Published 10/04/19
In the beginning of 2018, I bought an important model for the 917 fan boy (me): the 917LH “Hippie”. It not only looks good/great, it’s considered as the first of the so-called art cars. A model that for the 917 and Le Mans nut (me again) is basically a must buy. The idea with my collection is always to get the best possible model that I can, and in this case, that should be the Minichamps version of the car.
However, at the time I couldn’t find the Minichamps model. But the CMR version was plentiful, cheaper and looked quite good. So I took the chance and bought it. The CMR does look quite good, the only problem was the missing Martini logos. So I did the art and had them made. Unfortunately though, when I cut the smaller ones some of the paint flaked off, so the end result was not great. Still, with the badges the car looked a LOT better.
This past month, by chance, I came upon the Minichamps version of the car. Locally and for a good price, an easy chance to upgrade, so after some thinking I ordered it. It’s a great model, basically a “good Minichamps”. And as a big plus, it has marked tires, that the CMR doesn’t have. So in the end I now have the best possible Hippie… Or do I?
First of all, look at the color. The Minichamps has a more “purplish” blue, while the CMR is more blue. From most of the photos I’ve seen of the real car, to my eyes it looks more blue than purple. The only photo that I found of it looking (a little) more purple is this one. Also, the Goodyear decal on the engine cowl should be dark blue (like on the CMR), and not light blue. AND, the car did NOT have a Cibie badge on right side of the nose, like the Minichamps has.
I know that old photos suffer with discoloration, so maybe the car was actually more purple in real life. While this may be true, from what I’ve seen so far I think the model should be blue. Or better saying, I’ve seen more photos of the real thing in blue than in purple.
I truly can deal with the wrong Goodyear badge and excessive Cibie badge. No biggie, really. But, if the car was actually blue and not purple, the model in the wrong color is a LOT for me to digest. Adding everything up, I’m not 100% confident that I did an upgrade 🙄.
So, being frank, if it wasn’t for the bad Martini decals I would keep the CMR and ditch the Minichamps.