MINIATURE CARS FROM A-Z ADDENDUM part 2
by Dave Weber and Christian Falkensteiner
Images by Doug Breithaupt

DAEWOO (KO) 1967-PRESENT

This brandname translates to " Great Universe". It was founded by entrepreneur Kim Woo Choong. The company was founded as Daewoo Group and became a multifacited service and industrial conglomerate. In addition to automobile manufacture, they also became very successful in shipbuilding, aerospace and semiconductor design and civilian helicopter and aircraft manufacture. Automobile imports to the UK first arrived in 1995.

In 1998 Daewoo experienced major financial problems. The Group disintegrated and the company went into liquidation. Part of the cause for this situation was due to appeasement by the government political machine to N Korea consisting of financial aid and materials. Choong did not agree with this action and as a result lost his financial backing from his country. Because of the financial turmoil, the company was forced to sell their automotive interests to General Motors. Many Daewoo products are now being rebadged as lowcost models for the existing subsidiaries including Chevrolet. Of interest is the fact that the Daewoo Electronics branch, now a separate entity still survives despite the bankruptcy situation. Daewoo began importing their cars to the US in 1999. They introduced on- line computer sales procedures. This method alleviated the need for numerous statewide dealerships.

In 2004 Daewoo discontinued operations in Australia and New Zealand. Later due to brandname damage from the bankruptcy, GM announced that all cars sold in Europe as of 2005 would be called Chevrolets. The Daewoo name had already been eliminated in South Africa, Thailand and the Middle East. The marque name now only exists in South Korea and Vietnam.

A recent Daewoo Matiz and Lanos sedan model are made in small scale diecast. According to Kimmo Sahakangas in an article for TofTC, "You may be wondering who the manufacturer is. My contact in Hong Kong provided the following: one translation for the Chinese characters on the package is "Di Ya Duo". That is all I know. The smaller lettering is "Guangzhou City Co. (or Ltd.). This is likely an importer. The underside of one of the packages identifies a Hong Kong firm named "Bingo Toys", perhaps a distributor. I imagine the manufacturer is another firm. The textured black plastic baseplates only identify "Made in China".

Daewoo Lanos - Bingo Toys

DELAGE (FR) 1905-1953

Louis Delage, formerly of Peugeot, founded his own company in Levallois near Paris. It became well known for producing high quality, well-engineered touring cars and luxury sedans. Sales were helped by successful participation in motor racing. As a result of the late 1920s economy crisis, the company found it more and more difficult to sell its products and eventually went into liquidation in 1935. The Delage brand was then acquired by Delahaye who continued to produce cars under the Delage name until its own economical situation became critical in the early 1950s.

A Delage is found among one of Summer's series of vintage car models.

DONKERVOORT (NL) 1978-PRESENT

Joop Donkervoort founded this company in Lelystad, the Netherlands, after unsuccessfully trying to register a Lotus Super Seven for road use in his home country. He then decided to build a similar car himself which would be road-legal in the Netherlands. Consequently all Donkervoort products are sports cars resembling the Lotus Super Seven, mostly powered by Ford engines.

The Dutch company Focus has made an H0 scale resin model of a Donkervoort S8.

DURYEA (US) 1895-1913

This firm was founded by brothers Charles and Frank Duryea. Their firm is recognized to be the first gasoline vehicle manufacturer in the US. Their first vehicle was a horse drawn buggy powered by a single cylinder 4 horsepower engine. They began production in Springfield MA as the Duryea Motor Wagon Co and in 1898 reorganized as the Duryea Power Manufacturing Co in Peoria IL. They also maintained operations in Reading PA up until 1908. Licenses were also located in Waterloo IA, Coventry, England and Liege, Belgium. By 1902 Frank had begun the development of the Stevens-Duryea car for the Stevens Arms and Tool Co in Chicopee MA. This arrangement continued until 1927. Production of subsequent Duryeas was under the sole leadership of Charles. In 1902 the British Duryea Co was organized in Coventry where the cars were manufactured under license for a short while. From 1908-1913 US operations were located in Saginaw MI. These vehicles were high wheeler automobiles. Attempts to produce additional cars designed by Charles resulted in a shortlived cyclecar produced in Phila PA by the Cresson-Morris Co. In 1916 Duryea introduced a 3 wheel cyclecar. It was made by Duryea Motors Inc, also in Phila. This car called the Duryea Gem was also unsuccessful in sales. A model of the Duryea was reportedly made by AHI of Japan in small scale.

