#914 FAIE - MATRA SIMCA 670 (No. 8207) and PORSCHE 936 TURBO (No. 8208) (Around 1986)

Faie is another well-known manufacturer from which there is nothing to read out there. I wish we would still have breithaupts website, where we would probably be able to read a very educated article about this brand.

Unfortunately, there is nothing we know of this company, except that it was based in Hong-Kong, and it disappeared by the mid-90s. Their models are nicely done, some of them are copies of other major brands, some are shared with other similar brands like Tintoys. At some point the company moved the production lines to China, so some blisters are marked "Made in China".

The Matra seems to be copied from Majorette while the Porsche is somewhat similar to Tomica. I cannot confirm any of these assumptions, even though I have both the Majorette and the Tomica.

The variey of models is quite big, counting sport cars, F1s, sport prototypes, vans, trucks, utilitary cars...

They are quite rare, I am not sure if the newer models are all marked in the base or not. I guess they are not, so it is very difficult to recognise them against other models like the above mentioned Tintoys. That is maybe the reason why they are so difficult to find.

I have just two. The Porsche I own it since at least 15 years or so, while the Matra has been found recently in a flea market.

I wish I could tell more about these brand, but I cannot. If someone has more information, please do not hesitate to leave some comment below, so I can contact you.

 


FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MATRA SIMCA 670 (No. 8207) and PORSCHE 936 TURBO (No. 8208)
• Scale: 1:64
• Year: Around 1986
• Company: Faie (Hong Kong)
• Size: approx. 6 cm

#913 MATCHBOX - F1 RACER (Nr. 74) (1984)

Matchbox is another brand that has not had (historically) many F1s in its 3 inches series compared to other types of cars. In the regular wheels era, there were just a few (I recall just 3). In the Superfast era, there were also very few (F1 Racing Car and Team Matchbox, any other?). Within this series, in the Macau years this F1 Racer (Nr. 74) is the only one that comes to my mind right now.

The original model was painted red in the Ferrari colours and RN3. To my knowledge Ferrari never carried this number around 1984, so the decoration might be not very accurate. The cast itself is also not very accurate, it looks a bit too high and "thick", which some people would define as "slightly toonified".

The second version is the yellow one, I think it does not match any racing team of the mid-80s so the decoration might be inspired from other competition like the Indy.

There was a colour changing version, that I presented in another entry not so long time ago.

After these three, there were other decorations that I do not own. While the models shown in this entry are made in Macau, these ones I mention now are marked Thailand.

Other variants include a blue/red one, a white/blue one, a colour changer completely in red (not the one shown in the previous entry), plus many promotional versions with eye-catching colours. There was even a "My first Matchbox" version in white, with some bits of colours over its body.

Some of these models have base plates that were modified/renamed to "Indy Racer" instead of "F1 Racer", and there are a lot of alternate decorations for the American market based on supposedly real Indy cars, all of them quite flashy and very colourful decorations. I do not have any of these, but I will consider writing another entry if I ever got any.

I recommend, as always, visiting Falkensteiner's web for watching all decorations and variants of every Matchbox car.

As the model was discontinued because the car was already looking a bit outdated, a new cast was designed with a model from the early to mid 90s. F1 (or Indy) racers was made available, and so it remained until 1995.

I am devoting many entries to F1s lately... sorry if you find this topic boring.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: F1 RACER
• Scale: Around 1:64
• Year: 1984
• Company: Matchbox (United Kingdom)
• Size: approx. 7 cm