Time for another look at my display fleet. The back rows of car lots were always the most interesting when I was a kid. They probably were for you too. At my childhood Barkly Street yard, oddities like the Hillman Californian (plenty of Minxes, but I only ever saw one of these), and the Goggomobil TS coupe (just my size!) stood out in my memory from all the tired Holdens, small Prefects and the surviving Renault Dauphines. They were much more memorable than a worn out though still colourful EJ wagon. Early Falcons never seemed to make it to the local used car yard. Dad’s ’62 showed why.
So, what’s in my display back row? Here’s half of it; we’ll look at the other half another time. Many of these will have been discussed previously by those more erudite than I, so this will be more of a light-hearted personal look -as you may have gathered already.
I mentioned this last time in response to a comment. It’s the Airfix 1/32 scale kit of Richard Trevithick’s 1804 Penydarren locomotive.
I love old machinery, as I can look at it and see what it does. Usually. I love wandering through the machinery shed in the Geelong Showgrounds, and seeing the engines in steam. This, though, is a bit of a puzzler. So much is different from, say, Stephenson’s Rocket (1827), which looks much more like the steam locos I’m familiar with. But it’s fascinating. I’ve built it, but I still don’t understand it.
Next up is this old cable tram. It’s a 1960s kit from the long defunct Hawk company, and is actually a San Francisco cable car. I built this back in the seventies, thinking to represent a Melbourne cable tram. But upon later investigation, I found it’s different from ours. Dad remembered them, but couldn’t tell me much.
At one time we had one of the largest cable networks in the world, with 47 miles of track, 15 routes, and 1200 cars and trailers. Electrification set in, and the last cable tram ran in 1940. The story of individual tramway companies having such different rolling stock and then gradually being subsumed into the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board is (to me) a fascinating one. I rode the trams a lot in my early working years, roamed all over the system, and became familiar with all the classes that were still operational in the seventies. But the earlier cable system was an enigma, a part of our transport heritage that wasn’t appreciated until later years. As so often happens.
Okay, I’ll shut up about the trams! Moving on…
We’re on more familiar ground with this Jaguar XK120. What can I say? This is an old Monogram kit that was first issued in the late seventies with a metal body. I waited until they released the cheaper, all-plastic version. Full engine and chassis detail, as with most American kits.
Now we turn Japanese. In one model group, I’m infamous for building Japanese four door sedans. None of those here though. Not today.
The Nissan Mid4 is a concept car from the 1985 Frankfurt show. This would have been quite startling at the time, coming from a Japanese manufacturer. It showcased the new VG30DE engine…
… rear-biased AWD and rear wheel steering. So much new tech from the conservative Japanese – quite unexpected. Originally intended for production, Wikipedia says it was axed due to cost, and it was Honda who would produce a mid-engined Japanese supercar. Nissan showed a restyled version in 1987 with a twin-turbo engine, but the Mid4 remained a concept. Some of its technology was to surface in the Skyline range, and the twin-turbo engine in the 300ZX. Speaking of Skylines…
We’ve seen this one before, in my Skyline series. It’s an R32 GTR. Just a quick look, and we’ll pass on.
Sometimes a new car seems underwhelming. You admire it for its abilities, but the style just seems to lack something. That’s how I felt about the 350Z. Along came the guys at Nismo to make it just right. New front end, very subtle spoiler, barely-detectable wheel arch extensions, oh-so-subtle ground effects…
… then they go all wild at the rear.
I’ve never owned a Subaru, but always admired them. If I hadn’t bought a Mazda 3, I think I would have got an Impreza. Not a WRX though. But it might have been a wagon, I was quite smitten by the quirky style of these. This is a Hasegawa kit; not one of their recent range of classic Japanese cars but still quite good. I was messing around with colours here and somehow came up with this violent hi-vis green. I’m not sure what you would call this…
Often when I build a model, I make subtle changes. It might just be a matter of a colour scheme never offered, or a wheel swap, or omission of the sometimes-childish factory graphics so prevalent in the seventies and eighties. Sometimes all three. This old Fujimi kit was a race car that I returned to a street configuration. That’s why it’s on slicks.
I love, love, love the Cosmo. I think I remember seeing one at the Melbourne Motor Show back in ‘67 or ‘68, but I may be mistaken. I certainly saw it in magazines back then. Like the prewar MG Midgets, it’s incredibly small and dainty, just what you need for darting through traffic and nothing more.
I built this back in 2021 for the annual online 24-hour buildoff, and I actually got it done in that time, something I have never managed since. This is the basic Hasegawa kit, not the Collector’s HI-Grade series one with the full metal engine which, even if I’d seen it, is way too expensive.
