one-of-a-kind pre-production prototype of the some new faces on the chat, and hearing from eCastXMag) has exploded, and as we close in on Highway 61 GTO — straight out of his collection collectors as far away as Bulgaria, Brazil, and 5,000 likes, we want to remind you to join in soon — with a Certificate of Authenticity and a copy of Turkey. It’s that feedback and participation that and to take part in our “Git Your Goat” giveaway the magazine it was featured in to another lucky makes the show so much fun. We’ve fielded re- — a chance to win a trio of long out-of-produc- collector. We’ll announce the winner — hopefully, quests for models to be brought on the air, and tion Highway 61 GTOs that we discovered in a winners — on August 4. Git liking. we’ve been bringing the cars you want to see — back closet at the Air Age offices in Connecticut. both brand-new and classic releases — on cam- Once we dusted the hard-to-find models off, we If you’ve got a model car website, like to blog, or just want era. Collectors on popular message boards like decided to give them to one lucky collector. at to join a growing community of diecast collectors, stop in to Hobby Talk (hobbytalk.com), Scale 18 (scale18. lucky collector could be you. All you need to do is Facebook, DCXmag.com, or live with Cup O’ Joe. Post a few com), and more have been chiming in, and “like” the Die Cast X Facebook page, and you’re in pictures, talk about your collection, and above all, introduce the running. Already “like” it? No sweat — you’re yourself. We’d like to meet you. 6 DCXmag.com



EDITORIAL Passing. Changes. FALL 2013 | VOLUME 9, NO. 4 BACK IN MID APRIL, I PLACED A CALL TO DEAN JEFFRIES’ OFFICE, hoping to arrange a visit EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief Joe Kelly Jr. for Bill Bennett, and book an interview with Dean about Structo’s Mantaray. I figured I’d get Deputy Managing Editor Katherine Pierpont Copyeditor Suzanne Saunders an assistant or an answering machine. After two rings, I found myself on the phone with the CONTRIBUTORS father of the Mantaray, the designer and builder of the Monkeemobile and the Black Beauty, Bill Bennett, Wayne Moyer, Mike Zarnock MEDIA SERVICES Vice President Media Services & Corporate Strategy Laurene R. Booth Creative Director Betty K. Nero Art Director Kevin Monahan Graphic Designer Gustavo Galicia Web Producer Holly Hansen Production Assistant Paul Streeto VIDEO/PHOTOGRAPHY Senior Photographer Hope McCall Photographers/Videographers Joseph Arthur, Johnathan Henninger, Adam Lebenstein ADVERTISING Advertising Director Mitch Brian ›› 203.529.4609 Senior Account Executive Ben Halladay ›› 203.529.4628 Sales Assistant Tracey Terenzi CIRCULATION Consumer Marketing Manager Mike Valanzola Newsstand Director John Morthanos MARKETING & EVENTS Vice President, Marketing Laura Hagan Associate Creative Director Leslie Costa Event Manager Emil DeFrancesco Social Media Coordinator Devang Patel PUBLISHING Group Publishers Louis V. DeFrancesco Jr., Yvonne M. DeFrancesco and the fellow who’d painted “Little Bastard” on James Dean’s Porsche shortly before he wrecked into history. Many have never heard of Dean. He never self-promoted, and never had to. His work was his calling card, and on the phone, he was funny, open, and genuine. When I confessed to him that I was thrilled to be speaking with one of my idols, he chuckled — then thanked me for the kind words. Bill Bennett drove out to see Dean, and wound up spending the day, evening, and part of the night with him, talking about his life, his late wife, and cars - lots of cars. When I spoke to Bill the next PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER SWEETMAN day, he was as excited as I’d ever heard him. When Bill and I shared the news of his passing, we both were grateful to have had the chance to hear his voice, and shake his hand. We HOW TO REACH US - all of us - will miss him EDITORIAL MAIL 88 Danbury Road, Wilton CT 06897 USA greatly. Corgi Black Beauty Phone (203) 431-9000; Email [email protected] IN THIS ISSUE SUBSCRIPTION CUSTOMER SERVICE (866) 298-5652, You may notice a few changes in this issue of Die Cast X. We’ll be including more model +(386) 246-3323 (outside the U.S.) or reviews, going forward, and we’re re-allocating space so we can do what we’re here for: bring DCXMag.com/cs more new diecast and resincast releases to you. at may mean a shift from scale to scale, as the issues run — but it will guarantee that we’ll have more truly new models — like the still- 100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEED warm Maisto 2014 Corvette — for you, every time we print. If you are ever dissatisfied, you may cancel your subscription and receive a full refund for all We’ll be concentrating on more video, too, because collectors have told us that’s what they unmailed issues. DCX is always a great gift idea! want to see. We’re only too happy to oblige. It’s an amazing time to be a collector. Whether Just call us, or go online, and give a gift today. you like traditional print, or get your info on a tablet, smartphone, or personal computer, as technology and the media progress, we’ll be following along as we endeavor to bring our readers, viewers, and followers the very best in every issue. As always, I welcome your comments. Drop me a line. And enjoy the issue! Magazine Publishers RCX.com of America Joe Kelly, Jr. | Editor-in-Chief [email protected] PRINTED IN THE USA 8 DCXmag.com



Scale Mail YOUR FEEDBACK | WRITE TO US AT DCX AIRAGE.COM Das Zoot ist Sehr Gut! Southern California, but as you can see below, Bill doesn’t let that get in the way of performing his job. Bless him. — JK Got your mag today and enjoyed it very much — like every issue. But as one of “Ze German Readers” I wonder what is Angel Wings the “zoot”? e word is not existing in the German language In light of your recent article on GreenLight's 1:18 Mustang at all! But in every other aspect: go on with your great work II Cobra, I'm inquiring about some information regarding the on the mag! Charlie's Angels Farrah Fawcett version that is supposed to Nina Hochstetter be made by GreenLight. When is it coming out? Also - does Hi, Nina! We were just having fun with the title. “Zoot” is a anyone make a 1:18 or larger \"Fishbowl\" bus? slang word that can be used to describe everything from styl- anks for your help! ish clothing to the sound and feeling of John Jastremski great speed — as we used it to describe Bill Bennett the Mercedes Rekordwagen. It really does look like it’s moving, even when takes one for Hello, John. anks for your letter - and standing still — and it’s one of our very the team. for all the pics you sent along. We can favorite German cars. — JK WE WANT TO HEAR see that you're a fan of the Angels (and FROM YOU! Testing ... testing ... who can blame you?). You're in luck; from what we've been told, there will, indeed, Tell us what you like, what I see that you are putting more and be a Charlie's Angels Mustang II Cobra, you don’t and why Die Cast X more gadgets and accessories in the decorated in white with blue stripes, on is the best diecast maga- magazine. I like them, but does Bill \"laced\" wheels, and packaged as the zine ever! Send snail mail to Bennett really test each one, or does car that the late, lovely Miss Fawcett “Letters,” Die Cast X, Air Age he just look at them and write about drove. It's slated for release in the fourth Media, 88 Danbury Road, them? quarter 2013. As for those buses — wow, Wilton, CT 06897 USA, or Cliff Eaton we'd like to see that in a larger scale. email us at [email protected]. Howdy, Cliff. Rest assured that Bill e \"fishbowl\" bus (introduced in '59, We'll edit letters as needed, — ever the intrepid reporter — does, and so named for its giant windshield) and though we will read them indeed test every item that’s sent his was great looking, and some wore very all, we don't have room to way, even if it requires enlisting a neigh- cool fleet markings and advertising. Any answer or publish every one. bor to help out. It may not ever rain in takers? — JK COOL Dear Joe, I enjoyed the last issue featuring the TV cars, but I’m looking for something a lot Hello, John. One can never 'CAT more unusual than a Torino or modified Trans Am. As a kid, one of my favorite TV shows was underestimate the power of Bearcats!, an adventure show about a pair of troubleshooters in the pre-WW I American a childhood memory. at is Southwest. e stars, Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole, drove a new 1914 Stutz Bearcat (well, a an incredible car you’ve got replica — but it was built by George Barris). I never forgot the show, and after looking for one of there. A couple of brass era the replicas (originals are way out of my price range), I found one 15 years ago and restored it. models have been done in It’s still in my garage. 1:18 diecast, most recently by a company called CSM Aside from a 1:24 model by Franklin Mint, I don’t know of any diecasts of 1912-1916 — a 1:18 1913 Buick 25 — Bearcats. I’d love to see more “brass era” cars in model form, like a Mercer Raceabout (a Stutz and we agree: the cars are rival) or even one of the huge touring cars of the period. With brass radiators and lots of inter- important, not to mention esting details, the models would be a lot of fun. Perhaps the recently featured Indianapolis- beautiful. While some neat winning 1911 Marmon Wasp will start a trend towards more pre-WW I models. old plastic kits are available Keep up the good work! I’ve attached a photo of my car. ,we can only hope that more John Boyle ready-to-display manu- facturers will step forward and take the chance on these historic machines. In the meantime, you’ve got a pretty cool car to drive while you’re waiting. anks for sharing it! — JK 10 DCXmag.com



inside line events & industry news 21:04133”“SShtorwictly 12 3 Countryside, IL — just outside of Chicago — was the place to be this past March 24 if your passion is 1:43 car models. The “Strictly 1:43 Model Car Expo” is an annual hap- pening where friends from all over the country get together to catch up, add to their collections, trade, sell, and otherwise enjoy the scale. This year, folks got to see the lat- with the full ’50s treatment: nosed, 4 est creations from many top-line decked, and in the weeds, wearing manufacturers, and an added at- a toothy Chevy grille and polished 5 traction was the off-campus Fer- mag wheels. rari Expo Literature and Collectible 6 Show, held just a mile away at The late Steve Overy was sorely 7 Continental Motors the Saturday missed, but the first prototypes before. It was an intense side trip; of the last Minimarque model we saw more Ferraris than we’ve developed under Steve’s direction ever seen in one place before, both — a gorgeous 1933 Cadillac V16 in scale and parked throughout available in three versions — were the dealership’s showrooms and there (8). Two of the original Cadil- service bays. lacs were owned by Hollywood stars Marlene Dietrich and Robert Back at the main show, organizer Montgomery; hopefully more of Buzz Lockwood, head man at the the original MM43 models (the Route 66 Model Car Store, showed Duesenberg SSJ models come to brand-new, never-before-seen mind) will be added to this revived releases, as always. The official “Cars of the Stars” series. model of this year’s hoedown was Madison Models’ superb Mikhail Bashmashnikov(1) (B 1947 Studebaker Woody Wagon & G Group) displayed the most prototype (7). Studebaker never detailed 1:43 Duesenberg we’ve made the car, and only 100 models ever seen (2) — a 1933 Duesen- will be made. Conquest Models berg SJ Murphy Beverly Sedan also had a new Woody Wagon on with more than 240 parts (150 display, a 1952 Buick Roadmaster photo-etched). Mikhail’s upcoming (4), along with an eye-grabbing Type 57 Bugatti was shown as an 1955 DeSoto convertible(6), both in-process body(3). We’re looking in white metal. Madison Models forward to seeing that one — along and Conquest are sister compa- with more new 1:43 scale models nies; under the “MadRod” brand, and the full-scale folks who enjoy they also showed the DeSoto them — in Chicago next year.­ body as a limited street rod(5) —Wayne Moyer 8 12 DCXmag.com



