Monday, February 19, 2018

#896 SCALEXTRIC - FERRARI 312 B3 (Ref. 4052) (1975)


Collectables from decades ago are each time more and more difficult to find. It is natural. They end up in hands of collectors, and these keep them for long periods of time.Only in extraordinary events, like the last crisis (from 2008 to 2012 or so), the offer grows and the prices fall. Since 2016 or maybe even slightly before that I have observed that prices are going higher and higher. At some point in the future, the prices will fall, but this is another topic.

With Scalextric I have observed exactly this behaviour, and I haven´t bought many in the last 3 years. This is one of them and the second is a yellow Porsche Carrera that will be shown when I update entry #420.

This is a car that I didn´t have yet in any version, so I was happy to find it. It was not very expensive considering it is complete, but still used and without the original box.

The car was first released in 1975 and discontinued in 1982, although rests could still be found in shops during a few years more.




A Ferrari is always an attractive car, but this model here was also 1975´s World Champion, driven by the young Niki Lauda. In the decals we can read the name of the Austrian pilot or the name of the Swiss pilot Clay Regazzoni, the "first" pilot at the time and the one who recommended Lauda to Ferrari in 1974.

Scalextric represents the model from 1974, using decals with both names, but also 4 different race numbers (RN): 11, 12, 20 and 35. This is also a common practice, since some sets were sold with two identical cars in different colours, and they needed at least two race numbers, and in case of Formula 1 or other famous racing cars, two pilot names.

The car ran the 1974 season with RN 11 (Regazzoni) and RN 12 (Lauda). Scalextric also assigned RN 20 to Lauda and RN 35 to Regazzoni in the alternative decals.

In 1973 and 1975 the same car that took part in some races, although the decoration used at the time may differ a little bit from the one chosen by Scalextric.


By the way, this car was available in red (like the real Ferrari), (dark) green, yellow and blue. So far I have only the green one, but I keep looking for the other three. If I ever get them, I will update this entry to make it more complete. Making cars in different colours was of course cheaper than making them with different casts, and most times, a circuit came with two cars of the same brand, only with different colours. That way the races were tighter, since different cars have different behaviours during the race. This F1, like most F1 is quite flat and has long rear axles, so I guess it is very fast. Green is maybe the less atractive colour, because some details have low contrast with the grey motor part, and also low contrast with the black tracks.

Note that the model has lots of pieces, many more than the average scalextric car. And also that the base or chassis has the same colour than the body. A real beauty.



FACTS AND FIGURES
  • Name: FERRARI 312 B3 (Ref. 4052)
  • Scale: 1:32
  • Year: 1975
  • Company: Scalextric Exin (Spain)
  • Size: approx. 15 cm

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