We’ll finish with this Renault 4CV. This is an old kit from the French company Heller. It seems incredibly accurate, even down to the tiny engine in the rear. As I was building it, I was struck by the fuel filler in the engine compartment.
Okay, an under-seat tank would be safer than the Beetle’s front tank, but what would it do for the weight distribution? And you’d have to be careful filling up, with that hot engine so close.
Here’s another one I built thirty years earlier.
Hino in Japan built these under license. A Japanese friend altered the Heller kit to represent the Hino. The one difference I remember was in the front ‘grille’, but these are both Renaults, as I remember them.
That’s it for today. Next time we’ll see what’s at the other end of the front row – a medley of Italian, British, German and American subjects. See you then!
More fantastic work, Peter! Your Mitsu Station model makes me want the actual car – simply gorgeous, great ’80s design.
Your mention and history of the former cable tram system in that region is very interesting. Even here in the U.S., it seems we took steps backward with public transit with the increased popularity of the automobile (and yes, I understand this is a car site).
I have never seen a Jaguar XK120 hood open and had no idea it made that extreme, elongated “V” shape.
I’m also an early Cosmo fan. I also like the ’70s version features in that CC rerun a few days ago. Completely different cars aesthetically and in their respective missions.
Enjoyable piece – please keep them coming!
Thanks Joseph. The Starion was a car that always annoyed me: it just looked too busy, too much clutter. Leaving off the stripes and swapping the wheels helps a lot. I’m still not sold on the air dam so far back from the bumper, it looks quite awkward in side view.
There’s a lot online about the old Melbourne cable tram system, as well as several books published – none of which were available to me whan I built the model. But when Dad explained to me the principle behind the system, my interest was piqued. There are several sites dealing with the Melbourne system. A lot of hard work digging the trench to lay the cable though.
LIke you, I’d never stopped to think about the XK120 hood. From online photos it seems to open high enough that hitting your head would not be a problem.
Plenty more to come!
My Dad had a Renault 4CV when I was a kid. The 3 most memorable things about that car were the suicide doors, the time some neighborhood kids picked the car up so that we found it perpendicular to the driveway and last, you could hand crank the engine which my father had to do once in one of New York’s tunnels!
Having to hand crank the engine in a tunnel – that would have been a memorable experience for all the wrong reasons!
I’d say the 4CV is my favorite, but they’re all good. And partial CC Effect on the red Starion; I saw a very red and very shiny later generation 3000GT VR4on the road a few days ago. While I personally have no objection to the 350/370Z, the 3000GT is the best of that class of Japanese sport coupes. If you’re going to go big, go BIG.
Thanks! One of these days I must build a 3000GT.
With its single cylinder, flywheel and gear drive the Penydarren loco is nearer to a traction engine than Rocket. The long crosshead at the front and crank arm remind me of someone playing a trombone…
The Cosmo is a lovely, delicate thing.
All beautifully built. Thanks Peter.
Thank you Bernard. The Penydarren is pretty much a boiler on wheels, with just enough mechanism to drive it. I keep reminding myself that Richard Trevithick had nothing else to go by. Trombone! 🙂
The Mid4 and Starion catapult me back to the mid-’80s in the best way possible and everything else is just icing on the cake! Another wonderful selection and such variety, it seems that it might be difficult just what to feature when and in which context. This “back row” medley is delightful!
I had great fun with the Mid4. Not the least of which was building a kit most of the other guys in the build-off had never heard of. Once I took the decision to build it as if it had been a production car, colour and trim became variable.
You’ve hit the nail on the head there, Jim, with your comment about variety. The hardest part is deciding which ones to write about and how to group them. Going through my display has been easy. I’m down to twelve future themes on my list, and over the months Rich has added two more I hadn’t thought of (wagons and he wants another one on colour.), so that should see us through to the end of the year.
Wait till you see the other end of the back row, Or the rest of the front row next time. Or…. 🙂
” The hardest part is deciding which ones to write about and how to group them”
I have a similar issue in the junkyard… 🙂 Thousands of pictures, not enough time to share them all…
I look forward to seeing more, glad to hear there appears to be little danger of running out of subject matter anytime soon.
I’m with dman ^^^. As I scrolled the post, I thought “that Jag is IT!”, then “350Z for the win! How cool!”. After that, “Ohhhhh…Cosmo! What a beaut!”. But I ended with “Man, the olive 4CV is immaculate. Just perfect.”
Like a car buffet.
Wonderful stuff. As always.