SHOWROOM NEW RELEASES & FIRST LOOKS Huayra Power BBR Pagani Huayra “Saloon Geneve” 1:18 | $555 e world of exotic cars has long been the playground of BBR, and this maker never ceases to amaze and engage collectors of high- end, low-production replicas. Recently, they’ve turned their attention almost exclusively to resin, and this factory image of their carbon-fiber Pagani Huayra - the $1.3 million dollar, 720-horsepower star of the Saloon Geneve (Geneva Auto Show) shows just how gripping these models can be. With a flawless carbon finish, hand-applied polish, and exquisite external and cabin detailing, this is just the type of thing that many collectors look for when shopping models at this level of exclusivity (only 200 of this Huayra will be made, worldwide) and this price point. e Pagani will come affixed to a stitched, leather-lined base, and promises to sell out — and become even more valuable — fast. Inside track: if you truly love the exclusivity factor, jump on the version — 20 to be made — that comes on a red leather base, at a price that’s closer to $600. — Joe Kelly, Jr. carvillemodels.com Dual Personality BOPOHNONLITUNOSES! SUMMER WINDSOR NEO 1961 Ghia 6.4 BROOKLIN 1955 Chrysler Windsor Convertible 1:43 | $95.99 An American company, Dual Motors, built 117 Ghia-bodied GT cars based on the Chrysler 1:43 | $129.95 Firearrow design from 1956 through 1958. But when Ghia designed a new, sleeker body, then e all-new 1955 Chrysler lineup featured Virgil Exner’s dropped in the Chrysler 383 (6.4 liter) V-8 in 1960, the result was badged as the Ghia 6.4L. Dual Motors was the importer. Frank Sinatra bought the first one in this country, and everyone who “100 Million Dollar Look,” with design cues taken from was anyone in Hollywood had to have one. As if the car wasn’t unique enough, Sinatra (and the Parade Phaeton showcar. e longer, lower look eight other owners, including fellow Rat Packers Dean Martin and Peter Lawford) had his Ghia was especially effective on convertibles, and the plated mildly customized by George Barris with oval headlights, a smaller grille, and a black leather windshield frame and upper doorsills on Brooklin’s very interior. So, this isn’t Frank’s car. But it is a beautifully made and very accurate miniature of the accurate new Windsor Convertible (BRK-183) really stock Ghia 6.4L. Its high-gloss black paint is literally perfect, and every piece of trim, including enhance that look. Chrysler’s entry-level Windsor base the multi-color Ghia badge, is done with either plated or photo-etched parts. Scale fidelity and engine was a 301cid V-8, and Brooklin’s white-metal workmanship are as good as it gets; lots of flush-fitted butyrate glazing makes it easier to see model carries the Power Package dual exhausts the accurate upholstery and fitted luggage. e dash and its detailed instruments match pho- and whitewall tires. Brooklin has really nailed the tos, though at least some cars had bright metal instrument panels. e sleek shape is exactly lines, look, and details of Exner’s design, and its glossy right from all angles, as are the dimensions. Hooray for Hollywood — and thanks to JMModelau- Wisteria Blue paint matches color chips perfectly, with tos.com for providing this sample. —Wayne Moyer just a little orange peel. All the trim, except the relief-cast neoscalemodels.com scripts, is done with separate plated parts, and while the grilles could use a heavier blackwash, the “Twin Tower” taillights are neat. Interior details are especially critical on convertibles, and Brooklin has accurate upholstery patterns and a good dash, though, as usual, the gauges aren’t picked out. Door panels have one separate plated and one relief-cast handle. e three-tone interior colors don’t match anything in Chrysler references, though. Nonetheless, dimensions are accurate, as are the lines, and Brooklin’s model should be as popular as the full-scale car was in 1955. — Wayne Moyer brasiliapress.com BOPOHNONLITUNOSES! 14 DCXmag.com

HUNGARY HEART HOT WHEELS ELITE Nigel Mansell F1-89 1:43 | $55.99 Formula One’s turbo era of 1.5 liter engines producing upwards of 800 horsepower ended in 1988; 1989 regulations specified naturally aspirated engines with a maximum displacement of 3.5 liters. Ferrari, of course, went with a V-12 in a new chassis. Nigel Mansell joined the team and won two Grands Prix and Gerhard Burger another, but the unreliability of the new paddle-shifted 7-speed gearbox left Ferrari 2nd in points and Mansell 4th in the Driver’s Champi- BOPOHNONLITUNOSES! onship. Like all race cars, the F1-89 changed throughout the season, but race day photos show that Hot Wheels Elite’s new 1:43 scale model is a very accurate miniature of Mansell’s Hungarian Grand Prix winner. Its paint is excellent, and race photos confirm the graphics are accurate, along with the late-season flared front wing and a taller airbox, without the earlier inlets on its sides. Suspension geometry is correct all around, and the nicely molded thin plastic pieces are more realistic than the flat photo-etched parts in contemporary kits. Yes, the carbon brake disks should be black, but there are good-looking printed belts with photo- etched hardware in the cockpit. e shift paddles are too far behind the wheel, and there’s no gauge detailing, but everything else about this model matches photos, and its dimensions are right on, too. - Wayne Moyer hotwheels-elite.com Country Class PREMUIM X 1964 Ford Country Squire PBOOHNONLITUNOSES! 1:43 | $37 Splish Splash As American families moved to the sprawl of the suburbs, a demand was created for a vehicle that could haul a sheet PREMIUM X 1950 Nash Ambassador of plywood, carry the family, friends, or most of a Little League team when required, and look good while doing all 1:43 | $37 of the above. e answer was the station wagon, and Ford Nash’s Airflytes were the most aerodynamic American cars when they were introduced in 1949, and boasted some of the first fully unitized bodies. All that technology was lost on the fielded one of the better ones, placing its wood-pan- teenagers of the day, however; the car’s seats folded flat to make a large, comfortable bed. Do eled Country Squire at the top of the list. Premium the math. Here’s more math: Premium X’s take on the large Nash Ambassador for 1950 calls X has just released this really fine resincast model that name out on its box and baseplate, and the resin model’s dimensions are right on the of the car as it appeared in 1964, and its excellent money for the bigger bathtub - but the in-scale, legible fender scripts badge it as a shorter finish (just a shade lighter than Ford’s Wimbledon “Statesman.” at gaffe aside, everything about this model is exactly as it should be. e White paint chips), realistic red interior, and wealth excellent two-tone paint has crisp separation lines, with perfectly fitted photo- etched beltline moldings, and every piece of trim is done, to scale, with of “in-scale” trim make it a real bargain at this price. either plated or photo-etched pieces. A favorite exterior detail is e fake wood framing and panels are just the right color the colorful, 3D hood emblem, and the interior trim is done and even include the bolt heads; every piece of trim is here to the same level, with a unique “Uniscope” instrument and in scale, including the “F O R D” letters at the hood’s pod (with detailed gauges) perched on the steering upper lip. True, a couple of those were misaligned, but column. ere are relief-cast, silver-painted interior these are easily fixed. Relief-cast interior trim and handles handles, as well as small cranks for the vent window. are all neatly painted silver, and the accurate dash has a well-done speedometer decal. Lines are right from every e model’s shape matches photos from all angles, angle, and dimensions are precisely 1:43 scale. Wild About and all dimensions are exactly 1:43 scale. anks Wheels provided this bargain-priced wagon for review. to Wild About Wheels for providing this sample. — —Wayne Moyer Wayne Moyer premiumx-models.com premiumx-models.com POBOHNONLITUNOSES! FALL 2013 15

SHOWROOM OPEN HEIR PBOOHNONLITUNOSES! OMG! ABS! AMG! HOT WHEELS ELITE Ferrari 458 Italia Spider 1:18 | $99 MINICHAMPS Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 It wasn’t easy for Ferrari to nip the top on its 458 Italia, given the 202mph supercar’s speed, and, oh yeah … where to put 1:18 | $135 the roof in its down position. Maranello’s answer came in the With all those post-nominal letters and numbers, it doesn’t take much to figure that form of a moderate redesign starting aft of the doors, all the the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 is a special car, before you even see it. Once you way back to the 458’s retro-bullet taillights. e simplicity and do, it’s apparent that this hairy variant of the retro supercar was made for track speed of the doffable top’s careful choreography as it splits, antics, with a racing 6-speed transmission mounted to the rear axle, a “stock” AMG then disappears below a hard tonneau, is remarkable. It can be 6.3 liter V8, a tightened and lowered stance, composite brakes, and a tweaked, light- argued that Mattel’s own choreography — the dance involved weight body with a giant carbon-fiber wing on its rear deck. e scaled version of in making ever-better model cars for the masses— is equally that body, wearing AMG presentation livery, is exceptional, too. Rather than casting notable. is latest from the Hot Wheels Elite catalog has the Benz in metal or resin, this sealed-body Minichamps replica comes formed from opening doors, deck, and boot, and steerable wheels. Metal- ABS plastic. Beneath a high-grade white paint finish (the factory resolved issues with early lized five-spoke wheels front ceramic-look brake discs and versions), the swoop and drama of the car sit perched above spider-like 12-spoke wheels and Ferrari calipers; their finish contrasts with and enhances the fat race rubber. ough the model is a static piece, the front wheels are poseable, and rolling the rosso corsa paint, screened-in vents, and the photo-etched car causes the brake discs to pass through hefty “Brembo” calipers. Small details are great; we cavallinos and “Ferrari” scripts. Everything’s tight and tidy, loved the space-robot headlights and stacked rear lensing, the red kill rings front and rear, and and the details in the cockpit (the mega-buttoned steering the three-pointed stars in the grille and deck lid. e heavily detailed cockpit is only visually ac- wheel, replete with paddle shifters, is a marvel in miniature) cessible, but it’s worth peering into for its roll cage, race seats, and center stack detailing. Given and on the peek-a-boo 562-horse V8 under the rear deck its reasonable price, to all the letters above, we add “A-OK.” — Joe Kelly, Jr. are crisply cast. What’s hard to believe is the excellence of the carvillemodels.com piece, for the price. — Joe Kelly, Jr. hotwheelselite.com BOPOHNONLITUNOSES! Carved Coach BOPOHNONLITUNOSES! BEETLE JUICE BROOKLIN 1934 Miller-LaSalle Hearse 1:43 | $159.95 KYOSHO 2013 VW Beetle Cabriolet For 1934, custom body manufacturer Miller introduced an “Art-Carved” Funeral Coach with a curved arch and support- 1:18 | $138 ing columns extending the full length of the body. e ornate e old Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet was a fun car, with a lot of charm — if driving with your “carving” was stamped metal, patterned to look like drapery panels. e body was offered on several chassis, but none nose on the windshield and living with the smell of exhaust on your clothes was your idea was more unusual than this one, on a stretched 1934 LaSalle. of charm. Now a new Cabriolet is bringing back all the good times, without the old ticky- is second full-sized hearse from Brooklin’s “Community ticky air-cooled ragtop’s foibles. To start with, it’s a lot more powerful - available engines are Service Vehicle” line has the real car’s slender vertical grille, a manual (or auto-clutched) 140-horse turbodiesel or 200-horse turbo’d gasoline four, or biplane bumpers, and “shielded” porthole louvers exactly a 170-horse five-pot matched to a six-speed auto. Still no barn burner, the car nonetheless right. e glossy black paint has some minor surface ripples, rings true to the old bug’s mildly counterculture roots. So does this Kyosho model, delivered with the long, textured roof insert and accurately reproduced in “Tornado Red” with the blown TSI gasoline four under its hood. e little red bug has carved panels in contrasting flat black. Separate chrome-plat- opening doors, hood, and trunk, a stiff, but working suspension, and steerable wheels. e ed windshield molding, handles, side trim, and semi-trimmed build and paint are Kyosho-typical perfect, as is the fitment of the headlights, taillights, and portholes make this one fully detailed on the outside. e all the trim; in front of metal brake discs, the plus-sized satin-toned five-spoke wheels are driver’s compartment has an accurate, but overpainted dash; wrapped in no-name, but deeply treaded rubber. It’s a sano piece: every bit of the model likewise the instrument details and seat upholstery. e door that’s been cast in plastic has been deco’d, plated, or painted. From the body-colored, heav- panels are plain, and it’s hard to see inside the rear compart- ily detailed dash above its carpeted floor, to the multi-level chassis and deeply-cast and ment, but there’s roller detail on the platform, though some paint-detailed “plate” engine, the model does the job with quiet quality. Add in the snap-on unpainted metal can be seen on the sides. is big beauty plastic uptop and boot, and this little Cabrio becomes charming, indeed. — Joe Kelly, Jr. makes an impressive addition to any hearse or GM collection. carvillemodels.com — Wayne Moyer brasiliapress.com BOPOHNONLITUNOSES! 16 DCXmag.com

