FORD MUSTANG CONVERTIBLE 1964

Ford Mustang Convertible 1964

(newray 1:43 scale)

The Ford Mustang is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Initially based on the contemporary Ford Falcon compact car, production began in Dearborn, Michigan, on 9 March 1964 and it was introduced to the public on 17 April 1964 at the New York World's Fair. Media exposure included being televised nationally by all three American television networks on 19 April 1964. It also appeared as a character's auto in the James Bond film Goldfinger in September of 1964.

The Mustang had the most successful car launching in automobile history, selling, in its first eighteen months, more than one million cars. The Mustang created the "pony car" class of automobiles — the sports car's "long hood, short deck" design. It spawned competitors, the Camaro, inspired imported coupés, the Toyota Celica and Ford Capri. The Mustang remains in production after four decades-worth of stylistic and technologic revisions.

1955 PONTIAC STAR CHIEF

1955 Pontiac Star Chief

(newray 1:43 scale)

The Star Chief was a car built by General Motors' Pontiac division between 1954 and 1966.

Between 1954 and 1957, the Star Chief was Pontiac's prestige model; the car was easily identified by its chrome star trim along its sides. When the storyline of I Love Lucy pointed towards a Hollywood setting in the 1954-1955 season, the characters "drove" (in episode 100) to the West Coast in a 1955 Star Chief convertible.

1970 OLDSMOBILE 4-4-2

1970 Oldsmobile 4-4-2

(newray 1:43 scale)

The Oldsmobile 442 (pronounced four-four-two) was a muscle car produced by the Oldsmobile division of General Motors. It was introduced as an option package for F-85 and Cutlass models sold in the United States beginning with the 1964 model year. It became a model in its own right from 1968 to 1971, then reverted to an option through the mid-1970s. Oldsmobile revived the name in the 1980s on the rear-wheel drive Cutlass Supreme and early 1990s as an option package for the new front-wheel drive Cutlass.

1970 saw the introduction of the Olds 455 V8 as the standard 442 engine. Magazine ads using an offbeat mad scientist trumpeted "Dr. Olds introduces as large a V-8 as ever bolted into a special-performance production automobile!" Output was 365 hp (272 kW) and 500 lb·ft (680 N·m), with a 370 hp (276 kW) W30 option available. The 365 and 370 hp (272 and 276 kW) power ratings were conservatively underrated at a lower rpm. Both engines are believed by some to produce 410 to 420 hp (306-313 kW). It was the pace car at the Indianapolis 500 race in 1970, along with the Cutlass Supreme. Motor Trend praised the 442, stating that "it's probably the most identifiable super car in the GM house".

VOLKSWAGEN VW 1200 (1951)

VOLKSWAGEN VW 1200 (1951)

(newray 1:43 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 Mk4 platform) which bore a cosmetic resemblance to the original.

THUNDERBIRD 1956

FORD THUNDERBIRD 1956

(newray 1:43 scale)

Ford Thunderbird was manufactured in the United States from 1955 through 2005 — through thirteen generations and various body types.

The name "Thunderbird" was inspired by the name of an exclusive housing development and recalls the mythological creature common to Indigenous peoples of North America.

It entered production for the 1955 model year as a two-seater sporty car but, unlike the similar Chevrolet Corvette, the Thunderbird was never sold as a full-blown sports car. Ford described it as a personal luxury car, a description which named a new market segment. In 1958, the Thunderbird gained a second row of seats.

Equipped with a V8 engine, the Thunderbird could hit 110-120 mph. It was a smaller two-seat "personal luxury car", compared to the wallowing barges that roamed all the roads in the 1950s. It was designed to be a brisk luxury tourer, and not a sports car.

For the 1956 model, more trunk space was added, the spare wheel was mounted outside, the exhausts were moved to the ends of the bumper, and air vents were added behind the front wheels to improve cabin ventilation. To improve rear-quarter visibility with the removable hardtop in place, "porthole" windows were made available as a no-cost option. An optional 312 Y-block V8 was made available for those that wanted more performance.

MG MGA ROADSTER

MG MGA ROADSTER

(newray 1:43)

The MGA is a sports car produced by MG division of the British Motor Corporation from 1955 to 1962.
The MGA replaced the older T series cars and represented a complete styling break from the older vehicles. The car was officially launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show of 1955. It was replaced by the MGB when production ceased in July 1962. Through that time, BMC sold 101,081 units, the vast majority of which were exported with only 5869 cars sold on the home market, the highest export percentage of any British car