The weather this week has been horrible, solid rain, however Thursday 21st came out sunny and I had a pleasant, short flip up the M40 to Stratford on Avon. It is only about a hour so just around the corner in my terms.
Stratford on Avon is worth spending time looking around. My wife and I had a few days there earlier this year, visiting the Swan Theatre to watch some Shakespeare (Cymbeline), enjoying some lovely meals and soaking in all the wonderful history and atmosphere of the place. It was of course Shakespeare’s birthplace and where he lived a good part of his adult life. There are a lot of preserved Tudor buildings in the town bringing alive some of the past.
I was making a repeat trip to see David in Stratford. I have been buying from him regularly for more than five years and this is batch number 16. David sells at swapmeets and shows, specialising in near as possible mint and boxed Corgi Toys and Dinky Toys. Like all dealers he picks up models which fall outside his speciality and from time to time I buy some of them from him.
I always enjoy visiting David, he was an exec at Ford for many years, in the UK and mainland Europe and has a deep knowledge of cars and model cars. He and I can bore on for hours on the subject.
This was a small batch, but it contained some real gems. There are some Corgi Showman’s pieces, these are the later releases you don’t see as frequently as the first ranges. The boxes are fragile too so it is good to find some undamaged ones like these.
Those three Matchbox gift sets are nice. There is one farm set and two military. They are German export releases and contain some models not sold in the UK. The Vitesse Minis are fun, as well as a load of classic Mini saloons there are the tail fin cars – Riley Elf and Wolseley Hornet and some Mini Mokes, the jeep style Mini.
The two stars of the show are from Minichamps. The car pictured above is a 1968 Alfa Romeo T33 Stradale. The Tipo 33 was Alfa’s track racing car from 1966 through to 1977, competing in the World Sports Car Championship racing at Sebring and Le Mans very successfully.
The T33 Stradale was a road going version of the racing car and was one of the first true supercars. It was designed by Franco Scaglione, and built by Carrozzeria Marazzi and made its debut at the Paris Salon de L’Auto on 5th October 1967. When introduced it was the world’s fastest road going production car. Only 18 examples were built.
The photo above is of the last example of the model we had in stock in 2018. It is rare and lovely and goes on the web store on October 1st.
The second Minichamps is probably the most famous 1961 Lincoln Continental ever. It is a stretched convertible with the code name X-100, and for many years was the Presidential car in the USA.
We have here a representation of its best known journey, through Dallas, Texas when President Kennedy was assassinated on 22nd November 1963.
If you have not done so already you should check out our Instagram site (https://www.instagram.com/little_wheels_models/). Suzi, our Product Manager, is in charge of our Instagram feed and takes all the photos. She places the models in real-life situations with figures and props. The pictures are fantastic and she has hundreds of fans.
When Phil saw this model being unpacked he suggested she do a series of photos of the car featuring all the different conspiracy theories, you know, a grassy knoll, one of her model factory buildings could stand in for the Book Depository. Fortunately she has better taste than Phil.
After the shooting the car was refurbished and put back into use. This was known as ‘The Quick Fix’. It was sent back to Ford who stripped it down, gave it a roof, heavy bullet-proofing and better comms equipment at an estimated cost of $500,000. It remained in use until the late 1970s when the last president to use it was Jimmy Carter.
The ‘Quick Fix’ model in the picture is by CMF in 1:18 scale.
Our Minichamps car goes on sale on Saturday 30th September.
As I headed back down the M40 to the Kingston Bagpuize warehouse I was lucky enough to spot a few classics on the way.
First came a Caterham Super 7 which was being taken north on a trailer. The Caterham, which is still in production, was originally built by Lotus in 1957, it remained in production with Lotus until they sold the design to Caterham Cars in 1977. It is typical of Colin Chapman’s philosophy of performance through low weight and simplicity. I had two days out collecting this week and bagged one of these on both days. The other one was on a trailer on the M3.
Next came a real favourite of mine, I’m always a sucker for a Jag, and this is one of the best.
It is the XJ-C based on the Series 2 XJ 6 and produced from 1975 to 1978. Again it was on a flatbed heading north. I would fancy the straight 6 with the XK 4.2 litre engine over the V12 as it would use marginally less fuel and be easier to keep in tune. However like all 1970s Jaguars the thing to watch out for is rust. They are shockers for it.
This model is by IXO and is in 1:43 scale.
Proceeding under its own power was a nice BMW E34, the third generation BMW 5 Series produced from 1987 to 1996.