Bill Bennett’s “Lifestyles of the Auto Obsessed” Once again, our own Bill Bennett tests (and occasionally toasts) the accessories and add-ons that make the car lifestyle so much fun. FIX IT TBHLIENRGAININ’ IN SHOCK AND AHHHH SHIFTY MOVES TRAXXAS Ultra AUTOart “gearshift” AUTOart Two-Stage Coilover Pen & Flashlight AUTOart Basin Pump Premium Tire Glue umbrella $29.95 $39.95 $10 $59.95 Fans of go-fast hardware will like this pen and flashlight set. We don’t know what pinky- Stuff happens, no matter If you’re going to the races, Resembling a racing coil-over shock with two-stage springs in-the-air types call these how careful or experienced a this umbrella is the ideal take- and a reservoir, this 4 1/2-inch beauty is the picture of precision, around the chateau, but collector you may be. When along to fend off the weather with a titanium gray or gold anodized housing, and red and black around here, we call these it does, putting the pieces in style. e umbrella’s eight- powder-coated springs. To use it, just unscrew the spring portion, things plungers — and if you back in place can be … trying. panel, silver-coated nylon reverse it, and screw it back together for a functional pen; push don’t know what they do, it’s a If a strong, instant repair is canopy is 26 inches wide, so the lens on top of the reservoir to switch on the LED flashlight. fair assumption that you have required, Traxxas’ Ultra Pre- you’ll deflect mid-day rays or never experienced the panic mium Tire Glue can handle a light sprinkle with the best e little ring on the top makes it an easy addition to your key of rising water. Rest assured, most of the fixing. We’ve of them. Opening it is fun, too: chain, or the little damper can be clipped on to your shirt like a this nifty item — referred to as tried it, and the stuff is scary a gearshift-like handle with a conventional ballpoint - just the thing for writing those fat checks a “basin pump” by AUTO- fast; though its intended use shock absorber mechanism at the next Concours with flair. art — has been thoroughly is to hold tires on RC rims allows one-touch deployment evaluated at the Bennett at hellacious speeds, it’s in seconds. With room enough GUILT FREE CARBS Household Department of so fast and furiously sticky for two, be assured that you’ll Product Testing and has that we’ve been able to use have the classiest brolly in the AUTOart Carburetor Salt & scored the highest marks. It’s it to repair everything from crowd. Pepper Shaker too pretty to press into service delicate radio antennas clearing sinks (as it was here), to one particularly heavy, $99.95 or clearing other, less delicate badly broken rear wing on an What could be more clogs, so we’re hoping that the IndyCar sample that arrived fun than passing a vast majority of these little in shreds from the manu- fellow car nut a classic shifters will be sold to folks facturer. e first repair Weber DCOE when who want to stick in onto a was truly instantaneous, they ask for the salt, flat surface and practice heel- thanks to the lightness of pepper, or sugar? Not and-toe downshifts through the part; the wing took all of much, say we. AUTO- the Nordschleife. Down and 15 seconds to be secured. art’s lively homage to gritty, or Walter Mitty, the stoichiometric metering thing is really cool. at’s impressive. So is the comes with two chromed velocity apparent lack of serious stacks for the spices; look closely and you’ll see the “S” “hazing” from the stuff (a and “P” patterned in their tops. Pulling on the wing nut opens a common “outgassing” by- hinged door on the Weber’s body, perfect for stashing packets of product of curing cyanoac- sugar or sweetener. e carb is finished in bead-blasted alumi- rylates). ough we’d think num, and it’s been exquisitely detailed with chromed and brass twice before using it on clear hardware, and from a short distance, it looks like the real thing. parts, for gluing tires, wings, What a gas! squirming monkeys … this stuff grips like nothing we’ve COFFEE BRAKE ever used. — Joe Kelly, Jr. traxxas.com AUTOart Stainless Steel Brake Rotor Plate and Coffee Cup Set $34.95 Car junkies run on caffeine, so it’s a natural that a man cave would benefit from having this coffee cup, saucer, and spoon set around. ese appear to have been stolen from somebody’s front suspen- sion; the saucer looks exactly like a cross-drilled brake rotor, and the handles of the cup and spoon have lightening holes drilled in them to continue the theme. Made of sturdy stainless steel, these pieces can stand the abuse meted out by a manly man, but still look good enough to be set at the table with his girly girl - or kidly kids, for that matter. autoartmodels.com FALL 2013 17

SHOWROOM Michael Schumacher’s record for the most F1 Championships. Minichamps’ BULLY 1:18 model of his RB6, configured as MINICHAMPS Renault R86 “Vettel 2010 it was raced in the 2010 Brazilian Brazilian GP” Grand Prix, is beautifully as- sembled. e rich navy blue paint 1:18 | $125 with red, yellow and white Red Bull livery is about as striking as you Sebastian Vettel can find, and the photographic end is one amazing Formula One driver: young, talented and very, plates on the rear wing are nicely rep- very fast. Driving for Red Bull Racing, the 25-year-old licated. e car’s stance is spot-on, and though it’s sealed, with German has finished on the podium in almost half of the F1 no removable panels, what you can see is magnificently done. races he’s started, won more than one-quarter of them, has On the corners, scuffed tires mounted on OZ Racing wheels won the F1 World Championship in 2010, 2011, and 2012 and, as look perfect. e suspension pieces, undertray and diffuser are of this writing, is leading the 2013 F1 Season with two wins in all done in fabric textured plastic, nicely replicating the shapes four starts. We’d call that a good start, if his goal is to challenge of these bits and their carbon-fiber construction, too. With Schumacher as his hero, and all that history already behind him, this remembrance of Vettel’s first championship year might become one of the breakout collectibles from a potentially phenomenal career … and that’s no bull. — Bill Bennett carvillemodels.com MONDO TOPOLINO ACME TRADING “Mondello & Matsubara” 1937 Fiat Topolino BPOOHNONLITUNOSES! 1:18 | $129.95 Fiat is back on these shores again, and the little 500s of today harken back to a unit called the Fiat 500 Topolino. Like the modern version, the elder Italian was among the smallest road cars of its day - and that made the aerodynamic coupe a perfect candidate for use in drag racing. at’s what Joe Mondello and the late Sush Matsubara thought, anyway, and once they swapped out the mouse motor they’d been running in their diminutive car for a blown Chevy 427, the theory was proved correct with consistent 7-second blasts in the quarter. ACME’s RALLY got the cackling little Fiat done here in fine form, in a model notable not only for its paint and RIG finish — which are very good on this pre-production sample — but for its overall accuracy in replicating the car in its early days with rat power. at engine is accessible via a lift-off hood, AUTOART 2012 HINO GT500 1:43 | $114.90 and it’s done to a turn with ribbed valve covers, metallized parts, and a full-house set of wires, pipes, and cables. After checking out the open-air cockpit and scuffed slicks, we pored over a is AUTOart 1:43 HINO GT 500 truck (yes, we said “GT” and “truck” in the same sentence) is patterned after the bunch of ’60s-era photos of the car at work. unit that’s been boinking through the sand in the Dakar ough the headers and some sponsor Rally, and collecting Class Championships (four in a row, decals changed from frame to frame and as of this year’s event) for Team Sugawara. No, this isn’t race to race, ACME’s replica brings back the same rig used to deliver parcels; though the truck a great era - and a groundbreaking looks like its road-going cousins, this carbon-bodied mini- machine. Highly recommended. — monster uses a comparatively tiny engine — a turbodiesel Joe Kelly, Jr. straight six of around 8 liters — to crush its competition, acmediecast.com who run larger, heavier machines. AUTOart’s model of the 2012 entrant is a riot of crisp sponsor logos on a hybrid metal and plastic body. e details all over are tiny, and very well done, from the delicate headlights and bezeled rear markers to the multi-layered chassis, jammed with heavy-duty running gear. Above the knobby tires, the right-hand-drive cab is full of sharp castings and legible BPOOHNONLITUNOSES! tampos, and the effect is more like a submarine control room than the sand-bound dash for a truck. Given the popularity of this series — and the HINO brand — we Gösser, Faster, Better imagine that “dashing” is exactly what collectors will be doing. Rally ’round, boys. — Joe Kelly, Jr. autoartmodels.com MINICHAMPS BMW “Gösser Beer” BMW 3.5 CSL 1:18 | $135 Team Schnitzer and their Gösser Beer-sponsored BMW 3.5 CSL had a good racing season in 1976, winning both the Nurburgring 1000km and the 6 Hours of Zeltweg on the Osterreichring circuit in Austria, finishing the season second to Porsche in the World Championship for Makes. Nicknamed “Batmobiles” because of their outrageous body mods, the BMWs were colorful, and went like stink, to boot. After previously releasing the Nurburgring winner, Minichamps has now issued the Zeltweg car in a burn- your-eyes-out green, orange, purple, blue and white Gösser Beer and Denzel livery. It’s a wicked-looking piece, and beneath the livery, the model has opening doors and a removable bonnet and boot. Sitting on scuffed steam roller rubber and basketweave BBS wheels, the car hugs the ground with the slightest rake; taken alongside those hammer-blow graphics and livery, the interior is understated (as it should be) with matte black paint on everything except the instrument cluster, with a flocked racing bucket seat with 5-point racing harness for the solo passenger. ose passengers — Dieter Quester and Gunnar Nils- son, who shared driving duties at Zeltweg — made the most of the car’s 3.5 liter DOHC six, and so has Minichamps, stuffing a ton of detail beneath the lift-off lid. Overall, from its cow-catcher nose to its wild whale tail, this is a nicely done car with a lot of plumbing and wiring detail to go along with its hard-to-miss look. Recommended. — Bill Bennett 18 DCXmag.com



