| 914 and more
Stephen Paul Hardy takes us back 50 years to Karmann’s most
vibrantly colourful era, as he considers the models available
and the gaps yet to be filled...L
ots of things were
happening in the German
motor industry on the eve
of the 1969 IA A (Frankfurt
Motor Show). The racing legend
917 was making its debut, while
concept cars like the MercedesC111 and slick street designs
from Opel and BMW were being
prepared for display as cars for
the '70s. Volkswagen launched
its functional 181 and, in
partnership with Porsche,
a crowd puller which became
an example of what is now
frequently referred to as a
Marmite “love it or hate it”
automobile, the V W-Porsche- I will say now I sit
unreservedly in the “love
it” camp. I did when it was
launched and the passing of
half a century has done nothing
to change my mind. Indeed,
if the Automotive Good Fairy
granted me the one wish
so many of us dream of being
offered – the chance of owning
a brand new example of any
car I could name – it would
unquestionably be ‘that one'.
But before delving into the
fascinating backstory of the 914
and my pick of the scale models
that represent it, a recent
release from GT
Spirit warrants a
quick, but
related,
detour...
An April 2019 release,
the GT706 911S Targa is a
reissue of the 1967 version 911
Targas – GT001ZM (bamboo)
and GT001CS (green) – released
in 2013, which I mentioned in
The Zuffenhausen-Osnabrück
Connection (MC Feb 2019).
The updating of this resin cast
model brings it not only in
stunning red but shod with
later-style black-accented
Fuchs wheels, and the
combination of red, black
and chrome makes for a very
attractive model indeed,
even if, in detail, it is not
perfectly authentic to
original equipment (OE)
specification. The model is
fabulous in all respects, with
a wealth of fine interior and
exterior detail. They say a
picture paints a thousand
words, so I’ll let the photos
do the rest of the talking here.
There are two aspects of
GT Spirits’ expanding back
catalogue that I personally
like very much...44 http://www.modelcollector.com | august 2019The GT Spirit 911S
Targa recently released under
reference number GT706.The Class of
’
69
The IAA ’69 press photo (top left),
a UK ’67 version (below left) and
real examples of the 911S Targa
modelled by GT Spirit.