December 2003 - February 2004 Archive
25-February-2004 I'm sure everyone is aware by now that the second edition of the Japanese Minichamps book has hit the shops and by all accounts is selling like hot cakes. If you don't fancy taking your chances on eBay then they can be purchased from the following at a cost of £25 each which includes UK delivery - F1modelcollector@blueyonder.co.uk Whilst the book is in Japanese of course it contains some superb photographs and in my opinion is a must for all serious collectors.
22-February-2004 As you are all probably aware Minichamps has special gifts which are awarded to their best dealers every year, last year it was a special limited edition model, this year a 250 Limited Edition of the new Minichamps book. The difference between this and the normal version is that it comes in hardback and has a sleeve with some words from Paul Lang himself and is autographed. One lucky collector was sold one by accident by his dealer weeks before the paperback version was released !
Whilst on the subject of books the second edition of the Japanese Minichamps book has been released only this time the lottery features two Porsche 962 street versions in black and red, both limited to 1,008 pieces at a cost of 4500 Yen. What will make this model more difficult to obtain than the orange McLaren F1 GTR is that each applicant can only buy one of each colour if their application is successful, unlike the previous lottery where they could apply for six models which lead to the remainder being sold on either the eBay or Yahoo! auction sites. As you can imagine this will mean collectors outside Japan will find these items very difficult to obtain.
20-February-2004 Well at long last a few decent photos of the Minichamps stand from the Nurnburg Toyfair which took place last week. Click Here! (tip : let all the pictures load before clicking on any of the links to enlarge them) As you may recall Paul Lang did mention something about his love for fire appliances in his interview for the book 'A Passion For Model Cars' which appears to be supported by one of the pictures.
Now here is a tip for anyone who doesn't already possess the full 1/43 Senna Collection - find one as soon as possible and buy it as when the latest Senna models are released I can see prices soaring rapidly as these new models follow on from where the last collection left off. Also worth noting are the Arrows, 6 wheeled Williams and the superb Brabham's in Olivetti livery. After that little lot I've already pre-warned my credit card company and will now lie down in a darkened room !
18-February-2004 Our North of the Border reporter has confirmed that the Zippo Toyota models have been around for about the last two years and have featured all the Toyota drivers ! Apparently the models retail around the £75 mark - if you go to Yahoo! Auctions Japan then in the search box enter "Zippo Panasonic" and click on the box to the right hand side with the two small boxes a few of these items will appear.
The list for the 2004 Minichamps Launch Cars was released yesterday and conspicuous by it's absence were the Williams, only the "walrus nosed" FW26 race car will be made this year it seems - perhaps the change in shape was too radical for Minichamps to get away with a simple re-branding of the 2003 car.
16-February-2004 WORLD EXCLUSIVE !! Some news just in - another Toyota Promotional model has surfaced ! This "Zippo" promotional item features an Olivier Panis Toyota TF103 race car and comes with a "Zippo" lighter, limited to 1,500 pieces. This particular model was picked up via an auction on Yahoo! in Japan.
If anyone has any information on these models or knows where they are available to purchase then I will be pleased to hear from you.
I've also received confirmation today from Grand Prix Miniatures that a Jarno Trulli version of the Renault Promotional model will also be available in the next 2-3 weeks.
14-February-2004 Some news just in - Grand Prix Miniatures are taking pre-orders on these Renault Dealer Edition 2003 Fernando Alonso Renault R23 models !
At this stage we are not aware if a Jarno Trulli model has been produced - I've checked on the Renault UK website however there is no trace of these items.
13-February-2004 Whilst we have had the Nurnberg Toyfair this week there has still been little in the way of news to report (unless you count another American Hotrod promo model as news) - it seems all the juicy gossip had already been posted the week previous on the various diecast message boards relating to the Minichamps 2004 release schedule.
It's been a case of good news bad news according to some of the posts I've read on these message boards, the good being the release of yet more tobacco decaled models and the bad being the announcement that the Roland Ratzenberger Simtek S941 will be re released. Now I for one cannot fathom out the reasoning behind this unless they are planning some sort of commemorative gift box like they did with the Senna 41/41 model, I suppose it's a case of wait and see.
As you can probably imagine I get a few emails from collectors round the globe asking for advice on what I think they should buy that will appreciate in value the same as the McLaren F1 GTR's have done - now if I had a crystal ball and could predict this I would be giving up my day job ! Of course it's something that will always be difficult to predict, who would have thought a couple of years ago that models such as the early BMW M3's and Mercedes Evo's would be reaching the prices that they are today ?