showroom BPOOHNONLITUNOSES! Brazilian Whacks French Curves Redux Hot Wheels Elite Minichamps “Mullin Collection 1939 Bugatti 57C “Aravis” F1-90 Mansell 1:43 | $95 1:43 | $55.99 Only three Type 57C Aravis drophead coupe bodies were 1989 World Champion Alain Prost moved to Ferrari for the 1990 season, built to Jean Bugatti’s design, and Jean himself called it “the bringing his Champion’s #1 with him, and relegating Nigel Mansell to the most beautiful Bugatti.” The last one, S/N 57768, was built position of second driver. When the season started the only noticeable difference in the Ferrari for famed French driver Maurice Trintignant, and is now in F1-90, or 641, was a taller biplane rear wing replacing the 89’s triplane arrangement. Ferrari Oxnard, CA’s Mullin Collection. It’s also the subject of this introduced the revised 641/2 at the third race of the season; it had a shorter, more rounded gorgeous — and accurate — resin model from Minichamps. duckbill nose, a thicker front body (to permit larger fuel tanks), and smaller, higher radiator 1939 photos show a thin chrome molding between the exit ducts. Hot Wheels Elite has released two very accurate F1-90 models, Mansell’s 4th-place body and rear fenders, parking lights at the bottom of the Brazilian GP car and the 641/2 version he drove to win the later Portuguese Grand Prix. The grille, and the side molding above the color separation line, shape and details of both models match 1990 photos and illustrate these changes very well. while photos from the Mullin website show Minichamps’ Both models have the 1990 yellow background for the Agip decal, and the Brazilian car correctly model is a precise miniature of 57768 as it looks today. has no background behind the FIAT letters; the Portuguese version has an equally correct blue Its two-tone blue/cream paint is excellent, with a very background, and the later version also has a correct, larger Goodyear logo on the rear wing. thin photo-etched stripe providing the color separation As with the F1-90 model, suspension details are accurate, as is the scale fidelity. Hot Wheels The hood hinge, louver trim, and stone guards are printed really did their research on these (no surprise, there, given the Ferrari license), and the models bright chrome, while the trunk hinges, latches, handles, compare quite well to the Tameo kits built in and other details including the flat “horseshoe” grille are the early 1990s — always a good thing. all plated parts. Minichamps hasn’t left anything off. Big — Wayne Moyer aluminum-colored drums are visible behind the accurate hotwheels-elite.com photo-etched wire wheels, and there’s basic chassis detail cast with the baseplate. The up top has realistic wrinkles, texture, and sheen, with a printed silver molding at the bottom. Inside, the exposed seat supports, body-color dash (with legible gauges, of course), and separate plated handles match Aravis photos too. Jean would agree — this truly is beautiful. — Wayne Moyer carvillemodels.com Popular Pony BOPOHNONLITUNOSES! Auto World 1965 Ford Mustang 2+2 1:18 | $89.99 Thirteen years after the original 1:18 Ertl/FoMoCo “Precision 100” 64 1/2 Ford Mustang convertible shook up the diecast col- lecting world, the current owner of the molds, Auto World, is releasing this 2+2 fastback pony in the same color — Rangoon Red — with many of the original’s operating features, including opening doors, hood, and trunk (on real aspect hinges); a carpeted in- terior with tilting front seats, working visors, and a fold-down rear seat; working suspension and steering, a rotating drive shaft, and an up-down radio antenna. The paint and finish on the car are very good, and even though the chromed bits aren’t done with the same pricey electro-plating process the original P-100s wore, the overall job is right for the price — as is the packaging, which nixes the clamshell/sleeve delivery the older car enjoyed, in favor of a three-window display box. That box is part of this release’s “hook” — it features the cover of the January 1965 issue of Popular Mechanics, boasting a Rangoon Red fastback kicking up its heels (alongside a ’65 Plymouth Barracuda and a contemporary Chevrolet Corvair). The model attempts — and succeeds — in replicating that cover car, right down to the red stripe performance rubber. The box also affords a look at the scaled ’Stang’s neat chassis — done with faux “factory” overspray on its red oxide base — as well as offering up a gander at the model’s photo-etched grille and galloping mascot. This pony still delivers. — Joe Kelly, Jr. autoworldstore.com 20 DCXmag.com



showroom Clay Day Sandifer “Design and Color Studies” Prices/Scales Vary Before computers came along, having a scale model on the table was the only way to see how light would play over a car’s shape, or how different colors or trims would look in the real world. Once approval was given to a design, most of these BPOOHNONLITUNOSES! workaday models were scrapped. Now, thanks to Samuel Sandifer, some of the more important survivors are being recreated in extremely limited numbers, and sold through an exclusive with JM Modelautos. Here’s the remarkable thing: each of these Eagle Eyed replicas, ranging from the Charger III (pictured) to early LaSalle color studies and Ford Motor Company profile models (viewable in the bonus gallery on DCXmag.com) have been care- Replicarz 1973 Eagle-Offy IndyCar fully lifted directly from the nearly priceless originals, using the old models as masters for the new tooling. Sandifer —who dates back to when these models 1:18 | $159.99 were still being made — has cast and finished each piece We just can’t seem to get enough of Replicarz’ latest models completely by hand. Limited? Oh, yeah. Expensive? You — and we mean that literally. The company is righteously betcha. But if you love the history of design, warming over some of the late Carousel 1’s tools — easily and remember those old black among the best mold sets in the IndyCar world - much to the and white photos of Harley, delight of collectors. This time, it’s the Eagle-Offenhauser that Virgil, Edsel, Gordon, or Gordon Johncock drove to win an otherwise disastrous Indy any of the masters 500 in 1973. The car, seen here as a pre-production sample poring over one of with a couple of tweaks still a-waiting, nonetheless comes these, you can’t across as a sweet piece, with a full-on, turbo’d Offy 4 that’s get closer than been wired, plumbed, and set amidst the car’s intricate struts, this. — Joe Kelly, Jr. wings, and rear suspension bits. There’s a smattering of noble PBOOHNONLITUNOSES! jmmmodelautos. materials, like the screening on the intake horn and the yellow com steel springs, but the car’s big trick is its split-up-the-middle body. Grab the top section and lift it off to reveal the car’s inner workings, including the fully wired rear dash, gauged binnacle, and pedals up front. Press the nose down, and the pushrod Coupe-E Cat suspension acts on the springs set inboard of the hinged and pivoting control arms. The orange color, crisp STP and sponsor graphics, impeccable wheels and Good Year race tires make this AUTOart 1961 Jaguar E-Type 1:18 | $245.90 one a stunner on the shelf; all that under-the-skin fun makes it one that won’t stay there long. — Joe Kelly, Jr. The Jaguar E-type causes folks to stop and go glassy- replicarz.com eyed, especially if the observed machine is on the hoof. Few cars in the history of the automobile can lay claim to such perfection of line and detail; even fewer can back up the pulchritude with power. But the Jag could, and in scale, the car has been a hit — though a qualified one — for AU- OBPOHNONLITUNOSES! TOart. We covered the roadster in our Summer 2013 issue, and now the coupe has arrived on the scene as a part of the upscale “Signature” lineup. Our sample arrived in BRG, along with a serialized certificate and a brochure covering the real car’s history and the model’s virtues. There’s a lot of both. The model’s opening doors, hatch, and tilting hood reveal a masterful assemblage of precision castings large and small, perfect paint and finish, and scale textures that tease for a touch. Under-hood, the straight 3.8 liter six is March, Halted beautifully finished, and abundantly wired and piped; the Replicarz 1984 March 84C spring-loaded wishbone suspension flexes and rebounds 1:18 | $169.99 here, and at the car’s complex, deeply rendered rear axle. The RHD cabin is carpeted and features real leather seats For all the preparation and planning, Indy can be a cruel place. Gordon Johncock found that out and a crisp dash and console, and the glazing, headlights, in 1984, when the March 84C he was piloting crashed on lap 104, injuring his ankle and twisting and chrome everywhere is spectacular. As with the the car up beyond repair. Powered by a Ford-Cosworth DFV turbo V8 making an impressive roadster, only one thing hobbles this otherwise excellent 800 horsepower, Gordon’s March wasn’t alone. Tom Sneva (another DNF - blown CV joint) and scale model on display: the tires mounted to the otherwise Rick Mears (who won that year) left the starting line in 84Cs, as well. That means that Repli- amazing wheels are too small. If you can get past that, this carz can make the most of this Carousel 1 mold set, and from what we see in this hand-built is one of the better releases of the past several years, and advance sample, they plan to. Given the 11-year difference between this car and Johncock’s an important car to have in any diecast collection.— Joe victorious ‘73 Eagle-Offy, the tech gap between the cars is dramatic, as you’d expect. Though Kelly, Jr. sleeker on its outside, when this beautifully liveried and painted model splits (one of the cool- AUTOartmodels.com est tricks in all of 1:18), it does so literally from nose to tail, exposing everything from the triple fluid reservoirs at the foremost bulkhead, to the nicely patterned and rivet-detailed carbon fiber shell. Behind that armor is the stressed-member V8. This one’s a real treat: among all of BOPOHNONLITUNOSES! the sharply cast pieces, we counted a couple of different shades of metallized finishes, and at least two different sheens of graphite black on the engine and transaxle, in between all the vinyl and plastic wiring and plumbing. Once you’re done tracing all the forward-running cooling pipes and the full-on cockpit (the gauges alone are almost worth this one’s price), break out your best squint to see the spring within the manifold blowoff valve and the impeller nested inside the turbo intake. Cruel day - cool model. Highly recommended. — Joe Kelly, Jr. replicarz.com S PHOTOS O2N2LDINCEX!mag.com

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showroom OPBOHNONLITUNOSES! Positive Spin Magnifique Spin Master NASCAR Minichamps Mullin Collection 1934 Voisin C27 Grand Sport Tourer 1:64 | TBA 1:43 | $95 Model car makers are usually an energetic lot, but when we Minichamps’ latest entry in its “Mullin Automotive Museum Collection” series is this 1:43 1934 got on the blower with the fellows who made these first Voisin C27 roadster, as bodied by Figoni, and restored á la Mullin. The yellow and black paint are shots, we felt enthusiasm fairly pouring out of the handset. hard to miss, and notes like the tiny hood latches, majestic winged radiator mascot, and the Spin Master is a toy company on the move. They started readable gauges in its dash are best seen through a magnifier. The real car, chassis number making well-regarded 1:64 NASCAR models in 2011, and 52001, was one of only two made; after being shown at the Madrid Auto Salon, it found its way these first shots of some new additions to the series show to the garage of the Shah of Persia, for 23,000 francs. Back then, it was green and yellow; years a great deal of promise. The castings — an Earnhardt-era later, after being found in a barn (yes, that does happen), the car was restored by descendants Monte Carlo Aerocoupe, and a spate of “Generation 6” of the original carriage maker and Voisin’s chief designer, who painted it blue. Ultimately, Peter models based on the current machinery seen on the high Mullin located the car, and had it restored yet again, painting it in the colors we see today. Judg- banks — have been coated with clear; we can’t tell you ing by comprehensive photos of the real car, we can’t find a detail that’s been missed. Through which liveries these will wear, but with these crisp bodies the camera lens, the wired wheels, faux ostrich seat upholstery, and hollowed out exhaust to decorate, not to mention a full-on interior and some of pipe make the replica hard to distinguish from a model in a larger scale - perhaps even the real the best wheels and tires we’ve ever seen in this scale, car. One detail in particular had us gobsmacked: a tiny golden dot on the model’s dash, which we’re dying for you to find out. Sit tight, and stay tuned to represents (if not replicates) a brass St. Christopher medal on the restored roadster. That DCXmag.com for more news and images as they become golden dot says a lot about this maker’s impeccable eye, and this important series continues to available. — Joe Kelly, Jr. amaze. — Joe Kelly, Jr. spinmaster.com carvillemodels.com POBOHNONLITUNOSES! The “Gas Man’s” Ride Sprechen Sie Wow? Replicarz 1984 Indy 500 March-Cosworth “Tom Sneva” AUTOart Alfa Romeo 155 V6 Ti DTM “Hockenheim” 1:18 | $169.99 1:18 | $275 After winning the Indianapolis 500 in 1983, Tom “The Some people refer to the DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft) as the German equiva- Gas Man” Sneva returned to Indy in 1984 with a March- lent of NASCAR. There are certain similarities these days, but in 1993, DTM racers were far more Cosworth sporting his reigning champion’s #1, and snared linked to their road-going counterparts than were their NASCAR contemporaries from the the prestigious pole position with a scorching 210.029mph States. Say what you will, AUTOart’s 155V6 Ti, patterned after the car that won at Hockenheim — over 2mph faster than Howdy Holmes, who qualified in 1993 with the remarkable Alessandro Nannini at the wheel, is a sweet take on one of the second. Rick Mears was the third-place qualifier, and most successful of the breed, a purpose-built race car with a megawatt V6 engine and four- ultimately won the race. Sneva led more laps in 1984 than wheel-drive. As we’ve more or less come to expect from this maker, the paint and bodywork is all contenders except Mears, but retired after his 168th lap flawless, the stance is spot-on, and the shut lines are tight and even on the car’s four opening due to a failed CV joint. Replicarz has recreated Sneva’s doors and lift-off deck and hood. All the little details, like the gaskets around the glass, are red, white, and blue Texaco March 84C in diecast using executed beautifully, and peppered with small metal bits for the various hold downs and links the same tooling used to previously build Mears’s 1984 on the body. In between, the race day graphics are all done using a pad printer (tampos), and Champion, and it’s a gem of a model. The stance is correct, the durability and crispness of detail is amazing. Pop the one- piece bonnet and the massively and the white paint with red and blue livery captures the ducted engine compartment is very convincing; peel those doors open, or lift the rear deck pole winner perfectly. Lift off the one-piece upper body (carefully) and the same holds true for the interior and boot. One beef: the rubbery quality of and the molded composite tub and well-detailed cockpit the driver’s racing harness. Something fabric-based would have been a big improvement. But jump out; the former is nicely rendered in faux carbon overall, this is an extremely good - and good-looking - model with crisp and tidy detail every- fiber, and the latter has a three-gauge instrument panel where. Highly recommended. - Bill Bennett and fabric and photo-etch belts. At the rear, the turbo- autoartmodels.com charged Cosworth DFX engine and all of its accessories are compelling. All of the detail is there, right down to the turbo BPOOHNONLITUNOSES! impeller. This is a car worth having not only for its place in history, but also for the immaculate execution by Replicarz. — Bill Bennett replicarz.com 24 DCXmag.com



