SCHUCO 1:43 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF

The Volkswagen Golf has been a best seller worldwide since Volkswagen started making them in 1974. More than 25 million have been built so far. The current Golf was designed by Volkswagen's chief designer Walter de'Silva, with design cues inspired from the previous generations of the Golf. The design is more aerodynamic, helping fuel efficiency, and is quieter than its predecessor. New on the Golf, is the optional Volkswagen Adaptive Chassis Control, which will allow the driver to select between normal, comfort and sports modes, which will vary the suspension, steering and accelerator behavior accordingly. Introduced for sale in Europe in January 2009, the latest Golf went on sale in North America in Fall 2009. Shop here

DINKY - DY7 CADILLAC COUPE DE VILLE

This is DY7 Cadillac Coupe De Ville in pink - rear light cluster picked out in silver, with the lights in red, and improvement to the rear bumper. Shop here

DINKY - DY26 STUDEBAKER GOLDEN HAWK

Matchbox Collecibles offered a series of cars which had already been released as part of The Dinky Collection on general sale. At a casual glance these could well have been the identical models, but closer inspection reveals that upgrading of the product has occurred.

This is DY26 Studebaker Golden Hawk in gold -rear of fin painted silver; rear lights picked out in red and white. Shop here

CMC 1/18 - 1936 AUTO UNION TYPE C

This racing car developed by Ferdinand Porsche wrote racing history right away like almost no other racing car had done before: In 1936 Auto Union presented with the Type C a monoposto which was almost totally different from all the other racing cars known so far. What stood out especially was the unconventional design of the sensational 16 cylinder V engine installed behind the driver and in front of the rear axle, an innovation which soon became the accepted thing. This high performance racing car was above all so successful because the bullet with 520 hp was driven by a highly talented racing driver: Bernd Rosemeyer. 1936 was his most successful year when he became European Champion and won numerous Grand Prix. In 1937 the new ace of the Auto Union could keep his main competitor, Mercedes-Benz, in check as well and was able to continue his successful career with five further wins. At the beginning of 1938, however, his career came to an abrupt and tragical end by a fatal accident which occurred during the attempt of breaking the speed world record. After the end of the Second World War, the remaining racing cars in Zwickau had to be handed over as reparation payment to the Soviet-Union. It is still unknown to what exactly happened to the racing cars after that day. The Auto Union Type C is hand assembled from 1026 parts to an extra class precision model. The single parts are of high-quality materials: 23 parts are zinc die-cast, 754 of metal, copper, or are photo-etched and 153 are made of plastic. The remaining 96 parts are screws, rivets or indicated screw heads. This model, wearing starting number 4, is a limited-edition of 5,000 pieces. Bernd Rosemeyer drove #4 to victory in the 1936 Grand Prix of Germany. Shop here

OXFORD DIECAST 1/43 WALL'S ICE CREAM

A Walls Ice Cream van, but this time the Mini. This version does contain a serving area in the rear. We do still have letters on the ANG002 Walls Anglia about the rear interior section not having a serving section. This is actually correct as the driver would stop the vehicle and serve ice creams by standing on the pavement. The ANG003 was a development that actually avoided this problem and designed in correctly the wash basins. The ANG002 had been in service for a short time when it was discovered that it contravened health regulations. The nearside door was removed and ‘skinned’ over and a sink was added on the inside of the door. Apparently the work was done in three Walls depots and in one of these properties years later they found 200 left hand doors stored away - almost 20 years later. As mentioned in the last Globe there will be new Anglia variants that will be issued in the New Year with modified tooling. Plus a surprise Ice Cream variant in April !!!

THE HATRA TRACTOR SHOVEL

The Hatra Tractor Shovel (69b) was originally painted orange with grey tyres on orange hubs. The tyres were soon changed to black and, for a time, the hubs were red until the whole until the whole model was changed to yellow. Some crossovers have been noted in colours between the body and shovel as well as red wheels on yellow bodies and vice-versa, but these are not easy to find and may have been produced by accident. The base on early models had a square cover over the rear axle differential, whilst later models had a round cover with a hole over the rear differential. Later versions of the orange Hatras, and all yellow versions, were fitted with shovel arm braces.—Model Collector

VANGUARDS 'POLICE PANDA CARS OF THE 1960s' SET

Lledo’s ‘Police Panda Cars of the 1960s’ set is a two model affair, limited to 5,000. The Ford Anglia is of the Metropolitan Police and comes with Police roof box. It really does look the part and is an important and is an important addition to Police model collections as it was this car that first bore that blue and white livery in Lancasshire in 1965.

The Austin Mini is from the Hampshire Constabulary and was one of that force’s first ever Panda cars, based in Basingstoke. On the lid of the box you can clearly see the authentic registration numbers on both models. What a pity, therefore, that collectors then have to put up with a sheet of adhesive labels bearing different numbers when they open the box. This spoils an otherwise excellent set – it surely can’t cost that much more for Lledo to place the correct number on each model. Even if it did, I’m sure most collectors would agree that it was worth it. - - Shop here