One thing I have noticed of late however is the lack of F1 models at the toyfairs I have attended. I'm not referring to the rarer models here but standard stuff that there used to be a plethora of like the early Tyrrell's, Prost's, Minardi's and Benetton's, plus when you do find them the price appears to have crept up from the £8-10 mark to nearer the £20 in some cases. It seems though when I speak to dealers they all claim that it's the sports and road cars that collectors are buying and not the F1 models so where is it all going ?
05-February-2004 The Minichamps website has been updated with the full 2004 release programme however it also includes pictures in some cases. One of the most interesting is the BMW M1 two car 25th Anniversary set which will be limited to 2,525 pieces and comes complete with another tobacco liveried model, this time Marlboro !!
It isn't the first time this particular livery has been used on the M1, a few years back the BMW boxed Regazzoni M1 carried the same Marlboro bonnet decal and sold out in next to no time. As we know Marlboro decalled models are as rare as hen's teeth so expect this one to go the same way, after all the popularity of the BMW marque will make it even more sought after.
We have some news on that American Hotrod promo model we featured a few days back - it seems it was commissioned by Amerang the UK importers and was given to the first 200 customers who placed and order on their stand at the London Toyfair and was not intended for general retail.
02-February-2004 The Ford Focus promo model we featured the other day is apparently one of four models produced by Minichamps for Ford of cars which ran in the German DTC Championship a couple of years back.
A strange item has surfaced on eBay - it's an American Hotrod limited to 240 pieces which was a promotional item produced for the London Toyfair 2004. If anyone has any additional information on these then I would be pleased to hear from you.
31-January-2004 The 2004 Minichamps planned release list was posted yesterday on the Minichamps NA website and is already causing quite a stir ! There is literally something for everyone, classic F1, Le Mans and even a McLaren F1 GTR roadcar. If like me you have problems opening the downloaded file from the Minichamps NA site then Tim Dunlop at Mad4Models has posted the full list - Click Here!
A Ford Focus promotional model has surfaced on eBay - if anyone has any information on this model then please let us know.
22-January-2004 Why is it all the new stuff always appears to be released on the other side of the Atlantic nowadays ? - Exclusive Motorsport Diecast have updated their website with some interesting new items including the Kimi & Jacques Villeneuve First Win models and also the Mark Donohue Sunoco McLaren.
19-January-2004 A couple of planned models from the Minichamps 2004 schedule : 1/43 scale Senna/Williams 'Taxi', Classic World Champion motorcycles in 1/12 scale including Doohan, Agostini & Barry Sheene plus Valentino 125 cc & 250 cc World Championship bikes.
17-January-2004 I receive a weekly pricelist from Oliver at SportExpress and was pleased to note that Minichamps are to release a BMW M1 25th Anniversary Limited Edition two car set comprising of a 1978 Depailler race version and a 1979 street car, part number 402 025 025. At the moment we are not aware of the expected release date but as soon as we do we will let you know.
15-January-2004 It seems that BMW M3's are flavour of the month at the moment and here's another exclusive model to add to your wants list. This one is an Alpine White M3 which was made for the BMW Owners Club of Hong Kong - now I don't know how many members this club has but I doubt if it is anywhere near 1,008 so there should be a few spare models to go round.
The second issue of the superb 'Minichamps on the Shelf' magazine is out, if you haven't already seen it then Click Here!
13-January-2004 It looks like we have finally been given something we have been praying for over the last umpteen years and that's full tobacco liveries ! The first two models in the Minichamps 'World Champions Collection' (the Williams FW18 of Damon Hill and the FW19 of Jacques Villeneuve) have arrived at Minichamps NA and both have full 'Rothmans' livery.
It appears that the tobacco advertisement laws are now interpreted differently when it comes to pre-2003 models (eg not current) so it's now fine to release them in the correct racing liveries which seems to be supported by the release of the Eddie Irvine Jordan Hart 193 with full 'Barclay' markings. A double bonus will be the fact that this collection will be released in standard Minichamps 'tall boxes' as opposed to the more difficult to display 'giftbox' style packaging.
There is also the first picture of the Kimi Raikkonen 'First GP Win' model complete with standing driver figure - what are we betting that these three new items will be the best sellers of 2004 ? Nice to see Minichamps starting off another collection to get some new blood interested in the hobby.
04-January-2004 A Williams FW24 'Intel' promotional model has surfaced on eBay. It seems these models were produced by a promotions company working on behalf of Intel and they were issued as part of a larger information pack.
Now we have it on good authority that these are indeed code two models, i.e. modified after the event. How do we know this? Well it seems last year a dealer was approached and requested to supply the full 550 allocation of standard cars however he could only muster around 200 with the remaining 300 being supplied by a BMW dealership. At this moment we do know know if both drivers were supplied however if this is the case it could mean there are a total of four variations out there, two in standard boxes and a further two in the taller BMW box. As soon as we receive any more information we will let you know.
