Had I realised the cost and difficulty involved, I would never have started... and, as you will learn below, ultimately the project led frustration and defeat!
So, what I always wanted was :
What I got was:
  | Mini A bad start, as the model is a Cooper and has little in common with my own car, though it does have the external door hinges. The Mini Van I have below is the right colour, but the wrong car... my search for a better match continues. |
  | MG Midget Apart from the colour and the not-wire wheels, this isn't to bad a match, I did in fact have the boot rack as depicted. This model was fairly expensive, but by now I was hooked on getting them all, so had to pay... |
  | Mini Clubman Estate I couldn't find a Clubman Estate at all, so had to settle for this van, which isn't a million miles away. |
  | VW Beetle This was one of those cover-mounts you get on part-works, and was dirt cheap on eBay. Pretty close. |
  | Triumph GT6 Another expensive one, but probably the nicest and most detailed model of the lot. Colour not quite right of course, but reg letter('K') correct and most bits correct. Possibly becoming a rarity, it was hard to get, watched out on eBay for months. |
  | Triumph TR7 The two TR7s are a mixture of right and wrong. This model has a sunroof and is X reg, which actually better fits the white one I actually owned, see below. Not bad though. |
  | Suzuki SJ410Q Pinched this from my son, who buy chance had it in his vast collection of Hot Wheels and Matchbox models. He has so many he'll never notice! The model is a later SJ413 I'd guess, and my car was the low powered SJ410. |
 
| Ford Fiesta XR2 Another pricey one, and it wasn't really worth it, but for the good of the collection I forked out. There was a silver version but the prices for them on eBay were ridiculous, so when this black one came out I pre-ordered and got it for 25 odd quid. Left hand drive and the exact wrong colour, but pretty good detail. Ah but then Corgi brought out a new version of the silver one, so I couldn't resist! meanwhile the black one has rocketed in value, now worth £50... Update - Corgi have brought out a white version! It's perfect. Right colour, spotlights, sunroof, right hand drive. Had to buy it immediately, limited edition, 22 quid. Lovely thing (to me).  |
  | Opel Manta GT/E Again, a bit costly, but in this case worth it, as this is a stunning model, came from Germany again bought through eBay. Just a little younger than my real car, and lacks colour coded bumper and wheels, but looks just the dogs, that yellow is great. |
  | Triumph TR7 See above, this is the right colour but the wrong car, being an S reg and lacking the sunroof. The wheels are right though! |
  | Ford Escort MkIV Yes, well... what can I say, the model if considerably more interesting than the real version. It's quite a way off being a coupe and having the spoilers, but it looks good, and the real thing was just to dull to buy. If I see a closer one I'll get it, but this will do for now. |
  | Rover 414iS Arghhhhhh! Curses and damnation! If only I'd looked into this before I started. Now, I'd love someone to prove me wrong, but it turns out that the Rover 400 series had never attracted the attention of those who make these die-cast models. I can't think why. Yes... yes I can, they're just to damn dull! I've tried all sorts of 'cheats', like trying to find the very similar Honda Civic, tried for the MG S, but nothing appears to exist that's even close. Please let me know if I'm wrong. So... what to do... well my old Auntie Christine had a Rover just like the one here many many years ago, so that will have to do as a place-holder. Darn it! |
  | Astra 1.7 CDTI Coming right up to date, the Astra model is close but for the colour - the right age, right number of doors, wheels are close-ish. The next car I buy, I'm checking first to see if the model exists, and is easy and cheap to get! |
  | Focus Zetec TDCi Moving on then... we've bought the Focus that was up to now the missus's company car. Frankly this model isn't that close, being a two door turbo version, complete with roll cage and silly spoiler. But it is red. Ahem. |
   | Mercedes-Benz SLK 230 Kompressor Take a look at this beauty... this is more like it! I picked up this car for a song and intend to run it just in the summer months. It's only done 47k miles, despite being 16 years old as of 2013. Getting a die-cast for this was very easy - it's the dull cars that are hard! So, the real car is red, the 1:43 scale model is silver, but apart from that it's pretty spot on. However, I was able to get an 1:18 scale model that is almost identical, right age, colour, everything... except it is left hand drive. Bloomin' close though... |
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