March 2005 - May 2005 Archive
I'm often intrigued by some of the prices people are willing to pay for models however with the story I'm about to tell you even more so. Our story starts when a blue Carl Fogarty Ducati 996 was purchased by someone at the Aachen toyfair and then listed it on German eBay shortly afterwards. I received an email from a collector in Italy which drew my attention to the auction due to the fact that he had never seen this item before and wondered if it was genuine. Now I'm the first to admit that I don't know much when it comes to anything with two wheels so I fired an email off to a friend who does. She came to the conclusion from the information provided that it was a collector modified model - even so the auction ended around the £150 mark .
A couple of weeks later the same item was re-listed by a different seller which sold for a whopping £585 ! What is remarkable about this model is that is was merely used to test the decals for the 99 Fogarty bike and that's all - this information was confirmed by Minichamps themselves so the actual bike never existed and wasn't even a pre-production prototype so why pay so much for a 'phantom' model ?
The number 9 issue of the superb 'MiniCar Fan' is now available for pre-order on the Hobbylink Japan website.
14-May-2005 We've finally got to the bottom of the mystery of the Chinese Grand Prix BAR models, they are actually standard release models which have been over decaled with a conversion kit available from a Japanese online store. The kit comes complete with decal for applying to the insert and it was this single factor which seems to have lead collectors to initially believe it was a genuine model. Click Here! to view the conversion of the BAR model and Here! to view the Jaguar R5 'Oceans 12' liveried item.
For those of you who purchased the number 7 edition of Minicar Fan you couldn't help but notice the article relating to a group of Japanese collectors who went on the Minichamps Museum tour in Aachen. Well it seems for the 100 lucky people who went on the trip each were presented with this unique Minichamps Porsche 911 GT3 RS in white to commemorate the event.
10-May-2005 Since we featured a photograph for the eBay auction of a Jenson Button BAR 'Chinese Grand Prix' model a few weeks back I've received dozens of emails requesting information about it's anticipated release date. On Sunday at the Donington Park swap meet I mentioned the model to one dealer who confirmed he had contacted the importer who in turn had contacted Aachen but alas nobody appears to know anything about it therefore it appears to be a fake - unless anyone can prove otherwise that is.
If you have been unwilling to pay the prices being asked on eBay for the current Porsche flavour of the month namely the Infineon and Buchbinder models you will be pleased to know two standard issues of these items will be released in the next couple of weeks at normal prices.
05-May-2005 Our Japanese HQ reports that M-Creative have released a Michelin boxed BAR Sato second version model with a standing "Bibendum" figure and it's already selling on Yahoo! Auction for three times it's recommended retail price. Also the Minicar Fan limited edition McLaren F1 GTR prototype in red has been delivered this week and is also selling on Yahoo! Auction for a whopping JPY 29,000 !
Another model which is currently selling for a ridiculously high price on eBay at the moment is this ASICS promotional Porsche 911 which was apparently given away free by the company.
Whilst on the subject of Porsche I received an email last night stating that the Manthey Porsche we featured at the weekend has been completely sold out by the company however MRs Modellautos have the model for sale at 59.95 Euros plus postage and they are willing to sell a maximum of two per customer which seems to contradict the terms and conditions of sale on the Manthey Racing site.
30-April-2005 LATE NEWS UPDATE! Further to my update this morning I have received this interesting piece of information. The Manthey Racing Porsche can be ordered directly from the Manthey Racing homepage for 59.90 Euros. (See News Update 20.04.05) There is a clause in the condition of sale stating that the buyer must not sell the model for a period of six months which was the reason for the earlier eBay auction being pulled
Our European HQ spotted this Porsche model on eBay this week however it disappeared after two days as the seller deleted the auction so we are unsure at this stage if it's original.
The item was described as a promotional model that will not be released by Minichamps at a later date in normal packaging and is one of only 1,000 pieces. The original Team Manthey Racing car won the 2004 BF Goodrich Nurburgring 1000 Km 2004 race and was piloted by Hulverscheid/Schornstein/Jacobs.
What seems strange about this model is the printing on the base - note the individual number '870von 1000 Stuck'. As we know from past experience individual numbers are normally printed or stamped on card and not plastic bases so this may be a first for Minichamps. As there is no space between the '870' and the word 'von' it leads us to believe the number was added later with a stamp. If anyone else has any information on this item we will be pleased to hear from you.
26-April-2005 Guess what? Minichamps have decided to reissue both the Porsche 959 Paris Dakar cars of Ickx/Brasseur & Kussmaul/Unger but without Rothmans markings. The question is will these models be over decaled like the Porsche 1-2-3 Le Mans set or are they a totally fresh batch of models ?
The hottest model doing the rounds at the moment is the black Porsche 996 GT3 RS produced by T2M for the International Diecast Show in Paris and is limited to 999 pieces. According to reports the model was quick to sell out however they said the same thing about the Dauer Porsche which eventually turned up at EWA Cars over a year later.
