6th
November
2008
Today we received new 1:18 deliveries from Kyosho and Solido.
Kyosho released Ferrari GT cars old and new; the #19 250 GTO that finished second at Le Mans in 1962 (KY8432A), and the #9 575 GTC that won in Portugal in 2003 (KY8393B). There was also a new colourway of the Austin Healey 100/6; ice blue (KY8144SB).
Meanwhile, Solido released two new 1:18 replicas; the Peugeot 207 Super 2000 rally showcar (SL151219), and the Renault 5 Alpine (SL118311).
Another piece of news is that we will see Minichamps’ re-release of Ayrton Senna’s 1:18 1984 Toleman TG184 (AS841) next week.
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
4th
November
2008
Today Spark announced a whole host of new 1:43 subjects, which can all now be viewed in our ‘New Announcements’ section.
Highlights are three new cars from Spark’s 1:43 Le Mans Winners series; the 1982 Porsche 956 of Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell (SPA43L082), the 1983 Porsche 956 of Al Holbert, Hurley Haywood and Vern Schuppan (SPA43L083), and the 1992 Peugeot 905 of Derek Warwick, Yannick Dalmas and Mark Blundell (SPA43L092).
Also announced were the chrome Peugeot 908 hybrid car (SPK1282), which was revealed at Silverstone earlier this year, and the Porsche RS Spyders that finished first (SPK1482) and second (SPK1481) in the LMP2 class at Le Mans this year.
posted in Diecast, Other Cars |
3rd
November
2008
Today we received the latest Minichamps delivery. New items included Minichamps’ next three 1:43 2008 F1 cars; Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren MP4/23 (DC28423), and the Super Aguri SA08s of Takuma Sato (DC28418) and Anthony Davidson (DC28419). Another highlight was one of our most popular 1:43 Minichamps road cars of the year, the Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead coupe in metallic black with silver bonnet (P134730).
We also received the next four 1:43 2008 Le Mans cars from Spark. These were the two Gulf Aston Martin DBR9s, #007 (SPK1213), and the GT1 class winning #009 (SPK1214), and the #8 (SPK1280) and #9 (SPK1281) Peugeot 908s.
Finally today, IXO became the latest manufacturer to issue a set of price increases. All of the La Storia cars have gone up to £39.99 from £29.99, all the Le Mans Winners series to £29.99 from £24.99, and all the Ferrari ‘closed wheel’ collection to £34.99 from £24.99.
The most significant of these price increases is the La Storia collection. There are still 41 cars to be released in that series, so those of you who have pre-ordered the whole collection from us have saved yourselves a whopping £410! If that doesn’t highlight the necessity of pre-ordering, I don’t know what does!
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
31st
October
2008
So, how do you like our new website? After months of preparation it went live today, and we’re pretty chuffed with how it looks!
We received three new signed replicas from Stirling Moss today. The first of these is Minichamps’ 1:18 Maserati Birdcage that he shared with Dan Gurney to win the 1960 Nurburgring 1000km (PG601205S). This model is also signed by Gurney.
The other two signed Moss replicas are both 1:43 SMTS white metal models; the Lotus 18 that he took to victory in the 1960 Monaco Grand Prix (SMTS075S), and the Jaguar Mk.II that he raced at Silverstone the same year (SMTS211S).
Meanwhile, Mattel provided us with sample images of almost all of their 1:43 Ferrari FXX replicas. We were supplied with shots of the red, blue, silver, white, turquoise and yellow variants.
Tonight all of us at GPL are going out to watch the new James Bond film ‘Quantum Of Solace’. As a big Bond fan, I can’t wait to see that! I won’t spoil the plot for anyone though in any of my entries next week!
And if that wasn’t enough, on Sunday we have the climax to the Formula One World Championship as well! Whoever takes the title, shortly after the race we will have our exclusive World Champion presentation available to pre-order off of our website, and there will be a diary entry covering it as well. Let me tell you that it will look a lot different to the Champions’ presentations that we have offered in previous years!
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
30th
October
2008
Amalgam released their 1:4 replica of what may be the 2008 Formula One World Champion’s steering wheel today! It is from the McLaren MP4/23 (AML838) of course, as handled by Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen.
AUTOart also confirmed some more new 1:18 replicas. They’ve really been going at it with the new announcements recently! The new subjects confirmed today were two Sebastien Loeb 1:18 2008 Citroen C4s; his ‘plain red’ Monte Carlo car (AA80838), and his Red Bull Argentina version (AA80839). From road cars, there was a second colourway of the Lamborghini Espada, metallic blue (AA74502), and of the Mercedes CL63 AMG, black (AA76169).
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
28th
October
2008
Bam! Kapow! Zap! Yes, today we received the signed 1:18 Elite edition Batmobile (HW7130S), complete with the signatures of Adam West (Batman) and Burt Ward (Robin). After fulfilling all of our pre-orders we only have a dozen left, so if you want one don’t put off ordering it for much longer!
AUTOart announced another new 1:18 subject today. It is the BMW 635CSi campaigned in the 1986 European Touring Car Championship by Roberto Ravaglia, Gerhard Berger and Emanuele Pirro (AA88646).
Unfortunately, Bauer confirmed today that we will now not see their mammoth 1:18 replica of the Bugatti Royale (BA001) until January. Hopefully not too many more replicas will go the same way in the weeks before Christmas!
posted in Diecast, Other Cars |
27th
October
2008
Today we received a new delivery from SMTS. The standout replica was Villoresi’s 1:43 Maserati 4CLT that won the first ever British Grand Prix in 1948 (SMTS219). There were also a couple of new Jim Clark cars; his Lotus 24 (SMTS220) and Lotus 25 (SMTS221). These and all the other new subjects are currently at the top of our ‘New releases’ section.
Meanwhile, IXO announced the latest subject in their 1:43 Le Mans Winners Collection. It will be this year’s victorious Audi R10 of Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello (LM2008).
While covering the price increase (from £64.99 to £114.99) of AUTOart’s 1:18 Koenigsegg CCX replicas on Friday, I forgot to mention that anyone who has pre-ordered one with us at the original price will only be charged £99.99 for their example, as a thank you for placing their order with us. Even with the rare exceptions to our ‘No Price Rise’ guarantee (as in this case where the diecast manufacturer has changed the specification of the replica), it still pays to place your pre-order with Grand Prix Legends!
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
Leighs Diary Vidcast Episode 53 [4:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Leighs Diary Vidcast Episode 53 [4:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
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