Small models and big dreams

You've never heard of them, but there are quite a few people in Israel who own several hundred cars, some of them rare on a global scale.

To some of them they will look like toy models, but do not you dare say it next to them ...

Maxim Goldstein

17/04/2022

Sunday, 17 April 2022, 09:29 Updated: 09:51

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I guess we're all car lovers here, otherwise it would be a little weird for you to find yourself here on the car channel.

Plus, I guess none of you are a prince from the emirates (if you are an emirate prince and read here, then probably the Abrahamic agreements really succeeded beyond speculation).

But if you are a car enthusiast and not a prince from the UAE, you, like most of us, have a very painful problem - we probably want more cars than our financial situation allows.

And in order to still get the cars we love, I, my friends and millions around the world just collect cars but as a model, as miniatures faithful to the original at a (usually) more affordable price.

The field of collecting car models is very common in the world, the leading principle is to produce a scale model that will be as true to reality as possible while going down to exterior and interior details.

There are a number of common scales with the three most common being 1:18, 1:43 and 1:64.

The numbers mean the reduction ratio to reality.

For example, 1:43 means that every 1 cm in the model will be similar to 43 cm in reality, the size of a model of a normal car in a ratio of 1:43 will be in the 10 cm range, depending of course on the vehicle, since a truck or Combine (yes, there is also an avid collector community for these tools) in this ratio will be

larger.When diving deeper into this favorite of car collecting, it is customary to choose a particular area of ​​focus as the supply is endless and even when it comes to models, here, budget or storage At the end are limited.Sometimes, the focus and particular field from which a collector is trying to buy the models is no less interesting than the models themselves.Sometimes, the stories behind the collector and the collection are more interesting than the actual models.

So here are three people whose hobby is more than rows and rows of cars on the shelves.

At Itzik, the emphasis is on one-of-a-kind, rare models and limited construction series (Photo: Photos by surfers, courtesy of the owner)

Itzik - everything and as special as possible

To write an article about models without talking about my good friend Itzik is simply insanity.

Sorry, insanity is Itzik's second name.

Itzik likes to present himself in a simple sentence: "Hello, my name is Itzik and I am addicted to hard models."

Apart from crushing lawsuits, Itzik is a kind of guru among the model collectors in the country.

Itzik is approached with questions about whether a particular model will ever be produced and what are the differences between the various manufacturers that produce the same model.

Is it worth buying a model from a certain manufacturer or preferring another model (by the way, Itzik always says regulation both and both).

He believes in the "both and both" method (Photo: Photos by surfers, courtesy of the owner)

Itzik's collection is very unique, in fact, it is the most special and diverse collection in the country.

And the reason for this is the same exceptional models that it includes.

The phrase "special models" includes on the one hand a uniqueness as a scale model itself.

That is, a limited edition model, preferably one numbered in a limited production frame and with a certificate from the manufacturer stating so.

In addition, the model must be accurate and of the highest quality.

Road runner, just Road runner and it's a small part of the whole collection (Photo: Photos by surfers, courtesy of the owner)

On the other hand, another requirement that is a threshold condition for entering Itzik's collection is the more interesting one - Itzik tries to find car models that are as special as possible on their own.

Models that have made history, models from both worldviews or in more extreme cases - models that the manufacturer itself does not remember ever producing the vehicle.

In recent years, Itzik has developed a new focus, models of buses, with an emphasis on the Egged and Dan lines, which for him constitute a capsule of memories for some of them from childhood to travel to the army and work.

The highlight of this collection is a Mercedes 303 bus, which is an exact replica of Egged's Line 35.

One-of-a-kind model, handmade, built to order.

Egged line 35 in a one-of-a-kind model, handmade and personally produced (Photo: photos by surfers, courtesy of the owner)

Another representative example of the craziness of the models in Itzik's collection is a whole series of models around one car - the Playme Roadrunner in 1970. The most impressive of all is one with a scale of 1:18 (about 30 cm long). The uniqueness of the model is the excessive drop For details. In the above model, the manufacturer has a miniature mechanism for opening the windows with a handle whose rotation lowers the window - just like in a real car.

If we collect models because we can not purchase the real vehicle, in the case of Itzik the models themselves compete with the original vehicles rarely, often costly and most importantly their level of accuracy.