OUT OF THE BOX BY BILL BENNETT TAoccuidrenistatl CMC 1929 BUGATTI TYPE 35 “MONACO GP” 1:18 | $350 M ention classic Grand Prix motor racing and most enthusiasts think of high-powered, single-seat monopostos screaming through the tunnel, flying around the waterfront and ducking and parrying past the Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco. And why not? e fast cars, the beautiful people, the palatial yachts floating in the blue sea — and, of course, the tortuous race course and fabulous machines on it — make the Monaco GP the high-water mark of the race season. 26 DCXmag.com

e first GP to take place in Alfa Romeo 6Cs, this idyllic location occurred in Delage 15S8s, a lone 1929, when Anthony Noghès, Corre-La Licorne, and French cigarette manufacturer a pair of Maseratis - not to and Monacan by birth, helped mention a gaggle more of Types organize l’Automobile Club de 35 and 37 Bugattis. Monaco (ACM) and sweetened the pot by putting up a truly Now, seemingly by accident, grand prize: a 100,000 French CMC has crafted an amazing franc purse. Sixteen entrants 1:18 precision replica of the very were invited; the race was run on first car to win at Monaco, as Monaco’s streets on April 14, 1929 the first in a series of Type 35s with William Grover-Williams that CMC plans to release in driving his two-seat Bugatti its “Grand Prix National Color T35B to victory in the 100 lap Project.” By “accident,” we’re race, besting the Mercedes SSK not suggesting that the close to of Rudolf Carriciola, and other, 1,000 individual pieces that make lesser-known drivers piloting up the model came together by chance; we mean despite the original CMC announcement that CMC has a knack for working hardware, and that’s certainly the case on this fabulous they wouldn’t produce replicas little Type 35. Cranks crank, pulleys spin … and if those wee buckles on the hood straps decorated to resemble any look like they’re real, it’s because they are. Have fun. Bring a magnifier. particular automobile, this maker actually hit a truly important one machining and assembly. To don’t do it justice; it’s so well- almost square on the nose. the original set of pieces and suited for this color that folks castings, CMC has added a who believe all Bugattis should “TYPE” CASTINGS leather-strapped spare tire, be blue might find themselves However it happened, CMC’s a glass Brooklands-style converted on sight. As it would Grover-Williams’ Monaco- windscreen with a leather pad, be in life, CMC has sprayed the winning Bugatti arrived and a rearview mirror, and then body so that only the exterior here in its green and white topped off the result with an is painted, and left the effect 1929 race day livery. And it accurate race livery (accidental of unfinished raw metal on the didn’t take long to realize or not) that includes the correct inside surfaces. that though it’s based on registration numbers for Grover- their excellent “stock” 1924 Williams’ car. e detailing on this model Type 35, CMC has added a is nothing short of amazing. few well-chosen tweaks Coming out of its protective All over the body, polished to make this new model foam cocoon, the first thing that stainless steel hardware sparkles desirable, even to owners comes into view is the perfectly as the light catches it; nearly of that original French Blue applied, rich forest green paint microscopic bolts, laced together release. (purportedly called British Racing with fine stainless steel wire, With a hybrid body formed Green, for the first time, here) joins the sewn-together body with contrasting white numerals. and frame. e manual brake from diecast and pressed It’s obvious that the black and handle and shifter protrude metal, these scaled cars are a white photos of this car really through the body; when gently marvelous balance of old school hand-building and modern FALL 2013 27

OUT OF THE BOX THE EN BLOC ENGINE IS FITTED WITH Far left: TWO ZENITH SIDE DRAFT CARBURETORS, e engine is so deeply COMPLETE TO THEIR VENTURIS AND detailed and jammed with SET INTO A SEA OF AUTHENTIC ENGINE “noble” materials that it’s impossible to take it all in TURNED METAL AND BELIEVABLE just one sitting. LINKAGES, PIPES, AND CABLES. Above: e cockpit’s real leather seats, engine- pulled, the brake handle draws filled with all the levers, shafts, winged bonnet — something we turned dash, and all on cables running to all four pipes and pedals that made recommend at least once — the manner of tiny levers and wheels where they act on — if not the car run. Remarkably thin 8-cylinder, overhead cam engine knobs - most of which truly actuate — u-shaped brake leather is set onto the seats, and is a little jewel unto itself. Made work - are an incredible shoes inside the model’s brake more bits of hide are used as a of diecast, plastic, brass and sight. drums. ose assemblies are skirt for the windscreen and a copper, the en-bloc engine is Left: is issue of the his- easy to see, thanks to removable gasket through which the shifter fitted with two Zenith side-draft toric car includes a wheel eight-spoke wheels; turning the passes to the car’s right side. Our carburetors, complete to their change kit, with a tiny steering wheel sets a geared-in favorite bit of business was the venturis and set into a sea of mallet, and this wooden steering box to work, torquing hand-operated fuel pump lever authentic engine-turned metal spindle stand. Check linkages and knuckles as the - which goes up and down on a and believable linkages, pipes, out the brake shoes and perfectly cambered front wheels delicate hinge and plunger. and cables. Bugatti spent a lot of working suspension. pivot. time finishing their powerplants; STRAPPED CMC has captured the look of masterpiece from being truly As for that tiller, the wood- Less entertaining is the tiny those efforts on their engine. Only authentic to Grover-Williams’ rimmed wheel has four spokes hardware for the hood. If you have one thing separates this motive car — it’s not supercharged. with cord wrapping; the readable the nerve (and the eyesight) to gauges and dash-mounted release the real-time buckles at makes this beautiful bug a magneto are set into a machine- and leather belts and open the normally aspirated Type 35, and turned dash, above a cockpit Williams’ car was a blown Type 35B. SPY POWERED William Grover-Williams’ may have been a true International Man of Mystery. Born to French and English parents, he learned to drive at Is that a deal breaker? Well, no. is is a wonderful car. e the wheel of a Rolls-Royce, served as a chauffeur to a famous fit, the finish, the stance, and the artist (whose mistress he later married), and managed to beautiful detail are all about as rack up a great deal of victories — not to mention money good as it gets. And the Bugatti — racing motorcycles and Bugattis. During the war, he was Type 35 is as pretty a machine as deeply involved in espionage for the Allies; caught, and sent ever came out of Molsheim. As to to a German concentration camp, Grover-Williams was that mixup in the CMC literature, executed while there. Or was he? Grover-Williams had used well, someone, somewhere, had aliases most of his adult life, mostly so he could race without to have been looking at the same alarming his family. After the war, his widow lived with a photos we were as the decos fellow named Georges Tambal — who had, it is said, a definite were being cut and readied. resemblance to a certain dashing race driver. Yeah, baby. We’ll never know how this great little model came to be, virtually unheralded as the important replica is most surely is. We do know this: seldom does a maker of model cars put so much of their art on display so beautifully. And that, good people, is no accident. Highly recommended. SOURCES CMC Modelcars cmc-modelcars.com 28 DCXmag.com



Dean Jeffries, creator, designer, and builder of e Monkeemobile and the Black Beauty, is one of those larger than life personalities you only read about in magazines. And that’s exactly the reason why I was motoring into Hollywood, nosing over to the exit for Cahuenga Blvd. I was going to put the iconic designer and Dean builderintoourpages. A visit with the legendary Dean Jeffries BY BILL BENNETT of design I was a tad starstruck. Jeffries was one of When his hitch was over, Dean returned to Los Angeles, and started hanging out with the most the ’50s and ’60s most influential painters, pinstripers notable practitioners of this newfound automotive and custom car demi-gods, and a contemporary of craze. He made friends with Kenneth Howard, known other near-immortals like Von Dutch, Ed “Big Daddy” to the world as “Von Dutch,” who helped him refine Roth and George Barris. His dad was an auto mechanic his techniques for painting, lettering, and striping with a penchant for racing and hot rods, but a young motorcycles and cars. For a while he worked out of Dean wasn’t interested in his father’s profession — it George Barris’ shop in Lynwood, but when he and was too dirty. at didn’t mean Dean would ever stray Barris started to compete rather than complement too far. During his time in the Army, Jeffries learned each other, he moved out and opened his own shop the art of pinstriping while stationed in Europe, in Hollywood, eventually settling into a location on picking up the craft from an old German whose Cahuenga Blvd, adjacent to the Hollywood Freeway. specialty was painting and striping custom furniture and pianos. at’s where I’d be meeting him. I was almost there. 30 DCXmag.com