This model is in 1:18 scale by Minichamps. Is it a classic or just an old car? I think its style and quality put it firmly in the classics area and it would be a very easy classic to own, being fast enough (more than) for modern traffic and having reliable electronic fuel injection and air conditioning.
Last classic of the day was one of Phil’s favourites the R107 Mercedes-Benz SL Class.
This is the Mercedes SL produced from 1971 to 1979, the model is by Cararama in 1:43 scale. Interestingly my visitee on the following day drives one of these.
Jonny lives in one of the villages near Farnham in Surrey and has been a customer of Little Wheels almost since the beginning. I’m always interested to see what he buys as he is such a discerning collector and always goes for the models I would buy. He has a huge collection and was having a bit of a refocus, moving on some models which are no longer core to his main theme.
The journey was a bit of a trial, A34 south, M4 towards London and leaving the motorway at the Reading intersection heading south again on the A roads, each getting progressively smaller and busier as I got nearer. I’m always struck by how pretty and leafy Surrey is and the delightful little towns and villages, like Hartley Wintney, one passes through, albeit very slowly.
The models I picked up from Jonny were mixture of trucks and 1:43 scale cars. As well as the usual Corgi trucks he had some really nice and unusual pieces from Norev
Jonny is in PR and had previously worked for Renault, which is a strong theme in the 1:43 scale cars and vans I got from him. Quite a lot of these are rare promotional releases from new model launches. As you can see from all the yellow in the photo above, many of them are French postal vehicles.
There are some SIKU buses and another favourite Mercedes, the 600 Pullman from Vitesse. These models will begin to appear on the website in the next few days.
As I headed back to Kingston I spotted some more classics on the road, including another Caterham Super 7 as mentioned above. Google Maps took pity on me for once and found be a much less congested route home.
I can’t remember the last time I saw one of these out on the road. It is a Triumph Acclaim. If it reminds you of a Honda Ballade from the 1970s then that is because it is one. British Leyland, in its dying days, formed a relationship with Honda and built a number of their designs in the UK and badged them as Triumph & Rover. By that time they had no money for new model development. The Acclaim was made from 1981 to 1984.
The car in the photo is in 1:36 scale by Corgi Toys and can be steered by pushing in the door mirrors.
My last classic of the day was a lovely little series 3 Lotus Elan from about 1970. It was being driven through the woods near Greenham Common. The model is by Sun Star in 1:18 scale.
There was an RAF, later US, airbase at Greenham Common which closed in 1992, it was where the American cruise missiles were located during the Cold War and became the focus of a women’s peace campaign for many years. They made a permanent camp there for about 10 years outside the gates on the grass verges. I remember driving past once in its latter days, one had to admire the persistence of the women protesters, but it was a sad and squalid place.
The airfield is now converted to use as a business park and a buddy of mine runs a telephone answering service from what was once a fortified blast-proof bunker on the site. I guess it is too strong to knock down and redevelop so they just had to use it as is.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s ramble, if you did please scroll to the bottom of the page and click the ‘Like’ button.
I don’t have another trip planned until 5th & 6th of October. One of these is to collect buses from Luton including seventeen 1:24 scale Sun Star Routemasters and Bedford OB Coaches. The second journey is to Bournemouth for some new/old shop stock slot cars from a closed down model shop.
What’s in the Van? – Home
20th September – Duesenberg Coupe Simone
14th September – Croydon
10th September – New Romney
24th August – Shrewsbury
17th August – Airedale, Gainsborough & Leicester
3rd August – Bedford
27th July – Worthing
13th July – Chatteris, Hinckley & Nuneaton
6/7th July – Magor & Westbury
15/16th June – Newcastle upon Tyne
8th June – Bournemouth, Ringwood & Bracknell
1st June – Diss, Stewartby & Brackley
25th May – Rickmansworth
12th May – Kingston & Fleet
4th May – Witham
21st April – Staines
12th April – Dereham
6th April – Warminster
30th March – Doncaster, Gainsborough & Peterborough
18/22nd March – Bedford & Epsom
15/16th March 2023 – London, Hemel Hempstead & Stafford
8th March 2023 – Warwick & Solihull
5th March 2023 – Huntingdon & Bedford
23rd February 2023 – Little Wheels Museum
16th February 2023 – Devon & Dorset
9th February 2023 – Nottinghamshire & Lincolnshire
2nd February 2023 – Gloucester & Hereford
What's in the Van? 
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