Cheap at the price

"How much for that Mercedes Renntransporter?" I asked at the Sydney diecast model shop. "That one is $250," said the helpful sales assistant. "Wow" was my simple reply, not merely because that was a lot of money, but also because I knew that I already had one at home, ordered online, delivered brand new to my door, for just $83. So it was cheap at that price.

This is the Renntransporter, with Fangio's W196 Mercedes (not included in
that price!) mounted on the back. Both are models by Premium Classixxs
in Germany. I ordered both vehicles at the same time, 14 Euros postage
for the two. And the W196 cost more than the Renntransporter. These are
1:43 models, but Premium Classixxs is bringing out a 1:18 model of it,
and Bubmobil has a very nice little 1:87 model of it available, too.

It was the Renntransporter, however, which really excited my imagination.
Built at the Mercedes factory from all sorts of parts, it was designed to
carry around Mercedes race cars in the mid-50s. It used a 300SL motor, and
various other Mercedes trucks and other vehicles donated parts to the cause.

I love the "max speed 105mph" sign on its rump. Imagine seeing a sleek,
blue truck with a even more sleek silver GP car aboard, whizzing along
the autobhan, speeding back to Stuttgart, at 105mph! I'd like to see that.

The model is nicely detailed, even the ramps come off so you can do a
diorama of the GP car being driven onto the ramps, if you like. I love the
slight 'weirdness' of this thing, the way the cabin is so far out in front
of the front wheels. Must have taken a while to learn how to drive it.

Amazingly enough, Mercedes actually scrapped the two Renntransporters that they built when they closed down the racing team in the late 50s. They have now built a perfect replica of it, which probably explains why there are several lovely scale models of it popping up on the market now. A very good run-down on the story of the rebuild, and the original Renntransporter, can be found here, on Tamerlane's excellent blog.

FInally, a lovely walk-around You Tube video of the rebuilt version of the Renntransporter.