RACERS AND RAYS and custom car world would be to win at Oakland Dean Jeffries' iconic \"Black One of Dean’s friends from his hometown of Lynwood with a roadster of his own. Starting with chassis Beauty\" was seldom seen in was future Indianapolis 500 winner Troy Ruttman, who components from a pair of old Maserati Formula One daylight - and as this publicity introduced Jeffries to his racing friends and sponsors. racers, Dean used quarter-inch steel tubing to define photo shows, that's a shame. When Dean painted Ruttman’s J.C. Agajanian- the shape of a radical design. Long, low, and swoopy, Jeffries always felt that was the sponsored Indy race car, the upstart artist got invited the asymmetrical single-seater was equipped with prime reason for the show's to spend the month of May in Indianapolis with the a tilt-up bubble top, and fitted with a hand-formed unsuccessful run. Agajanian team. is became a regular pilgrimage aluminum body covered in pearlescent white paint. for him and his kit full of brushes and paints, for the Powered by a Shelby Ford 289 V8 and rolling on One of Dean's oldest rods is next 33 years. His client list steadily grew at Indy; he Halibrand magnesium wheels, the “Mantaray” handily a chopped, channeled, and was eventually retained by Mobil Oil to make sure its sectioned textbook example of sponsored cars looked great, and prominently sported his art, and it sits parked in his the petrol company’s “Flying Pegasus” trademark. showroom, looking as good as the day he painted it. ese were the days before sponsor logos were simple decals; in his busiest year there, 22 of Indy’s 33 starters bore Jeffries’s meticulous, hand-laid artwork. As the Fifties wound down, Dean’s paint and striping business was doing well, but he wanted something more. When George Barris won the Oakland Roadster Show in 1958 and 1959 with the “Ala Kart,” Dean figured the best way to be taken seriously in the hot rod FALL 2013 31

Left: Dean's outer office is packed with memorabilia, like these Mon- keemobile and Mantaray models. Below: The original Jeffries-built TV car was far too hairy for any of the boys to pilot safely, so the blower was removed, and a carb was fitted below a dummy unit. Hey, hey, it's the Monkees - won Oakland’s top prize in 1964. Copied to wheelstand on demand), a quickly detuned engine Mike Nesmith, Davey Jones, by plastic model kit manufacturers and kept the original “Monkeemobile” on all four feet when Peter Tork, and Mickey Dolenz. toy makers, the car was an immediate production started. The second car toured the country, commercial success. Jeffries had arrived. and was a huge hit; that, and a breakfast cereal tie-in This GT40 - \"Tub number 109\" and national contest offering real GTOs as prizes helped is an almost-priceless piece Rockers and Royalty spread the word about the GTO, The Monkees, and Dean of Ford's racing heritage that Dean’s Hollywood location helped him to develop a Jeffries. Toteff did well on the deal, too: MPC sold over Dean has been hammering away clientele from the movie and television crowd, and his seven million Monkeemobile kits. on. No, that's not the original shop soon became a hangout for some of Hollywood’s engine; it's a Ford Indy motor, kings: Elvis Presley, Steve Mc Queen, James Garner and Another TV project came about when Chrysler Corp detailed and polished to show Gary Cooper were regulars and righteous car guys who handed Dean the keys to a brand new 1966 Chrysler car level. commissioned Dean for custom projects. Then came Imperial. This time, the show would be ABC’s attempt 1966, and Jeffries - the man who had painted James to build on Batman’s success with another show about Dean’s “Little Bastard” Porsche 550 - suddenly found a masked millionaire crime fighter with a sidekick and himself creating cars for use on the other side of the a tricked-out car. The Green Hornet featured actor Van camera. One project involved mega ad-man and “father Williams as Brit Reid, and his sidekick — literally — was of the GTO” Jim Wangers, Pontiac’s John DeLorean, actor/martial arts master Bruce Lee, as “Kato.” The Model Products Corp (MPC) president George Toteff, big Imperial went through major customization; in and Universal Studios. The studio had an upcoming addition to rockets, flamethrowers, machine guns, production about a pseudo-rock group called “The grease slingers and smokescreens, the “Black Beauty” Monkees,” and needed a hero car. Toteff, who had had massively extended front and rear sections, a Jeffries under contract with MPC, recommended Dean lengthened and vinyl padded roof, and row after row of for the job. Wangers got Pontiac involved, and soon working knobs and switches in its plush interior. With Jeffries was busy sawing the front and rear off of two much of its trim blacked out, the Black Beauty was brand new 1966 GTO convertibles, topping them with always filmed at night - and that, says Jeffries, is why T-bucket style rag tops, adding a third row of seats, the car, and the series, never caught on the way that and then fairing in outrageously exaggerated rebuilds Batman did. of the cars’ forward and aft sections. Though the first car built proved too hairy to drive (its blown Pontiac V8, That didn’t slow Dean down. Soon, Hollywood films weighted tail, and solidly mounted rear axle caused it employed his designs, if not Dean, himself. He designed and built the wildy-wheeled “Landmaster” featured in Damnation Alley, and the “Moon Buggy” for the James Bond epic Moonraker. As Jeffries’ reputation with the studios grew, he was hired to perform and coordinate stunts for movies like Death Race 2000, Romancing the Stone, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Resident Master Walking into Jeffries' shop, shaking his hand, then being escorted through the rooms with all that history in mind felt like stepping into a time capsule — one with a car show built in and a legend as a guide. In one corner of his showroom sat a ’33 Ford Tudor sedan. White, with red and yellow flames, the car had been heavily tweaked, with a chopped top, and a channeled and sectioned body. The whole thing was done in steel — Jeffries seldom uses Fiberglas — and Dean’s had this beauty since his early years. You’d never know it, because it looks brand new. Sitting quietly next to it was the car A.J. Foyt raced at Ontario, Phoenix, and Michigan in 1979. A turbo-Cosworth powers the racer, which wears the \"Gilmore and Vel’s-Parnelli\" 32 DCXmag.com

he’s still doing public appearances where rookies and the cognoscenti alike can shake his hand, and pay homage to this living, breathing national treasure livery it did when it last raced. And then, in another he gave this writer one of the most enjoyable days Grizzled, determined, and as corner, looking fresh as the day it won Oakland, sat the that I can remember. The conversation was lively, salty as ever, an 80-year-old Mantaray. occasionally salty, frequently comical — but always Dean Jeffries wraps his legend- sincere, and unfailingly passionate. Right now, Dean ary hands around the latest Then, a surprise - and a moment of complete is getting his GT40 back together, and he’s still doing model made from one of his de- disbelief. Poking through scads of racing engines, public appearances where rookies and the cognoscenti signs - Structo's 1:8 Mantaray. blowers and more parts than could be cataloged in a alike can shake his hand, and pay homage to this year, we got close to what looked to be a Ford GT40 kit living, breathing national treasure. And sometimes, he car - and a roadster, at that. “What’s this ?” I asked. opens his doors to very lucky writers, and gives them Dean smiled a little and said, “Tub number 109.” It took something they’ll never forget - a look into a life well- a second to let that number settle in; walking around lived, and a chance to gaze into the eyes and mind of a to the back, I didn’t find the expected Ford small block quiet, humble giant. — the engine that was fitted to this very car on the day it raced at Le Mans in 1965. In its place was a Ford A couple of days after our visit, I called him up to Indy DOHC race car engine, one of the rarest engines see how he was doing. Without missing a beat, he said, FoMoCo ever made, with every piece polished to a high “Life’s bitchin’, man!” It surely is, Dean, it most surely is. luster. Dean told me that Ford gave him the car — one of the first dozen GT40s made, and one of only four Ed. note: Bill Bennett visited Dean on April 19, 2013. roadsters built — when he’d offered to buy it. The Indy Dean Jeffries passed away on May 5, at the age of 80. engines were a bonus. Quite a bonus, as it happens: after the visit to Dean’s shop, I read that an interested party from the UK had offered to buy the GT, as it sits, for five million dollars. Priceless Dean Jeffries told that fellow “no,” simply because he’s having too much fun wrenching the car. The old master of metal was doing amazingly well considering what he’s been through over the years. He broke his back filming Honky Tonk Freeway, and later fell off a ladder in his shop, injuring himself almost to the point of immobility. In 2008, perhaps the most grievous injury occurred when he lost his beloved wife Rosalie, a retired vice-president at Warner Brothers and the love of his life. During our visit, which extended into a pleasant evening at dinner, then a cup of coffee at his house, Jeffries wore a khaki vest containing a battery pack to power the heart-aiding pump implanted in his chest. And though it was obvious his hip was paining him, fall 2013 33

OUT OF THE BOX BY JOE KELLY, JR. Enthusiasm was a feeling easily attributed to the late legend. Catchi ng Optimistic, brilliant, and capable of just about anything he set Rays his mind to, Jeffries had worked with Structo as the resurgent STRUCTO DEAN JEFFRIES “MANTARAY” company readied a scale model of his signature design, 1:8 | $2,000 supplying photos, sketches, and anything needed to get the job I t’s not every day that a $2,000 diecast comes along, but we figured out pretty done right. And to Dean Jeffries, quickly that Structo’s mega-buck, mega-rare 1:8 replica of Dean Jeffries Mantaray getting things done right was isn’t just any diecast. At least one famous California customizer agrees: from what always the only way to roll. we gathered during an enthusiastic conversation just a couple of weeks before his passing, Dean Jeffries — the man himself — felt that way, too. SEA STORY It’s late 1963, and after making his mark as a striper and painter, Edward Dean “Deano” Jeffries wants to be known for something more. He knows he has talent, and no shortage of ambition. He also knows that it will take an extraordinary effort to get noticed among heavyweights like Barris, Starbird, Cushenberry, and Roth. So, Jeffries decides to aim high — the 1964 Grand National Roadster Show at Oakland, and its ultimate reward, the Tournament of Fame. e takeaway could be rich: $10,000 cash, a trip to Europe, a new car, and all the new work that the recognition might bring. 34 DCXmag.com

Dean also knows he’ll have to fit. at’s exactly what Jeffries quarter-inch steel rods and up the show car at night. By the build one hell of a car — and he does, sawing off sections the old welding them to the frame. en time it comes together, Dean has has one, on paper. He’d penned racers’ frames that he doesn’t Jeffries begins hand-forming scratch-fabricated or modified the outrageous, asymmetrical need, and fitting the beautifully aluminum panels for the skin, virtually every piece of the design for a show rod after crafted suspension and brakes laying each piece — 86 of them machine, from its side pipes to its seeing a passing manta ray in the back into place. One critical — onto the form, and welding electrically activated bubble top. Seattle surf. Like the giant sea element that doesn’t make the and smoothing the seams front Upholstered in black leather, and creature it would take its name journey is the four-cylinder and back. Jeffries uses not a rolling on polished and detailed from, Jeffries’ “Mantaray” sketch Maserati racing engine; Dean spoonful of filler anywhere on Halibrand wheels, Dean Jeffries’ shows a flowing shape from its thinks it’s too small and cranky the car; every bit is artfully filed, Mantaray is ready for its debut. twin-pointed leading edges, to be useful, and besides, he’s sanded, and massaged until the over flared wheel wells, past an tapped his old friend Carroll Mantaray’s body seems to be First, a stop for a television exposed upper engine and on Shelby to supply a Cobra engine one glimmering piece of alloy — appearance on e Steve Allen toward a bubble top that nestles and trans. With the hi-po 289 which, in fact, it is. Show, then the trip north to closer to the right side of the bolted in and the driveline Oakland. When Dean arrives he car than the left. e off-center and controls figured out, Dean He then paints the car in a sets up a humble, homespun nature of the Mantaray’s design begins the arduous process pearl white, topping the sparkle display of painted boards and has Dean Jeffries truly excited — of bringing the Mantaray’s with a NASA-sourced clearcoat. thousands of Styrofoam pellets and he knows just where to get outline to life by hand-shaping All told, Dean takes just under that surround the car, along started. three months to complete with a sign that says, simply, the Mantaray — a remarkable “Dean Jeffries Mantaray.” e Dean’s father-in-law has a timeframe, since he’s still car is a runaway hit that not pair of old Maserati Grand Prix working as a striper and painter only draws crowds, but takes monoposto chassis in his back the Tournament of Fame handily lot; if Dean can haul them during the day in his - the first of many accolades, out, they’ll be his to Hollywood shop, and magazine covers, and awards use as he sees cobbling the Mantaray would see over AT 21 INCHES LONG AND WEIGHING A TICK OVER 10 POUNDS, THE CAR IS AN IMMEDIATE SHOWSTOPPER. FALL 2013 35