03-January-2004 The Ferrari road car models have become very sought after recently since the release of the Japanese book however it appears they missed this one, the Poz Cola F355 limited to 100 pieces.
Whilst this is a code two model it was produced by a Sydney model shop but did have full approval from both Minichamps and Biante and is based on a standard street F355 couple with some extra decals added. The actual car was raced by John Bowe in the Australian GT series back in the 1990's.
31-December-2003
REVIEW OF 2003
It's that time of the year again folks when I look back over the past twelve months and get a few words down on paper as they say. As I sit here thinking about something to write about I've just glanced through my last two end of year reviews and I still can't believe how quickly time flies. I just hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it, okay it may not be worthy of a Booker prize but at least they are more welcome than kissing your old stubbly faced Aunt under the mistletoe!
What can we say about 2003 then? Well one event was to have what I consider to be the biggest impact on Minchamps collecting since the birth of the Paul Gunther Lang himself and that was the release of a certain book. As we waited with baited breath for the release of the official 'Minichamps Bible' all attention focused on the land of the rising sun with the announcement that our friends in Japan has beaten Paul's Model Art to it. Whilst it was all in Japanese of course the superb photography warranted it's purchase and such was it's popularity Minichamps secured the publishing rights and a revised English edition was released later in the year.
The most sought after model of the year actually coincided with the release of the book and that was the orange prototype McLaren F1 GTR. As these were limited to 1,500 pieces via a lottery in Japan it was easy to understand why it didn't take long for prices to hit the £300 barrier once they started to appear on eBay. I'm glad to say however these have long since stabalised to a more realistic level.
As the book was now accepted by some as the definitive work on the subject of everything Paul's Model Art it certainly increased the popularity of certain models and prices rose steadily as collectors appeared to work their way through it collecting everything as they went along. Some road cars that were made in abundance in the early 90's now became prized must have models driving up prices just as the internet has back in the late 1990's.
It didn't take long for 2003 to become the 'year of the fake' evident from the number of them appearing on German eBay. It seems the more elaborate the story and the lower the production run the more likely some people were willing to buy them. With even more information at our fingertips now than we had years ago you would think that these fakers wouldn't be able to pass off their work however for every item the produce it seems there is a fool and their money. It seems however that our lone crusade against these shysters is finally beginning to have the desired effect and will continue until they shut up shop but I still feel more needs to be done by Minichamps themselves to combat this fraud.
This year heralded a number of Porsche 911 promotional models produced for various sponsors and as always these were especially popular with collectors everywhere. Once again BMW was the manufacturer who continued to set the standard or their dealer editions and catalogue however they had switched allegiance to other manufacturers for some of their road cars. Another two of the most famous names in motoring entered the market with their superbly presented promotional items, namely Aston Martin and Bentley.
On the F1 front Minichamps continued to churn out models as if there was no tomorrow with numerous test cars, pit stop dioramas and dealer promotional models, all too many models for so few teams however there were some brilliant Classic F1 cars released.
This year also heralded the end of an era - the 'West' branded McLaren Team Editions were no more and it's all thanks to the bureaucrats and their new anti tobacco advertising legislation. It was an especially bitter pill to swallow when you consider an Eddie Irvine Jordan model was released later complete with full 'Barclay' tobacco markings.
The motorcycles were as popular as ever with more and more releases hitting the dealers shelves, Minichamps adding to their ever expanding catalogue with the release of their 1/6th scale models.
Well that's it for another year but before I go let's not forget we have some cracking models to look forward to in 2004. As always a big 'thank you' to everyone for the support and emails of encouragement over the last twelve months, without your input the website would not be possible so please keep sending those emails.
30-December-2003 We have some news in for Porsche fans ! A white street version of the Porsche 911 GT1 will be released in Japan sometime towards the end of January.
Also Kyosho have issued a further Lamborghini model to coincide with the manufacturers 40th Anniversary, this time it's an orange Miura complete with beige interior instead of black and with gold wheels, comes in the special 'Anniversary' packaging.
As you know it's the New Years Eve tomorrow so be sure to watch out for my 'Review of 2003'
25-December-2003 Yo Ho Ho and a Merry Christmas to all our readers ! The diecast news doesn't stop just because it's Christmas and here is a present for all Lamborghini collectors - it's a Countach LP400 in red made exclusively for Kyosho to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the marque as a car manufacturer.
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22-December-2003 A dealer version of the Bentley EXP8 2003 Le Mans Winner has been released ! The package consists of a 1/43 scale model of the #7 Le Mans winning car presented in a British Racing Green 'giftbox' style box which bears a picture of the actual car and specifications along with a brief account of the race. This also has an outer corrugated Bentley cardboard over sleeve bearing the part number BL363.
