I’m from Brazil and I’m 53 years old, though my wife swears that mentally I’m only 12. I’m an avid cyclist and I’m VERY serious about my coffee, and always had an interest in all things mechanical.
I started collecting diecast cars by the end of 2002. Back then, 1:18s were much more plentiful than 1:43 here. And, being a gearhead, the ability to see the engines of the models sealed the deal for me. I even created a website, Mini.Werner, where I displayed my collection. I ended up amassing quite a collection, and learned the hard way that 1:18s take quite a deal of space. So I got to the point that it was either buying a second house or letting the 1:18s go, so I liquidated 99% of my 300 cars or so. With that, I also shut down Mini.Werner 😥.
In early 2017, living now in a bigger house, I started collecting again, but this time I got smart and went the 1:43 route. Why 1:43? For a bunch of reasons:
- They’re small – you can fit basically four 1:43s in the space of only one 1:18!
- Theme – I always adored the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, and 1:18 basically sucks in terms of Le Mans cars. The same goes for another passion, Silver Arrows – only a rare few in 1:18.
- Price – 1:18s became absurdly expensive nowadays.
Therefore, W-143 is where I display my 1:43 collection. In essence, I collect cars from Le Mans and Silberpfeile (Silver Arrows – German race cars from the Golden Age of Grand Prix racing in the 1930’s). I also have some specific passenger cars and a few race service vehicles. Moreover, you will also see some special (to me) non-Le Mans race cars, like rally cars. And even a few models that I customized myself. In the end, despite my collection approaching the large end of the scale, it is not a broad collection. In fact, I would classify it as very specific.
And in important fact that I would like to point out. I never tire of saying that a model can only be as good as the story behind the real car, therefore I’ll always try to show some facts and stories about the real cars.
So get a cup of (good!) coffee and enjoy W-143! 👀
In memoriam Gary Blythe
Thanks for showing your nice collection here! It will be amazing if you can provide email newsletters too.
Hey Emanuli! I’m pleased you liked it! Sorry, but the platform that I use doesn’t allow e-mailing. But the idea is to post one new review every week, so if you stop by once a week you’ll see the new stuff.
Cheers!