out of the box The big model has a lot of little details, and the plus-size scale allows a good, long look at every one, from the scaled rubber balls chained together atop the Shelby 289 and the beautifully cast Maserati suspension and brakes, to the tilt-up canopy and tiny scripts on the car’s pearl paint. What a beauty. 36 DCXmag.com

the next several years. Dean and the beautifully replicated by the book returns from his European trip “Mantaray” script and “Styled to a mailbox full of movie offers by Jeffries” badge below it. Break Dean Jeffries: 50 Fabulous Years and model company pitches. out a magnifier, and those words in Hot Rods, Racing, & Film Suddenly, doors are open are there, in a kerf as thin as a throughout the automotive baby’s hair. Motorbooks | $40 world - and for the better part of We didn’t think we’d need any the next five decades, he’ll walk, such assistance to appreciate It’s out of print — for now — but Tom humbly, through many. the topside detail on the Cobra Cotter’s book Dean Jeffries: 50 Fabulous 289, and we were right, at first. Years in Hot Rods, Racing, & Film is a rare 2013 The four Webers are piped with and timely look into Jeffries’ life. From The man on the phone from stainless fuel lines and angled his early years and his frequently unknown accomplishments in California is beaming. “I took a fittings, and the eight chrome television and film, to his rivalry with that other famous Hollywood look at the car when (the model) throats have chained-together car designer, Cotter’s narrative is cohesive, immersive, and spiked got here, because I thought tennis balls stuck in them, as with frequently salty quotes from Jeffries that do much to frame maybe the wheels were wrong”, they did at Oakland in ‘64. The Dean’s humble, heartfelt approach to all that he did. An accomplished Dean chuckled, “but they’re “Cobra” valve covers look great, and respected author, Tom Cotter makes every effort to stay neutral, right. I’m looking at the two cars and so does the throttle linkage. but there’s an obvious — and understandable —affection for the right now, and the whole thing Then we spied what appeared to then-75-year-old Jeffries. The photos in the pages are incredible, the is exactly right. What a great job be a label on the distributor, and paper and binding top shelf, and the overall read is one of the better these fellows did.” out came the magnifier again “auto” biographies we’ve had the pleasure to browse — then read We’d have to agree. At 21 — this time with a flashlight seriously — time and again. inches long and weighing a — to discover a Mallory brand tick over 10 pounds, the car is magneto, wearing part number fisted grip a wheel. Though it isn’t their displays. We hope so, an immediate showstopper. MAG449 - SP016. Seriously. connected to the steering, the anyway. If this were a truly The giant diecast body sweeps Farther back, the cockpit is front wheels are poseable, and mass-produced piece designed under a seemingly scale-correct, accessible once the bubble top like the rears, they’ll come off the for the everyday collector, the clear-coated pearl flake that is lifted, and the soft-touch vinyl car after loosening the knock- locked-down suspension and emits micro rainbows of color sling seat and side-mounted offs to reveal beautiful cast metal static brake drums (they don’t under the lights. Though it’s big, dash match every photo we’ve Maserati drums, photo-etched spin with the wheels) would be a there’s a delicacy to the details, seen. So does the wild steering vents, and braided stainless disappointment. But this model like the cross-drilled metal ribs wheel — if you can call the brake hoses. Go beneath the isn’t any such thing. As the first bracketing the engine opening, Mantaray’s hand-formed, two- car, and removable metal belly in what we’re told will be a line of panels allow for a good look large-scale, high-ticket replicas Above: The real car sits in Dean Jeffries at the Maserati frame, and an of historically important show showroom, looking much the same as it even better view of the deeply cars, Structo’s Mantaray breathes did at Oakland in 1964. Look closely, and detailed V8, the transmission rare air. From the impeccable you can see Dean in his office. (Photo by linkages, and the serialized engraving on its huge Goodyear Bill Bennett) metal plate that will be affixed tires, to its glimmering paint, to Below: The model comes with a suction to each of the only 174 models the lenses in the single head- and cup that allows the removal of the lower made. taillight at either end, it rings true panels, revealing the Mantaray’s chassis. to the shape, feel, and the soul of Adult Swim the real car. Don’t just take our The details and features are word for it. We heard it from the cool, but the limited production man himself. run is what will truly appeal to high-end collectors who SOURCES seek the rare and unusual for Model Power modelpower.com fall 2013 37

out of the box by joe kelly, jr. Just in Time Danbury Mint 1948 Chevrolet Fleetline Aerosedan 1:24 | $149 W orld War II was a turning point for the auto industry. On one hand, car production had stopped almost completely for the duration, and that void would stall the emergence of new car designs for a while. But on the other hand, Detroit’s production techniques, the way it trained its workers, and the just-in-time method of parts delivery all got honed to a razor’s edge during the war effort. By the time the clouds over Europe had lifted, the Motor City had learned a few new tricks about putting large, complex things together in great numbers … and Detroit was ready to get back on track as the automotive capital of the world. 38 DCXmag.com

It’s not too hard to see Danbury’s 1948 Chevrolet and assembly had us intrigued Above: Promising “Big-Car Economy” similarities with the recent state Fleetline Aerosedan proved to immediately. in section and touting the ’48 Chevy’s huge cabin, of some areas of the diecast be an eye grabber even before chrome trim is everywhere, cushy seats, and market-leading sales collecting hobby, particularly we’d wiped it down and installed from the window frames to the figures, Chevrolet sales brochures took the precision 1:24 segment long delicate strakes that run on the an artful approach to pushing the tin. dominated by Danbury Mint. the rear fender fenders; heavier-gauge flash Below: It’s been worth the wait: Danbury It’s been a hard couple of years, skirts; the two-tone is worn on the car’s massive Mint’s ’48 “Aerosedan” has it all — the and little white boxes from green paint, dead- front end and the bumpers at looks, the stance, and above all else, Dan- Connecticut have been a scarce on fastback sedan both ends. In between, smaller bury’s top-tier polish and assembly. sight these past few months. So casting, and Danbury’s details, like the door handles, it was with a lot of expectation usual spotless polish that we opened the latest parcel from the folks at DM to find a model car so good it almost got us all choked up. Yep, it’s true: a really great model can move some of us to tears. When said model is a brand-new tool from a company long thought to be considering a move out of the diecast business, well … we kept the tissues close by. A FINE LINE Like the real car was for the post-conflict American public, SUMMER 2013 39

OUT OF THE BOX “Fleetline” badge, and the hood piece sub-assembly that’s been won’t speculate, or even hint that Far left: e “Stovebolt” six was a staple ornament — accented with a clear affixed to a creased, believable we know what their next move of Chevy’s lineup, and it’s all here in scale, element, just like the original — headliner with working visors. might be. But we will tell you this: down to the “gas” in the fuel bowl. are precision scaled notes that even after several hours spent Above: e lux cabin is an all-out effort pulled us in and ese details - and the multiple with this beautiful new tool, we from DM, and the decos are incredible, kept us looking were still finding things to enjoy, including faux wood grain and “Bedford for more. handles on the two-toned, like the weather seal detailing in Cord” fabric. Lots of pieces, too. chrome-striped door panels - the doors, and the exquisite little Left: True to the original, the fender skirts We didn’t show a huge investment of sweat are removable — a nice touch on display. have to look far. equity on Danbury Mint’s part. WATCH THE VIDEO AT DCXmag.com! Below: With a drop-down bumper guard Beneath that and a removable spare, even the trunk ornament, DM’s BOOT CAMP has a few surprises. take on the e trunk on most models is a classic 90-horse wagon in the “Body by Fisher” “Stovebolt” fuzzy place (if you’re lucky) that’s oval on the side of the front seat. six is utterly almost an afterthought. at’s Details like those, and models complete, not the case here. Even getting like this, don’t happen every day. and the 216- into the old Chev’s storeroom is We’ll take those days, whenever cube engine cause for a giggle or two; to get they may occur. is one gets our is painted, to the deck handle, you have to very highest recommendation. plumbed, wired, pull back on the optional center and labeled bumper overrider, which pivots SOURCES — our favorite out of the way on a lovely hinge combination of ornamentation, riveted to the chassis. Only then Danbury Mint danburymint.com in any scale. DM’s done the can the lid be lifted on a steel deed with steel wire, plastic and glide strut to reveal a matted floor vinyl castings, and tamped-on and removable, full spare. detailing that includes labels on the oil bath air cleaner, battery, Underneath, the and the overflow tank on the Fleetline’s skinny firewall. Look closer, and there’s whitewalls are holding faux fuel in the wee glass bowl up the corners of a decently beneath the single-throat Carter detailed chassis, and the plastic carb. e hood rises on real spring frame attached to the diecast and scissor hinges, and closes just belly of the car contains well like the real thing — you push it done (but static) suspension down, and back. Sweet. assemblies front and rear; the steerable front wheels, In the cabin, DM’s laid on the separately cast muff and charm — not to mention serious tailpipe, and neat view of levels of texturing and paint the Stovebolt’s nethers detailing, and a high parts count. make this a trip worth taking. e top-shelf cabin is fronted by a wood-grained dash hosting Is Danbury Mint a readable speedo and clock (it back? Were they ever says it’s 2:37), as well as a legible really thinking of radio face; along with these, the leaving? And what can we dash is stubbled with knobs and expect next? ose are all hard sliders for the choke, heater, and questions to answer, and we vents, all arranged around the central speaker grille, done in a tidy finned and chromed casting. at wood grain pattern is so good that it looks real under all but the strongest magnifications. Ditto the seats, which wear the Fleetline’s optional two-toned Bedford Cord cloth upholstery — replicated here with a sharp, precisely laid-on paint strike that follows the castings perfectly on the tilt-back front seats and large, comfy-looking rear bench. Above it all, the headliner wears a dome light, and even this is a multi- IN THE CABIN, DM’S LAID ON THE CHARM NOT TO MENTION SERIOUS LEVELS OF TEXTURING AND PAINT DETAILING, AND A HIGH PARTS COUNT. 40 DCXmag.com

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HOT RODOUTOFTHEBOX BYJOEKELLY,JR. HEAVEN ACME 1932 FORD FIVE WINDOW COUPE 1:18 | $129.95 42 DCXmag.com

