You’d have to edit a few old sayings when applying them to the work of master class model builder Alain Bouissou; “Good things come in small packages”, for instance, would need a touch up. You might start by replacing “good” with “amazing”.

TrueScale Miniatures’ publicity department - sorely overworked these days -  wasn’t too happy when we took much longer than promised with these new Tyrrell P34s. And as much as we’d like to say that there was some concrete logistical reason for the delay, we can’t.

We just liked them. A lot.

McLaren’s McLaren

I have and always will be a big fan of Can-Am racing, with McLarens ranking among my favorites. Their domination in this series was truly awesome. 1967 was a championship year for the team; driving their svelte M6As (freshly painted orange), the team of Bruce (McLaren) and Denny (Hulme) won five of the six races in the series, and would most likely have won the last, had McLaren not run out fuel in the last 200 yards - handing over victory to John Surtees in a competing Lola.

Tank!

The 1923 Bugatti Type 32, nicknamed the “Tank”, featured a number of mechanical innovations in addition to its radical, aerodynamic shape, and rode on a very short 79.5” wheelbase. Due to Bugatti’s inexperience with aerodynamics the car had a tendency to lift off the ground at speed.

Four of these racers were built, to compete in the 1923 French GP, each powered by a 2.0 litre straight-8 engine. The best they could manage was a 3rd place finish with car number 6, and Bugatti quickly abandoned further development, to concentrate on other models. The Type 32 car has been produced before by other companies in 1:43rd, but I can’t say the last time I saw any.

Cheetah!

Here’s a model I’ve only seen made twice before; once in 1:43 scale as an excellent, high end limited edition hand built (and kit) by Marsh Models - and once by Mini Exotics as a 1:24th kit which was somewhat less than good.

Spark’s been busy, as usual. This model replicates the beloved racecar as driven by Ralph Salyer at Road America in 1964; somewhere between 11 and 16 Cheetah’s in total were built, and only one was a roadster - though it didn’t start life that way. The Cro-Sal Special was a conversion from a coupe, done by Gene Crowe and Ralph Salyer, the car’s mechanic and owner; hence the Cro-Sal name. This was also the most successful of all Cheetahs, and it won many races.

Space Ship

Borgward came and went within a single decade, but used their years well, producing a rather interesting and innovative variety of cars in the years 1952-62. The most successful was the Isabella; over 200,000 of those puppies were built.

Only one of our subject car was cobbled together, and the 1955 Borgward Traumwagen looks like a design lifted from a science fiction novella. I’d like to know which one; here on Earth, Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Borgward’s idea was to produce the ultimate dream car in mass production. Unfortunately the dream never went further than the one-off, which was badly damaged during a test drive in 1955. Repairs and modifications were made, and further testing (possibly including signals sent to, and received from, the Mother Ship) went on until early 1958.

In 1951, just one year after the official Formula 1 Championship series was begun, Ferrari won its very first Formula 1 victory at Silverstone with the car you see here in model form: the 375 F-1 piloted to victory by 29 year old Argentinean Froilan Gonzalez.
Many long-time 1:43 collectors will know that this car has been modeled by many specialist hand built makers over the years. For those not having the budget or desire to spring for a more accurate, more expensive hand built, the crew at Mattel have come to your rescue.

Special Delivery

Mercedes produced a scant number of these cars in both 500K, and the later 540K, variations. The production of the 540K ran from 1936 to 1938 or ’39, and only about twenty six were built. These massive two seat roadsters were, and still are, the epitome of elegance and extravagance.

This 1938 Mercedes 540K is actually a re-release by IXO of the very first classic car model from their “Museum Series” range. I’m so glad they reproduced this; I was one of those who sat on the fence too long when this was first issued, and by the time I finally decided to pull the trigger, I was not able to find one for sale.