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Which UK cars could be viable kits?


Paul H

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I would imagine the reason there are virtually no kits of normal older British cars is the same reason that the Great British Public stopped buying them as soon as they could! Most of them were pretty rubbish!

 

Apart from minis of course.  My first three cars were 850 / Clubman / 1000 and I loved them.  But 10 or so years later when I went to buy a brand new 94 Monte special I couldn’t bring myself to flash nearly 10 grand on something so cramped, hideously out of date and inadequate!😕

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I could think of a lot of cars I would love to see in kit form maybe from my youth Ford Anglia, Triumph Herald Vitesse, Mk 2 Cortina 1600E, Rover P6 ( I think it was this my neighbour had the estate version but was soo cool,

Vauxhall Fienza or  was it magnum with droop snoop, the  sporty Vauxhall Viva, triumphDolomite  sprint 1800 ( in yellow black vinyl roof )and the best car ever was the Mk1 Ford Escort Mexico!! 

But it is a shame that we cannot get these models in kit form that I’ve seen out there.

 

nice to dream and reminisce 

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It's a very interesting question, because you really need subjects that will appeal to enough people for the kit manufacturer to see a sufficient return on their investment.  I would guess that some of the factors you need from a modelling subject are:

 

It is attractive, if not beautiful/handsome then at least quirky or interesting.

It's famous because it sold all over the world.

It's famous because it competed in motor sport around the world or is associated with internationally renowned drivers.

It's famous because it appeared in films or television shows.

 

I think a lot of the traditional British sports cars could be viable on those grounds; there might even be an "open goal" with something like the Jaguar C-type or D-type.  The XJ-C of the 1970s was a notable failure as a racing car but might have achieved sufficient fame to deserve a model (you've got race and road versions, plus the Broadspeed big cat from The New Avengers).  I'd quite like to see a Mk.VII and an XJ6/12 saloon (there is a K&R Replicas version of the latter, I believe) but I don't know if they'd have broad enough appeal.

 

Fast Fords, yes, I'd have thought that a Lotus Cortina would sit nicely alongside Tamiya's racing Jaguar Mk.II, Mini Cooper S and Abarth 695SS.  A Ford Anglia (105E-style) might also be quite popular with the Harry Potter connection.

 

Rover SD1, possible, does it have enough international appeal?  I'd have thought it would sit nicely alongside other Saloon/Touring car racers of it's period.

 

Aston Martin DB5; again, just seems to be begging to be done.  But even if you don't do a licenced tie-in with the Bond films Aston may want too much money to licence the use of its name and logos.

 

A left-field suggestion is the BMC ADO-16 range of Austin/Morris 1100/1300 and derivatives; back in the 1990s these enjoyed cult popularity in Japan.  Although I suppose if there were enough residual affection in the Japanese market, then someone would have already done it.

 

I'm sure there are lots more variants of Land Rover that could be done.  Does anyone do an original, as launched Landy?  Or a final edition Defender?

 

Alvis and Armstrong Siddley, probably a no-hoper, although I'd probably have one each of a TF saloon and Sapphire as I have driven examples of each.  My favourite commercially hopeless idea would be anything from Bristol, particularly the 400 to 405 cars; Heller already has pretty much the right six-cylinder engine from the BMW 328, all it needs is everything else to go around it ;)  

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15 minutes ago, johnlambert said:

My favourite commercially hopeless idea would be anything from Bristol, particularly the 400 to 405 cars;

 

Would they really be more commercially hopeless than a Renault 4 - of which we have two injection moulded kits....?! I just don't get the appeal of a Renault 4! 

 

K

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2 hours ago, keefr22 said:

 

Would they really be more commercially hopeless than a Renault 4 - of which we have two injection moulded kits....?! I just don't get the appeal of a Renault 4! 

 

K

Well, the Renault 4 sold over 8 million (more, I recall, than the Citroen 2CV), so I guess it must have widespread appeal.  I quite like it, although I've no particular reason beyond liking unusual, weird and obscure cars.

 

After I posted my initial response I did think that maybe the Jaguar F-type and possibly the XK8/XKR might make good model subjects.

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Guess I'm lucky then.

I have in the stash: Revell Cadet series Mk II Consul and Morris Minor Traveller, Airfix Lotus Cortina and Mk 3 Zodiac, Bandai Capri (motorised second issue)

FROG Cortina E-Type and FB Victor estate, AMT Sunbeam Alpine/Tiger.

 

What would I like? F model Victor, FC Victor, Mk 2 Cortina, Ford Classic/Capri, Jensen Interceptor,  Series 2/3 Morris Oxford Traveller, Triumph Stag.

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1 hour ago, Davie said:

A lot of the cars mentioned in this post are available as diecast models. If it's viable for them, surely it would be the same for kits?

 

I don't know if there's a bigger market for diecast models?  I guess it also depends what scale  the Bristols, for example, are available as 1:43 white metal or resin models.  I don't know how big 1:24 or 1:25 is as a diecast scale; I tend to think of diecast as being smaller 1:43rd models or bigger 1:18s.

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29 minutes ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

That's the Vanden Plas Princess. The Austin variant was the Westminster. My father had the Wolsley 6/99. The second two had the BMCC series 3 litre engine, the VP had a Rolls Royce 4 litre straight 6.

The Austin Westminster A99 and A110, Wolseley 6/99 and 6/110 and Vanden Plas Princess were all fitted with the BMC C-series 3-litre six-cylinder engine.  The Vanden Plas evolved, as you said, into the 4-litre R with a Rolls-Royce sourced engine.

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I suppose 3D printing could be the answer for many of these., especially for those of us who like 1/32 scale cars, as the market seems to have moved up a scale. Maybe not such a problem if you want an Alvis TE21 drophead (and who wouldn't?) if there's no need for the cost of making the tool.

 

Peter

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12 hours ago, Ray S said:

My preferred cars would be:

 

Morris Minor  aka Moggie Thou (it all its variations - saloon, traveller, van, pickup, etc)

Morris Oxford (same style as the Moggy)

Morris Oxford (the more rectangular version)

 

No guessing I am a child of the '50s...

 

Cheers,

 

Ray

 

The advantage of this one would be that it would be easy to do a crossover to a Hindustan Ambassador and appeal to the Indian market :)

 

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Bedford CF van,back in the late seventies I could loose a nights sleep dreaming about owning and customising one of these beautiful

vans,you know after fifteen years of motor cycles I was late taking up four wheel driving and when I did  money was tight so a good few

cars I owned were well past their best, first one was a 1.3 Metro,3 x maestro's (1.6 Vanden plas auto still one of the most comfortable cars

I've driven),then a half dozen Rovers which were much newer including  great 1.6 GTI and Coupe's 820 auto.a couple of Fiat's and Citroen's

and recently three Ford's and I swear I have only had one breakdown wjth my British Cars an inevitable blown head Gasket on a Rover,I will

never forgive BMW for cutting loose the company which despite all the problems could have been turned around albeit on a smaller scale

as Skoda was,but really they only wanted the mini brand name!

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3 hours ago, johnlambert said:

 

I don't know if there's a bigger market for diecast models? 

Me either, but the profit margin is a lot bigger. If you can sell an Amalgam built model for $15,000 that you can buy (more or less) the parts in scale for as a magazine partwork for $1500, then you can clearly leverage the "assembly hours." It also seems that you can sell the same resin parts that will build a mid-tier modern supercar collector model for half the price of the built model, appeal to a different audience, and still make a decent living...

best,

M.

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