22-April-2005 A couple of Porsche 911 GT3's have surfaced which should keep the Porsche collectors busy for a while, both are limited to 500 pieces each. As soon as we have any part numbers or information we will let you know.
Porsche Super Cup 2004 Infineon Team Farnbacher
Porsche Carrera Cup 2004 Team Araxa Buchbinder Racing
18-April-2005 Apologies for the lack of updates recently but due to other more pressing matters my attentions have been concentrated elsewhere however you will be pleased to know that things should start getting back to normal.
On Saturday my copy of Mini Car Fan #8 arrived on my doormat and like the previous issues it really is top notch, this quarters issue focuses on McLaren F1 GTR's and Porsche 911 GT1's. The potential for a magazine of this quality in English is phenomenal and what a pity that nobody seems willing to produce one - the only thing I can suggest is that the more people that email EI Publications in Japan the better and perhaps they will sit up and take note.
After refusing to pay the ridiculous eBay prices being asked last year for the 999 piece Le Mans winning Dauer Porsche 962 I must admit I couldn't believe my luck when I heard that EWA Cars in the US were selling them for $69 so I placed an order for one. Well news like this travels fast and it seems that they received orders for well over 1,000 models which is in excess of the original issue number. Unfortunately some 'collectors' (a term I use loosely in this case) put in orders for multiple models and in one case one individual ordered 50 - now if you want to order models in this quantity and make money from such a venture why not cut out the middle man and become a retailer yourself ? Luckily EWA did the honorable thing and limited orders to one per customer so unfortunately for the speculators their plan backfired with several eBay auctions being pulled - a case of counting your chickens.
10-April-2005 It didn't take long for these to start appearing on eBay did it ? (see yesterday's story)
09-April-2005 This has to be bargain of the year ! EWA cars in the US is selling the 1994 Dauer Porsche Le Mans Winner for a lowly US $69 plus shipping AND it's the 999 limited edition T2M version !!! Just think how much money you will have saved by not panic buying one on eBay for over $300 !
The Techno Classica event took place in Essen this week and one of our army of reporters was in attendance. He confirmed that things were very slow on the model front to say the least however a few of the Porsche GT3 cup cars were selling for 19.95 Euros. Minichamps issued a special 'Messe model' especially for the show which is a Mercedes 230TE in dark blue complete the Minichamps logo on the sides and hood and 'Techno Classica Essen 2005'. On the base the words 'Sondermodell Techno Classica Essen 1 of 288 pieces'. As soon as we have a picture we will of course upload it.
We have also received confirmation that only one McLaren Mercedes MP 4/19 will be released this year in Mercedes packaging and that's the Kimi Raikkonen model. It's not clear whether Mercedes have decided to drop the Coulthard car as he is no longer contracted to McLaren or whether it's because of a lack of preorders or poor sales figures in previous years.
29-March-2005 At last some news to report !! Minichamps have announced a couple of new models.
In 1/18th the following showcars -
And in 1/43 scale
And last but by no means least these driver helmets in 1/8th scale
19-March-2005 A couple of new F1 models have been announced - the Red Bull showcars will be produced for both drivers in 1/18 and 1/43 scale, expected release date Q2 2005
18-March-2005 As we predicted a New York Toy Fair version of the silver BMW M3 GTR street has surfaced and is limited to only 96 pieces worldwide and we have the photograph to prove it ! (Thanks 'F399' Brian!)
In view of the low production run on this model I can see the price reaching astronomical heights once they start to appear on eBay so brace yourself !
I've received a few emails in recent weeks about the Minichamps Museum - whilst it appears a group of Japanese collectors appeared to have already been shown around this which was evident from the article in the #7 edition of Mini Car Fan one of our reporters emailed the Aachen HQ and received the following reply - "As soon as our museum is open you will read about it on our website"..........can't say fairer than that I suppose ??
13-March-2005 We have received a picture of the Collection Passion released Dauer Porsche we featured yesterday - as soon as we have any further updates we will keep you posted.
12-March-2005 Some news of yet another promotional model but this time from France. The French magazine 'Auto Modelisme' Collection Passion are currently running an advert in their magazine for a few limited editions they will release this year. The first will be the #35 Stuck/Sullivan/Boutsen Dauer Porsche from Le Mans 1984 and like their previous effort the winning #36 car will come in similar packaging complete with an outer cardboard sleeve, again limited to 999 pieces.
No doubt these model will start to appear shortly after this years Le Mans race. They do however point out that more limited editions will be made for them later this year but they don't state precisely what these will be.
06-March-2005 Our Japanese HQ has come up trumps again with the model we featured yesterday. It seems there will be a Motorsport Fan Thanks Day at the Suzuka Circuit between the 12th & 13th March 2005. The models will go on sale on the 12th March and customers will be limited to the purchase of a maximum of 5 pieces.
05-March-2005 Yet another Japanese market model has surfaced this time a 1,000 piece limited edition 'Suzuka Legend' packaged Takumo Sato Jordan EJ12 which finished in 5th place at the 2002 Suzuka GP. As soon as we have any further information we will let you know.
