Australian Rally Cars of the 1950s

Well, to conclude my epic adventure into 1950s Aussie model- and diorama-making, I thought a final summary showcase would be in order. So, pictured below are the real 1:1 cars that did a long, long arduous lap of Australia (or at least some of it) and on the right the little 1:43 scale model I created for my dioramas.

As usual, click on each photo and it will come up a lot bigger for you.

On the left, 1953 Redex winner Ken Tubman in his Peugeot
203, and on the right, my little plastic version of it, built from
a Heller kit.

On the left, Possum Kipling crosses the finish line in the 53
Redex in his 48/215 Holden, and on the right, the modded up
Trax diecast car.

On the left, the Cinesound Film Unit Peugeot 203, which
travelled all 6500 miles of the 53 Redex, to bring regular
newsreel reports to cinema-goers in the age before TV.
On the right, the Solido diecast model, heavily modified.

On the left, Wilf Murrell and Alan Taylor cross the finish line
of the 1956 Ampol Trial, which they won in their Peugeot 403.
On the right is the plastic Heller model I built.

On the left, Jack Witter in his VW Beetle, which DNF'd in
the 56 Ampol, and on the right, a Lledo diecast model
with lots of mud and other modifications.

On the left, the Davidson family's Morris Minor, which also
DNF'd in the 56 Ampol, and on the right the Corgi diecast
model, trying to look the part.

 

 

1956 Ampol Trial diorama - update 1

At last, I have the full colour DVD in my hands (thank you local library) and I have struck paydirt on several fronts. I wanted the winning Peugeot 403 to be light blue, and even from the black and white photos I suspected that was the case. The first pic is from a home movie of the brand new 403 before they added bullbars etc, and the second pic is on the finishing line, complete with broken/non-existent windscreen.
 

 

 

And as I also suspected, the second-placed VW was dark blue, but even better, I have discovered a green VW to match the 1:43 scale one I've bought recently.

The old colour film stock used in the 50s has a greenish tinge to it, so all the lighter coloured cars at various angles looked green, but fortunately there were multiple shots of cars to check again and again, and the VW spotted in the rally is definitely green.

As for the third car in my diorama, I've decided I'd like a Morris Minor, and I've bought an "incorrect" Morris Minor 1000 model which has the full front windscreen, rather than the split windscreen of the earlier model. The Minor 1000, says Wikipedia, first appeared in 1956, so I was hoping there might be one in the 1956 Rally, but there isn't one in the DVD at least. So I'll enter this in the background for my dio, with these numbers, as it was a father and daughter team who both entered and finished. Conveniently enough also, the little Corgi 1;43 model is also a light blue.

Finally, I was totally thrilled to note that the Press Unit car for the rally was still a Peugeot 203, which I had modelled and modified in my earlier 1953 Redex Rally diorama. It doesn't look like it was the old Cinesound 203 Wagon, but it is nice to know that the sterling performance of the original 203 Wagon had made it the camera team's choice. I've seen footage of other round-Australia rallies between 1953 and 56, and sure enough there are Peugeot 203 Wagons hauling around the film units in those, too. There isn't going to be a Press Unit 203 in my diorama, I've just included it here because I was so pleased to see it going strong.

Next update very soon ....