The preferred option for a large number of collectors these days is buying the more exclusive 'Dealer' versions however I'm not sure which is the better option here. Due to the nature of the beast a Bentley dealership isn't the easiest thing in the world to find so may put off some people, plus the giftbox style packaging makes the whole thing difficult to display and isn't popular with some collectors. Therefore it's difficult to predict which is the more likely to become the more collectable of the two, the standard Minichamps version or the Bentley release - I suppose only time will tell.
21-December-2003 We finally have some information on that pink Porsche GT1 we featured a few days back - it's authentic ! It seems that Model Fahrzeug magazine has a poll of it's readers to chose their model of the year and as prizes there are some very exclusive things like pink Minichamps models which are limited to only 10 pieces.
In a past poll a Porsche Carrera GT again in pink was offered as a prize whilst this years model was a Smart Roadster, again limited to 10 pieces.
18-December-2003 We have discovered what we believe to be the lowest ever production run for a Minichamps promotional model - this NSU RO80 is one of a 72 production run.
Now if anyone is able to prove me wrong then please contact me at the usual address.
15-December-2003 Here's a quote from the Team McLaren website : Kimi MP4-17D Team Edition 1/43 temporarily out of stock. Orders now will be delivered approximately 1 February 2004 !
14-December-2003 Now here's a model nobody appears to have seen before yet it is currently up for auction on German eBay, it's a pink Porsche GT1 with a starting bid of 700 (yes that's a number seven with two zeros after it) Euros !! It claims to be another of those Model Fahrzeug specials and is supposedly one of a limited edition of ten pieces, the seller even supplying a picture of the May 1998 issue detailing the item. The question is has anyone seen one of these before ???
It was down to the NEC today for the last big toyfair before Christmas and I couldn't believe the number of people who attended this event - I'm not exaggerating when I say that half an hour after the official opening time the queue was still around 150 yards long ! The best sellers today appeared to be the 1/43 Jaguars and the 1/18 scale Ford Escort RS 1600 AVO, also selling well was the Bentley Continental. I also came away with some interesting news items which are as follows :
The numbers of the Jordan EJR10 Sato Test cars entering the UK were severely cut back with most dealers having their orders reduced or receiving none at all. This was evident today with only one dealer having them for sale and he had come over from Germany. The bulk of the order is currently working it's way to Japan it seems.
Due to an error with the initial order Amerang only received 300 Brabham BT60 Damon Hill cars instead of 1,300 ! As a result it means that Minichamps will be making a second production run of an additional 1,000 some time in March/April time so if you don't receive your model you know the reason why.
The 2003 Le Mans winning Bentley is due for release in the coming week - Yes this years car yet surprisingly it's announcement has appeared to have gone unnoticed.
According to one source Minichamps will be creating an 80's revival with the planned release of a couple of 'hot hatches' namely the Ford Fiesta XR2 (my best ever 1:1 car) and the Peugeot 205 GTi
Remember those M Creative Michelin models ? Well it seems for whatever reason they aren't selling all that well in Japan and they have been unloading them in the UK by the caseload so expect to see them at a swapmeet near you in the not too distant future so remember don't go paying over the odds and be willing to barter.
11-December-2003 Well the McLaren Team Editions have finally arrived as we confirmed since the ban on tobacco advertising they are standard Minichamps releases in Team Edition packaging.
The big question is will they sell ? I personally think they will especially if McLaren have been wise and only produced around the 500 mark, even though they are just a 'box variation' of the standard model there are enough collectors out there who go for this type of thing, myself included ! It's a model I'm tipping to become sought after in time so don't say you haven't been warned
The part numbers for these models are as follows -
One model which seems to be a good investment at the moment is the 'Ocher Bend' Porsche 911 model Click Here! As we know Porsche is a marque which is highly collectable and several race versions have rocketed in price in the last twelve months - the 'Ocher Bend' is a 250 limited edition and to be honest with you I can't understand why some people are so willing to let them go so easily.
06-December-2003 There was a nice surprise waiting to greet me when I arrived home yesterday evening in the shape of a large brown A4 envelope - when I opened it I found the latest BMW Miniatures Collection 2003/4 catalogue inside courtesy of my friends at the parts department of Damon Hill BMW
Now I could easily run out of superlatives to describe this 100 page item however I'm not far off the mark with 'classy' - something one would expect from BMW but after flicking through it several times it is far superior to anything else I've ever seen and a must for all the BMW collectors out there. The photography and presentation is top notch.
I was having a trawl through eBay the other night and came across an auction for the white Swedish Rally version of the Ford RS 200 (yes it's the one I said was one to watch when it was originally released last year) however I was surprised to see that the auction in question finished at a massive £190 - not a bad return for something that retailed at just under £30 !
