1967 SHELBY COBRA

1967 Shelby Cobra

(newray 1:32 scale)

The AC Cobra was an Anglo-American sports car built in the 1960s.

AC Cobras had an extensive racing career. Shelby wanted it to be a "Corvette-Beater" and at nearly 500 lb (227 kg) less than the Chevrolet Corvette, the lightweight car did just that. The Cobra was perhaps too successful as a performance car and reputedly contributed to the implementation of national speed limits in the United Kingdom. An AC Cobra Coupe was calculated to have done 185 mph (298 km/h) on the M1 motorway in 1964, driven by Jack Sears and Peter Bolton during shakedown tests prior to that year's Le Mans 24h race. However, government officials have cited the increasing accident death rate in the early 1960s as the principal motivation, the exploits of the AC Cars team just highlighting the potential risk.

JEEP WRANGLER

Jeep Wrangler

(newray 1:32 scale)

The Wrangler is an off-road vehicle produced by American automaker Chrysler under its Jeep marque. It is a successor to the famous World War II 'Jeep' vehicle by way of the Willys civilian Jeep (CJ) in the 1950s, later produced by Kaiser-Jeep and by American Motors (AMC). The Wrangler debuted in 1987, was updated in 1997 and again in 2007, and is still popular today.

FIAT BARCHETTA 1995

Fiat Barchetta

(newray 1:32 scale)

The Fiat Barchetta (pronounced "bar-KET-ta") is a roadster produced by the Italian manufacturer Fiat from 1995 to 2005 (though production was paused between May 2002 and 2004). "Barchetta" in Italian means 'little boat'.

The Barchetta was developed between 1990 and 1994 under the project name Tipo B Spider 176. It was designed by Andreas Zapatinas, Peter Barrett Davis and other car designers at the Fiat Centro Stile, and prototyping was carried out by Stola.

Production began in February 1995. The Barchetta was based on the chassis of the Mark 1 Fiat Punto. Its 131 PS / 96 kW engine is the 1.8 L petrol engine, with twin-cam and variable camshaft timing, which is notorious for its diesel-like clattering noise when failing. The Barchetta weighs 1056 kg (2328 lb) without air conditioning and can accelerate to 100 km/h in 8.9 seconds.

The Barchetta was revised in 2003 for its relaunch the following year, with a myriad of small alterations inside and out. Production of the car finally stopped in June 2005.

CHEVROLET CORVETTE STINGRAY

Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

(sunnyside 1:32 scale)

The Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car that has been manufactured by Chevrolet since 1953. Today it is built at a General Motors assembly plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, but in the past it was built in Flint, Michigan and St. Louis, Missouri. The National Corvette Museum and annual National Corvette Homecoming are also located in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

The second generation, or mid-year, was designed by Larry Shinoda with major inspiration from a previous unproduced design called the "Q Corvette" by Peter Brock and Chuck Pohlmann, and under the styling direction of Bill Mitchell, started in 1963 and ended in 1967. Introducing a new name, Corvette Sting Ray, the 1963 model year Corvette was the first year for a coupé with its distinctive split rear window and non-functioning hood vents as well as an independent rear suspension. The split rear window was discontinued in 1964 due to safety concerns. Because they made the design too busy, the hood vents were also cut. Power for 1963 was at 360 hp (268 kW) hitting 375 hp (280 kW) in 1964.

VOLKSWAGEN CLASSICAL BEETLE 1967

VOLKSWAGEN CLASSICAL BEETLE 1967

(kinsmart 1:32 scale)

The Volkswagen Type 1, more commonly known as the Beetle or Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003. Although the names "Beetle" and "Bug" were quickly adopted by the public, it was not until August of 1967 that VW itself began using the name Beetle in marketing materials in the US. In Britain VW never used the name Beetle officially. It had only been known only as either the "Type I" or as the 1100 (eleven-hundred), 1200 (twelve-hundred), 1300 (thirteen-hundred) or 1500 (fifteen-hundred), which had been the names under which the vehicle was marketed in Europe; the numbers denoted the vehicle's engine size in cubic centimetres. In 1998, many years after the original model had been dropped from the lineup in most of the world (production continued in Mexico until 2003), VW introduced the "New Beetle" (built on a Volkswagen Golf platform) and bearing a cosmetic resemblance to the original.