Thanks! I have childhood memories of seeing 4CVs running around, and the colours I used were pretty close to the box art.
As to the Pannydarren locomotive, it appears that there no accurate descriptions or drawings survived; the only that did (from 1855) clearly has some substantial accuracy issues:
https://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/59/Penydarren_2.htm
But in general principle, yes, it was quite different than later steam engines as it was just an adaptation of an existing steam engine design used for pumping water out of mines. The Rocket was designed from scratch as a locomotive.
That’s a great link Paul – thanks!
I agree that the back row is where a lot of the interesting stuff resides.
I love the Mazda Cosmo here! The Cosmo is one of those cars that’s always fascinated me, but I’ve never seen one in person. The 24-hr. build-off sounds like a fun thing to do… once. Glad you were able to get it done!
That 4CV model looks very impressive. I never knew about the fuel filler in the engine bay. Seems like a not a great idea.
There’s a filler cap below the rear window, but that’s for the radiator. That must have caused confusion back in the days of full-service gas stations. Inside the engine bay, the battery appears to be about a foot below the gas cap – which introduces another potential problem!
Nice, I like the Imprezza and actually test drove a Gravel Express version, but got beaten at the bidding, quite a weapon, but , I also drove a later 2.5 Imprezza and found my feet dont fit in the footwell in work boots, so no deal.
I’ve always been intrigued by their mechanical layout, going back to the days of the FF1, which was only sold in some states – NSW I think but not Victoria. My son found the Mazda for sale in the next village to mine, so I never went Subaru hunting.
What a great variety in this one. Is that Mrs Stig in the background of the Starion ? love the red on red combo of that one too.
The 1804 Pennydarren, just wow. If you like old machinery like I do, have you been to the Lake Goldsmith vintage steam rally ? I think its not far from where you are.
I went for the first time this year. I was in heaven, static displays are all good and well, but this show is on another level, one example, a working Ruston Bucyrus steam shovel, just amazing to watch. another one is powered by an ancient 3 cylinder diesel, too many machines to tell you about in a comment, allow a full day, there is another one in November I think.
Oh there are old trucks and some cars too.
I have indeed been to Lake Goldsmith (twice), it’s about an hour and a half to the west of me. The first time I came upon it by accident on my way home from Warrnambool, the second time was with my son, who wants to go back some time. You see some really weird stuff there, and that steam shovel is a real jaw-dropper. The old cars and trucks can be intriguing too, and well worth a second look. One year there was an old steam-powered VW pickup. I didn’t see it moving, but – ingenuity! Or is that heresy?
Some more greats there, Peter!
There is something about those Heller kits – they may not be overly-detailed, but they do seem to get the body shape spot on. A lot of die/resin-casts today are terribly off, like they’ve scanned from photos or something.
How was the MID 4’s driveline configured? I’m a sucker for Heath Robinson transmission layouts and I presume the tranny was like the NSX’s, albeit with some method of getting the drive from the diff, through the ‘box and out towards the front…
Can find no details online.
Thanks Nick! The Heller kits often have their own kind of assembly challenges (being polite), and weird tool layout (chrome trunk lid on the Delage D8SS!) but body shape never seems to be a problem.
And I agree too about some of today’s kits. Rather then criticize online and get caught in a flame war, I just fix what I see as the main problem/s, and wait for people to say “Yours looks different…” Often the changes needed can be subtle. But some kits I just don’t buy if the body’s too far off.
I’m told that sometimes dimensions have to be fudged a bit to fool the eye to make a subject look right in scale, and that just doing a replica straight from the blueprints often won’t look right.
The MID4 doesn’t have a detailed engine, but from the detail on the insert it’s indeed a transverse V6 mounted behind the driver’s seat (RHD) so I’d assume a transverse transaxle. Unfortunately the model doesn’t have a detailed chassis, and the car has a belly pan hiding the front drive arrangement.
Edit: the engine actually appears inline, which is more in line (sorry) with what I’d expect.
Sorry – that’s the Mid 4 II. The first one does appear to be transverse, but the kit’s not all that detailed.
And there is a kit of the Mid4 II, but I think it’s a different body on the same floorpan. The Japanese manufacturers used to do a lot of that sort of thing whether it was appropriate or not – I have a rear-drive Honda Prelude model…..
😀
Still only found one poor photo of the real thing and I surmise that it’s similar to my Leg End, albeit with the transfer box turned round and facing under the sump – where you’d find the gearbox in a 100A! The propshaft can then run from too low to the correct height for the front diff.
Nissan didn’t mind an oddly-shaped oil pan.