Antique & Classic Cars Blog

The hard copy paper often features profiles of local enthusiasts in a series called Locals in Motion. For a recent such piece I talked to a local scale model company. Lotsa boys back in the ’70s used to build model cars. (I often managed to touch the windshield with a gluey finger. Doh!)

Building cars, even small ones, takes time, so some people who enjoyed that switch over to completed scale models in adulthood. That’s the market this company caters to.

The cool thing for fans of all size cars is how much these things have improved over the years. The photo series here shows two versions of the Yenko Camaro, both by the same company but built 12 years or so apart.

The background really calls out that these are models, but check out the level of detail. The earlier car (on the right in the photos with both cars) has pronounced inaccuracies with respect to the hood hinges, the way the door opens, and its overall roughness (or lack of fineness) compared to the other car.

The recent model is pretty good, though. Check out the details inside, including the inner door panel. The GM sticker on the door edge looks pretty convincing. Seatbelts and buckets look good too, as does the shifter.

And how about the wheel, filler valve included?

A close look at the engine, such as the closed end of the air cleaner, makes clear this is not a real engine…but it’s pretty close! Better, sharper printing, finer machines, and higher expectations of small things have helped make a convincing little model.

The front wheels turn, seats fold down and move back and forth, seat belts are fabric and can be moved…. I’m not a neat enough person for a collection of miniatures–they’d get dusty and I’d have a lot of other stuff on my list ahead of cleaning them off. But they’re pretty cool to look at.One smart little move the company took was to turn damaged returns into model wrecks for restoration. If you had a wrecked Demon and restored it, you just might enjoy a wrecked model too. They say they sell a couple a month.

Part of owning a coveted car is just staring at it and admiring it. With the best cars fetching six- and seven-figure prices, having a smaller version for a tiny, tiny fraction of that price is a cost-effective way of stoking the dream–if you’re a model fan.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 31st, 2008 at 8:42 am and is filed under Car stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.