I t’s likely that when future generations look back on the greasy old days of the automobile, the Hot Rod will have a place in American folklore right alongside six guns, lariats, and cockled belts. The home-grown mechanics who built the machines will be remembered as piston-wrangling pioneers whose horses drank gasoline, shot fire, and set the stage for decades of legends to come. Cowboys spat chaw; hot rodders smoked Luckys. Cowboy style was chaps and a wide- brimmed hat; hot rodders slicked their hair back and pulled on a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Cowboys rode atop Appaloosas, quarter horses, or sturdy old “Paints.” Hot rodders sat inside their steeds — and when they ventured onto the asphalt plains, their ponies usually came from beneath the hood of an old Ford. One Ford in particular got rodded that could run all day and night history: an affordable V8. With If It Ain’t Broke … more than most, and it was on seemingly anything poured 65 horsepower, the 221-inch Once past those troubles, the arguably the first muscle car for down its throat, and its body and flathead engine made 130 lb./ft. of V8 proved all but bulletproof the masses. When it rolled out in frame were sturdy enough to torque at a low rpm, and breathed - and easy to hop up. Soon, April of that year, the 1932 Model survive the rutted chuckholes of down a single “Detroit Lubricator” Ford’s motor was the basis for B was an evolution of the Model A farmland roads or the shoulder- carburetor. At an even $50 an entire aftermarket industry: that the company had reluctantly to-shoulder thrum of the big city. premium over the four cylinder, the speed merchants, who sold introduced to replace the aged But the ‘32 Ford also offered it also breathed new life into Ford flathead-specific cams, heads, Model T. Like the Model A, Ford’s buyers something that changed sales. Called, simply, “The Ford carburetors, headers and hotter B had a tidy, torquey 4-cylinder the course of automotive V8,” the car (formally known ignition systems to the young within Ford as the Model 18) folks who were picking up the outsold the thriftier B by a wide by-now well-used cars by the thousands. After they’d done margin, and gave its their duty as honest family everyman owners transportation, fenders were a taste of real V8 cut; roofs were chopped, chassis performance - lowered, and axles torched. North even if those of the firewall, multi-carb setups first few and shaved heads were turning engines built the old flattie into a baddie, and proved less just about anyone with a day than reliable. job and a good set of tools could transform the ’32 into their very own “Deuce.” By the ‘fifties, the image of a ’32 Ford with its nose in the weeds and its tail in the air had become an indelible symbol of youth, summer 2013 43

OUT OF THE BOX Left: e classic Ford flathead gets pumped with shaved Edel- brock heads and twin Strombergs; Center: e classic “banjo” spoked wheel sets the tone in the old Deuce’s cabin - and check out that shifter; Right: Halibrand mags and “pie crust” bias-ply tires scream old school, even standing still. PULL THE HOOD OPEN, AND THERE’S A RIGHTEOUS EARLY FLATHEAD THAT’S BEEN WIRED, PIPED, AND TOPPED WITH AN EDELBROCK INTAKE AND A PAIR OF STROMBERG 97S, BRACKETED ON EITHER SIDE BY EDELBROCK HEADS speed, and not just a little danger. snapped up almost on arrival. on its suicide doors. Arriving in look; peel the lid off completely by Magazines and catalogs sprouted Some of those early cars have badass black, the casting is dead gently releasing the central hinge up seemingly overnight, and with become worth multiples of their on, and the car rolls on satin black pin at the radiator and cowl, and titles like Hot Rods to Hell, Hot original asking price, but alongside big ‘n’ little Halibrand wheels and there’s a brace of metal rods and a Rod Gang, Hot Rod Girl, and just GMP’s equally well-done ’34, all no-name bias ply rubber. e pair of flexible cooling hoses. e plain old Hot Rod, Hollywood’s have proven to be beautifully holed and chromed front axle look is vintage, but the electric B-movie machine wasn’t far done pieces with a strong, steady puts the car’s nose right where it fan on the radiator speaks to a behind. For a lucky few, those day audience among collectors. belongs, and the jacked rear ends more modern approach - and it jobs that had supplied the ready in button taillights and a pair of looks great. cash to build a rod were replaced As brought out by GMP’s pipes; this is classic stuff, done to by careers building the machines spawn, ACME Diecast, this latest a high-end luster. So does the cabin, done in a for others - a trend that continues swing on the Deuce is notable lush red with a carpeted floor, to this day in high-buck, high- because it’s the first new body Pull the hood open, and there’s overstuffed bench seat, and a tech designs and reproductions. casting since the series started: a a righteous early flathead that’s proper banjo-spoke wheel set five-window coupe with opening been wired, piped, and topped before a re-gauged dash. ere’s ... FIX IT ANYWAY doors and trunk, steerable with an Edelbrock intake and a a whip-thin shifter and a trio of Model maker GMP hit solid gold wheels, and a butterfly hood with pair of Stromberg 97s, bracketed pedals mounted to the floor, and when its first ‘32 Ford broke cover, removable side panels. Like the on either side by Edelbrock heads. though it’s tough to get a pair of and that 1:18 mold set will be roadster body that this one will fingers in there, tweaking the regarded as a classic unto itself, surely complement on shelves ere’s a lot going on under here, tiller moves the front wheels from some day. ere have been dozens around the world, the car — seen and ACME does it with crunchy side to side. More carpet resides of different releases based on here as a late-process pre- castings and a great palette of in the boot, accessed by lifting the that first tool, and each has been production sample — wears a mild red, black, and metallized grey diecast trunk lid; flip the car over, chop, and features real hinges and aluminum paints. e hood’s and there’s a full ladder frame, TOM’S BOMB side panels snick off for a classic chromed mufflers and pipes, and a sweetly finned quick-change rear. ACME “TOM’S GARAGE” ‘32 One of the cooler ties that ACME has retained to its GMP roots is FORD 1:18 | $129.95 the “Tom’s Garage” club, named after GMP’s founding father, Tom SADDLE UP Long. Membership, as they say, has its rewards; in this case, it’s the Why do we love the ’32 Ford chance to pony up the same price as a regular release to get this more so much? Maybe it’s the way exclusive - and we’d say, far more dashing - take on the 5-window. these cars represent the first true youth movement - one Mechanically identical to the standard model, the TG car’s big that’s fading into history amid differences are all on the outside, with trick red scallops the noise of modern life. Maybe wrapped in pinstriped white, and classic wide it’s the shape of its body - so whitewalls. ere’s more pinstriping front perfectly proportioned, yet so and rear, and atop the headlight pods, easily massaged into something too. All that’s missing is the smell of unique. If you’re a collector of Brylcreem. Tom rocks on. - DCX staff cars, or models of cars, it’s the simple feeling of nostalgia that this ultimate old hot rod evokes, whether rumbling by on a hot summer night, or parked quietly on a shelf, whispering to the cowboy in all of us. Very highly recommended. SOURCES Acme Diecast acmediecast.com 44 DCXmag.com

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Nuts Motor City Classics “Coca-Cola” lineup adds life Since the very first Coca-Cola was served at an Atlanta drugstore in 1886, the company’s logo has appeared on thousands and thousands of vehicles. In the beginning, it was horse-drawn wagons. But as automobiles, which were also invented that year, became more a part of how America did business, the distinctive, sweeping art was emblazoned on cars, vans, and trucks. ese days, over one billion servings of Coca-Cola get served every 24 hours, and the fleet of service and delivery trucks is everywhere. For the people who collect anything related to the in diecast, and these small (and not so small) tokens world’s most recognized brand, miniatures of those of their favorite drink will take collectors through the vehicles are always welcomed. Coca-Cola recently years, from some of the earliest trucks to the giant partnered with Motor City Classics on a cross-scale, rolling billboards we see each and every day. Pop that multi-generational license to produce Coke collectibles can. Let’s roll. 46 DXCMag.com

1917 Ford Sedan Delivery 1931 1:18 | $69.99 Ford Model T Delivery Three years before this ‘31 Ford would have been making its rounds, company president 1:24 | $24.99 Robert Woodruff introduced the drink to the world at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, Coca-Cola was just over 30 years old, and had just developed the patented “contour bottle” when this while sponsoring the games — a tradition that carries on to this day. Soon, Coke would be canopy delivery was making runs to local businesses. This pre-production sample of one of Henry’s haulers enjoyed in 53 countries. This model is based on a Signature mold set, with three opening is the oldest in the MCC fleet. It’s the simplest, too; nothing opens, and the all-diecast body rides on a doors and a butterfly hinged hood. The interior is reasonably detailed, as are the engine plastic baseplate with simple steel axles, painted plastic wheels, and rubber tires. The shape is accurate, and chassis, right to the very nice spoked wheels and skinny tires. But it’s the authentic and the scaling looks pretty close, too; while it’s not a model for detail seekers, for Coke fans, this is a advertising on the rear section and doors that will grab Coke collectors. Take note: some reminder of the early, post-“Gibson Girl” years. Look for painted headlights in production. photos we’ve seen of the model show miniature bottles — which are not included in this release. Ford Pickup Truck Bottle Truck 1937 1:87 | $10 1:24 | $30 1937 was a good year for Coke; in 51 years, it had become a huge success, and that We can’t tell you much about this truck — it’s a generic meant more service needed to be done in the field, hauling vending machines, soda taps, and crates of “empties” — a necessary thing, as the “six-pack” had been (but very cool) old-school aerodynamic rig with a funky invented by the company the year before. This Ford would have been well-suited to the job in warmer climes; with a flathead V8 and aerodynamic styling, it also looked good mid-mounted axle and bolted on spats. But we can say doing its rounds. This one has a bit more detail than the old T; a pull-off hood reveals a decently done engine, and the opening doors swing out on a moderately well detailed interior. The chassis features wide whites, good engraving, and steerable wheels. 1937 that the tiny casting has some great detail, replicating stack after stack of Coke in cases. Is it a tractor-trailer? A big, one-off truck with two steerable axles? We don’t know. But that side casting is so well done, we had to look twice to see if the bottles were individual pieces. This is a neat collectible for small-scale fans, and it might look great on a train layout. Just sayin’. 1938 Bottle Truck 1:87 | $10 The second bottle truck from the series is generic, too — but on this rig, the rows and rows of cases are stacked in the open air — and sun — below a sign that says, ironically, “Drink Coca-Cola Ice Cold.” Like the ‘37, this one’s got a chromed grille of no particular make and a nicely cast and painted body. By the way, both of these 1:87 offerings roll like crazy thanks to thin axles and low-resistance wheels. FALL 2013 47

1940 Ford Sedan Delivery 1:24 | $30 Fifty-four years into the soda business, and Coca- Cola was now the dominant soft drink around the world, thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign. Two developments were brewing as this Ford sedan delivery was making its rounds; one was the company’s readiness to start using the name “Coke” in its advertising; the other was a growing world war that would soon involve the United States. Both things occurred in 1941, and during the war — 1943, to be exact — Coke opened 10 bottling plants in Europe at the behest of General Eisenhower. After the war, these were a base for future European business. The model is decently detailed, with an opening hood and rear door; the former shows off a chromed flathead; the latter a giant rear section with a ribbed rear floor, all above a moderately detailed chassis with a steerable front end and “steelie” wheels. 2012 “Holiday Caravan” Tractor Trailer 1:43 | $34.95 Coke’s holiday advertising has featured the “Coke Santa” since 1931. Haddon Sundblom painted the jovial spokesman that year, and he never could have imagined that it — or the brand it represented — would become as iconic as they have. Since then, Coke has fielded specially decorated trailers to mark the season, and this one, loosely based on a Freightliner day cab, pulling a 40’ trailer, carries the tradition over in scale. Released in 2012, a year after Coke celebrated 125 years in business, the tractor is done in diecast, with bright chrome steps and exhaust, twin driver mirrors, and a radio antenna. It’s the trailer that makes this release special, though; ringed with tiny plastic dots, the hauler lights up when it’s switched on. Ho, ho, ho. 2013 “Coke” and “Coke Zero” Tractor Trailers 1:64 | $34.99 Sometimes, getting the raw materials to a Coca-Cola plant takes longer than a single day trip; on those occasions, the fleet breaks out trucks like this pair of sleeper-equipped Kenworths (well, we think they’re Kenworths), towing trailers. These pre-production samples are decently detailed — actually better than some of the other, larger scale releases in this lineup, and the full-diecast tractor and diecast-framed trailers will feature full interiors and opening rear doors when they go into production for release. More decos will join the lineup in coming months, including an “It’s the Real Thing” set; since changes can be done with relative ease, it’s a good bet that Coke collectors will get much more to choose from, and soon, on each and every one of these models, in virtually every scale. Drink it in. Sources Motor City Classics motorcityclassics.com 48 DXCMag.com

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