Copied Porsche 910... Did Playart copy Corgi, or vice versa?

It sounds patently obvious to say that diecast cars are models of real cars...  ...Yet it is not actually always true.  In some cases, they are actually models of OTHER model cars.

I've seen it with Maisto flagrantly (and poorly) copying Matchbox' Audi Quattro.  And in this post, I show a fascinating example of Playart copying Corgi's casting (although I suppose that there is a chance that Corgi copied Playart casing).



There are several companies who produced models of this car, the most well known of which is the (red) model by Lesney's Matchbox.  That one actually looks very different (particularly in size, its easily the largest of the five) from the other models.  I also have a Dynawheels model (in brown), a Zylmex model (in blue, #910), a Playart model (in blue) and a Corgi Junior/Husky model (in yellow - a "Rockets" version with extra speedy wheels/axles).  Missing from my photos is a Speedy model that I spent an hour fruitlessly tearing apart my Matchbox collection trying to find.  Regardless, the last four are very similar in appearance and size, particularly the final two.  And upon closer examination, it turns out that the final two are actually copies of each other, with similar casting lines, choice of detail, etc. Examining the base and especially the opening engine compartment shows a very similar choice of detail.



In fact, the only two questions are 1.  Who did the copying...   Was it the second tier Playart copying toy giant Corgi, or was it the greater scandal of Corgi cribbing a design from no-name Playart, and 2.  Why bother?  Could it really have been that much harder to create an "original copy" of the real car?

P.S.  I suppose that as long as I'm showing 5 distinct (or is it 4?) models, I should at least pick a winner...  Who modeled the 910 best? 

Although I'm a big Lesney Matchbox fan, its easy to assign the Matchbox in 5th place.  Its a little too big, and just looks different from the others. 

The next 4 are closer in comparison, all nice and worthwhile models in their own right, even though several come from brands that aren't typically collected. 

In fourth place I assign the Zylmex, while its very nice - it just doesn't have the opening back hatch or the quality wheels of its competitors. 

The final three are in almost a dead heat.  But the Corgi's stance/wheels sets the model a little too high, giving it a 3rd place finish. 

Between the final two, the DynaWheels is missing the opening hatch of the Playart (and the Corgi), but the metal roof gives it an advantage over the all plastic roof of the Corgi and PlayArt.  The wheels also are slightly nicer.  Overall, its enough to put the DynaWheels in first place, ahead of the Playart. 

And of course the biggest irony is that the copy-cat Playart took 2nd place, beating out the copied Corgi...!

Thanks for reading! 

Corgi Error! "Porsche" BMW E30 M3...

This is a nice casting, an E30 BMW M3 race car, by Corgi, in bright orange. 

The wheels are unfortunate - standard ugly cheap-looking Corgi wheels, and there is no paint detail (taillights, etc.) other than the Canon, Castrol and #44 tampos. 


But the metal casting has nice and clear detail, clearly showing the kidney grill, lights, etc.  And its a somewhat unusual subject - while enthusiasts love the 1st generation M3, it's not a frequently modeled die-cast car. 

But what makes this casting so unusual in my eyes, is what it says on the bottom...  "Porsche"! 

Really Corgi?  I know you were a British company, but still, Germany's not that far away...   You didn't know the difference between a Porsche and a BMW? 

I don't know if this is a 1-off example, a known-error, or whether all of these M3s were labeled as Porsches...  I have 2 Corgi collecting books published by Schiffer.  The Dr. Force book ends prior to the introduction of more modern toys like this BMW/Porsche.  The Manzke guide goes up past the Mattel era, but makes no mention of this individual casting (or the possibility of an error on the baseplate). 

I have some error cards, where the blisterpack card mis-labels a car.   For instance, I think I have a Matchbox Chevy Tahoe (like the one featured in my "Battle of the Full Size SUVs part III") still mint on card, where the card says that its an ambulance...  But I've never seen a casting baseplate error like this before! 

Hot Wheels Redlines - Can Am / Sports Car Racing Race Cars

My post last week about the Laguna Seca historic races, and seeing cars that I'd only before seen as a Hot Wheels Redlines, inspired me to pull out the redlines and admire them...  Hence this post! 

Regular readers of my blog (are there any?) know that I'm a Matchbox guy much more than a Hot Wheels guy.  But really, I love all well-modeled 1/64 scale cars, and so I've got plenty of Hot Wheels in my collection.  And while my Redline collection isn't nearly as deep as my Matchbox collection (with a few embarrassing omissions), I've still got plenty of them to admire.  But with the current price tags and valuations of Redlines, my examples tend to only be in the fair-good condition categories - since I have a hard time spending the $100-$1000 to get mint examples!  

Given my inspiration, I started by pulling out examples of sports car / Can Am race cars from the late 60s and early 70s.  I pulled one example each of the 7 that I could think of and took a look at them.

All of these are delightful models - all with opening hoods that reveal the engines.  But I'm not a fan of the Ford J-Car - (in gold in these photos) - it seems too small.   I love the Ferrari (the red #60), the McLaren (purple), the Lola (red - on the right of the red Ford) and the Ford MK IV (on the left of the red Lola).  But my favorite is the Porsche. 

Maybe its the glass engine cover - I'm not sure.  But its my favorite of these cars.  So the bottom 2 photos show the Porsche in all the colors that I've got (which for a hardcore Redline collector is not very many).  You can see a couple (pink, red and green) that are in VERY poor condition, as well as the yellow re-release of it that Hot Wheels did a few years back. 

More redline articles coming soon! 

P.S.  For a fun view, compare these photos of the Ford and Lola with the real 1:1 scale Ford and Lola that I saw at Legana Seca, in my previous post! 

P.P.S.  I neglected to mention that the green car with the wing is the Chapparal!