NEWS Nr. 2 February 2009

Transcription

1 North America NEWS Nr. 2 February 2009 First news from the Nuremberg International Toy Fair. Unfortunately, the news isn t all that good. Victim of the worldwide crisis, the legendary German toy manufacturer Märklin, who gave us some nice Mercedes models in the past, has declared insolvency, and is 50 Million in debt. The well known German 1:87 model maker Herpa is feverishly looking for a buyer, and has delayed paying the salaries of its employees in Germany for three weeks Who is next? Anyway, so far, we ve got more of the usual, i.e. more variants, more duplications, (Last year NOREV made first for the Editions Atlas Verlag, then for themselves the L408 this year SCHUCO announces the very same 1:43 scale L408 van in various guises ), but also a few interesting new models. One of these is...the Volkswagen prototype V30, of 1937 vintage, which PremiumClassiXXs will release hopefully still this year as a 1:43 scale resin model. Now, why would I talk about the VW prototype in a newsletter destined to Mercedes-Benz collectors? Well OK, it is maybe a bit of a stretch for some collectors, but after all, it was at the Daimler-Benz Stuttgart- Untertürkheim factory, that the 30 cars of the 3 rd and finalvolkswagen prototype were built. They even had a Mercedes-Benz works number: W30. And since Daimler-Benz built them, I shall add this VW V30 (W30) prototype to my Mercedes-Benz collection. From a historical perspective too, that makes sense, all the more so, when you factor in the complex and at times stormy relationship between Prof Ferdinand Porsche, the creator of the VW bug, and his former employer Daimler-Benz.

2 Now, back to Mercedes-Benz proper and let s start with Minichamps announced new models of Mercedes-Benz cars, racers, buses and trucks: Formula 1 racecars: - McLaren-Mercedes MP4/14, M. Haakinen world champion Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4/23, L. Hamilton world champion Mercedes 300SLR J-M. Fangio, Le Mans 1955 Street cars: 1:18: SL (W198) 1954, black SL (W198) 1957 roadster, red - E-Class sedan, GLK 2008, white - SL65 AMG black series McLaren-Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss 2008 (to be released in 2010) - 190SL (W121) Roadster 1955, black - CLK (C209) 2001, black - E-Class T-model (S211) 2003, metallic silver - E-Class T-model 2006, metallic silver - SLK 55 AMG 2008, metallic silver - SLK (R230) 2008, white - SL63 AMG (R230) 2008, black - SL65 AMG (R230) «black series» 2008 metallic grey (W110) 1965, dark red - ML63 AMG (W164) 2008, black GE R (W460-W461) SE 3.5 Coupe (W111) 1965, metallic silver - 280SE 3.5 Cabriolet (W111) 1965, metallic silver - McLaren-Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss C111/II 1970, metallic orange - CL-Class (C215) 1999, metallic green Linea Giallo - SL (R230), yellow

3 Ambulances and Fire Department: - 190E EMS, Fire Dept. Aachen - 230GE (E ), Fire Dept. Aachen - Unimog 404 TROLF 750 (dry chemical powder), Fire Dept. Berlin, LoD3750 KS25 (pumper), Fire Dept. Cologne, 1940 (colour variant) - LoD3750 DL26 (turntable/aerial), Fire Dept. Cologne, 1940 (colour variant) Trucks and buses: - Unimog 401, with cable winch - Unimog 401, with trailer, 1951 (white/red) - Unimog 1300L, tipper with loading crane - Unimog 1300L, snowplough (orange) - L6600 tractor ( no trailer), 1954 (green/red) - L315 truck + trailer Gustav Mäuler - L1620 truck + trailer Fern, Schnell,Gut O321H bus, 1957, Doornkaat - O317K bus, 1966, Jägermeister Next, the new SCHUCO models: Street cars: - C-Class T-model, Polizei Stuttgart - C 63 AMG Safety Car - DTM The new E-Class Avant-garde, available in blue or black, - The new E-Class Elegance, white - GLK, in 4 colours: red, white, black, silver

4 Trucks: - LP 608 Gulf- Porsche - LP 608 tipper - LP 813 Fire dept. - LS 1620 Lorsata tractor-trailer - LS 1620 tractor alone (no trailer) - Unimog 401 steel cabin ( Frog eyes ) - Unimog U20 City works dept. - Zetros 4x4 (2 axles) - Zetros 6x6 (3 axles)

5 Light trucks, vans: - L408 Porsche racing, red - L408 Red Cross ambulance - L409 LF8 Feuerwehr Wasserzell Fire Dept. Altaya/IXO the Mercedes-Benz legend This series of 1:43 scale Mercedes-Benz models will continue and unfortunately also end - this year. There are another 8 models, which are due to be released before the series is complete, at some point in the middle of 2009: - SL 600 (2004) - 170S Cabriolet A (1949) - Simplex 40HP (1902) Break Universal (1966) - S 500 (1998) - G5 (1939) SEC (1985) - 170H (1938) G5 prototype 170 H prototype

6 IXO-Classic & IXO-Museum Many of the Mercedes-Benz models manufactured by IXO for Ediciones Altaya will be re-released in the regular IXO-Classic or IXO-Museum series with appropriate upgrades and improvements. Among these there will be: = In the IXO Classic series: - 220SE (W111) fintail (bi-color) - 230SL hardtop - 350SL (R107) hardtop SL 500 Roadster - 500SE (1980) - S500 (W140) - SLK (R171) - S-Class (W221) = In the Museum series: - 460N Nürburg Pullman Cabriolet F (Emperor Wilhelm II) K Autobahnkurier Simplex D Pullman G4-1938

7 In other news: A few days ago, Spark released the 1:43 scale model of the Mercedes-Benz W154 racecar Nr.46, the winner of the 1938 Grand Prix of Tripoli, driven by Hermann Lang. For the first time ever, the colour scheme of the car, including the red upper half of the radiator is absolutely accurately reproduced on a model (of any scale), thanks to unexpectedly discovered colour photographs taken at the time of the race. The car is priced at around 45 (+S&H) from your favourite model car supplier, available immediately. At the same time, Spark also released a 1:43 scale model of the 1939 Mercedes W125 hill climber, the car Nr. 128, driven by Hermann Lang, with which he won the race up the Grossglockner in Note that the twin rear wheels were only used during the trials. For the race the car was shod with the regular single rear-wheels. The perfectly reproduced resin model is available under the order Number Sparks S1031 for app. US$ 58, among others from EWA ( in the USA.

8 That s the latest for now! In fact you, dear reader and MBMC club-member, are getting the latest news from Nuremberg, whilst the 60th International Toy Fair is still on!!! That is how much we endeavour to give you up-to-date information! My thanks to our member Yevgeny Fundler in New-York City, for having fed me with quite a few of the pictures reproduced in this edition of the NEWS. Enjoy the Mercedes-Benz advertisement below (The new S-Class: 8 airbags). Until the next time,