Each generation, version or yearbook has a place in the collection, as long as it is a Corvette (Photo: surfer photos, courtesy of the owner)

Nathan - Corvette and Corvette only

Nathan loves corvettes.

This love for the absolute American sports car, Nathan began to cultivate somewhere in 1999 when he walked as a child on Zionism Boulevard in Ashkelon and saw a white Corvette C4.

The love started right away and Nathan started collecting Corvette toy models.

Over time, age and economic status - the collection has grown and the level of quality has risen and now Nathan has longed for a real corvette, and not just one - but the same white corvette.

Over the years, Nathan tried to find out what happened to that Corvette, who owned it, much of it with the help of the Israeli Corvette Club, but unfortunately without success.

Or rather - without success so far.

Even the rarest versions have a place in the collection (Photo: Photos by surfers, courtesy of the owner)

But by the time you find her white Corvette, he is channeling that passion for the collection, a collection of models that currently stands at over 300 copies.

From a scale of 1:87 (about 3 cm) to 1:12. Nathan has no love for a particular model of Corvette, everything goes. His series of models begins somewhere in 1953 with the first generation of the Corvette (known to connoisseurs C1) until the eighth generation that is marketed today (surprisingly called C8) and in doing so, as in the real life of this car, the collection also includes such and such versions for all eight generations produced.

The C7 is made by BBR, down to the details is the name of the game (Photo: photos by surfers, courtesy of the owner)

The most special item in Nathan's collection is the Corvette C7 Cabriolet in a bright metallic pink color on a 1:18 scale from the exclusive Italian manufacturer BBR.

The uniqueness of the model is its very high level of quality, but no less so the fact that this is the 8th

copy out of a total of 10 units produced in total.

True? The answer took a lot of time and thought and finally the answer was "yes" but very hesitantly.

Entire walls of fantasies on wheels (Photo: Photos by surfers, courtesy of the owner)

Charming - models in memory of Dad

My dad started my collection.

It started with simple models, the kind that can be found in toy stores but with time, familiarity with EBAY and the crazy ones from the sections above, the collection started to improve and climb in its quality.

Throughout his life, especially in his last years, my father who started the collection - was the main advisor in my deliberations, what model to buy and what to give up and in difficult times also pampers the model as a gift.

Identify a common denominator? (Photo: Photos by surfers, courtesy of the owner)

I divide my collection into 3: random models that I just want and I have no explanation, the second part is more focused and is a Renault model and the third is not focused on a particular manufacturer or type but on a person - cars that were owned by my dad or related to him one way or another.

But his presence is there even when these are not the cars that were his, because also the part of the random models that I just wanted, including a lot of them that came after deliberations and advice on his part.

His character is also there in Renault models, most of the cars we had in the family were made by Renault.

Most, at least at the time I was still a kid there were my dad's choices and from there my affection for the brand was created.

Today, about half of my collection is models made by the French manufacturer.

The collection he pays homage to Dad.

From Soviet cars to his latest cars (Photo: Photos by surfers, courtesy of the owner)

The third part of the collection, of the myriad cars my dad actually owned including even Soviet models.

He would look at the models and recall memories of his acquaintance with the cars in reality.

Tells about the variety of glitches in the Citroen C15 he had and brings up experiences from the Red Army with the UAZ 469.

Anyone who looks at my collection will see from one page a different page from the others.

This is the shelf that was arranged after my father passed away.

It includes some of the models associated with it, a picture of it and a number of its items that I kept to myself.

I personally less connect to memorials, cemeteries or ceremonies but to stand in front of the showcase, think and imagine what his reaction would be feels to me closest to him.

The cars that were owned by the family, all remained, only as models (Photo: photos of surfers, courtesy of the owner)

Dreaming small

Even though you're dying to know, and ask any real collector - we really can not put a price tag or even appreciate the value of this collection we have accumulated in shelves upon shelves, in whole walls covered in them, in rooms dedicated only to them, there are some worth real cars.

We can not do this because we all ultimately still want games, even in the sense that we still want to be a little child in the depths of our consciousness but more than that - because car models allow us the little escape from reality, one that brings us closer to our dreams, even if it's just In a ratio of 1:18.

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