FACEL VEGA (FR) 1954-1964

The Facel Metallon company, founded by Jean Daninos (brother of the writer Pierre Daninos) in Paris in 1939, started out producing bodies for various French car companies such as Panhard, Simca and Ford France. Its first Facel Vega was an elegant luxury coupe powered by an American Chrysler V8 engine. A smaller model called Facellia, which was introduced in 1959, featured a French-made four cylinder engine. The high development cost of this engine and its initial unreliability got the company in serious trouble, which could eventually not be overcome.

The Dutch company Focus has made an H0 scale resin model of the Facellia.

FEND (GE) 1948-1952

Before creating the microcar which came to be known as the Messerschmitt Cabin Scooter, Fritz Fend developed and produced an even smaller vehicle with only one seat, mainly intended to be used by disabled persons. It was named "Fend Flitzer". About 300 examples of this vehicle were manufactured in Rosenheim, Bavaria, powered by various motorcycle engines.

Lion Models of Germany made an H0 scale pewter model of the Fend Flitzer.

FRAZER (US) 1946-1951

The Kaiser-Frazer Corp in Willow Run MI was an outgrowth of the pre WWII Graham-Paige Corp where Joseph Frazer had served as the last President. After the War, he joined with industrialist Henry Kaiser to form the new firm. Two separate marque names were introduced. Each carried the surname of the partners. The more expensive car became the Frazer. This firm was recognized to have produced the first post-war 4 door convertible in 1949. To economize in 1951, the company opted to phase out this marque and all production efforts were concentrated on the Kaiser. A resin model in 1/87 scale was produced by Stoney Mountain and is now reportedly no longer being produced.

GHIA (IT) 1960-1967

Originally founded in 1915 in Turin, this company was one of the most famous Italian coachbuilders, producing extravagant one-off bodies for luxury cars. In the 1950s it developed the Karmann-Ghia coupe for VW and several dream car designs for Chrysler. Ghia's own production models were open beach cars called Jolly, based on the Fiat 600 and 500, as well as small Fiat-derived and larger Chrysler-derived sports cars. Production of Ghia-branded cars ended when the company was taken over by the US firm Rowan. In 1970 Ford purchased Ghia, which resulted in the Ghia name being reduced to a designation for trim variations of standard Ford cars. Some one-off concept cars continued to be created under the Ghia name.

Lion Models of Germany produced an H0 scale pewter model of the Ghia Jolly.

GINETTA (GB) 1958-PRESENT

This company was founded by the four Walklett brothers in Witham, Essex. Throughout its career it has provided plastic-bodied sports and racing cars, mostly utilizing technical components by Ford, available in kit as well as built form. In spite of several changes of ownership, Ginetta has managed to survive to this day.

The British company Autosculpt produces a pewter-finish H0 scale resin model of the late 1960s Ginetta G 15.

HINO (JA) 1953-1967

Hino Motors Ltd of Tokyo originally began in 1942 when they separated from the Tokyo Jidosha Kogyo Co. This new firm only produced trucks and buses for the next decade. Their first venture into car manufacture occurred when they obtained licensing from Renault. They then built many 4CV sedans. In 1961 assembly of this car was discontinued and Hino began to produce their Contessa sedan. This car continued in production with improvements until the firm became part of the Toyota Group. A small scale model of this marque was produced by Tomica.

HONGQI (CN) 1958-PRESENT

The First Automobile Works in Changchun are mainly concerned with the production of heavy trucks. Beside those they produce luxury cars intended for use by Chinese government officials. The brand name HongQi translates to "Red Flag". The original HongQi CA 770 was developed independently and was loosely based on American cars of the late 1950s. It was fitted with a V8 engine and survived with only small changes into the 1980s, when it was eventually replaced by a new model derived from the Audi 100, which was also made under license in the same factory. The current HongQi CA 7460 has been derived from the Lincoln Town Car.

The Chinese company Trumpeter/MGM produces a 1/87 scale plastic model of the HongQi CA 770.

ISDERA (GE) 1982-PRESENT

Former Porsche engineer Eberhard Schulz founded his own company "Ingenieurbüro für Styling, Design und Racing" in the town of Leonberg to produce a sports car called Isdera Spyder in very small quantities. The Spyder had been developed throughout the 1970s along the lines of the Mercedes-Benz C 111 prototype. It was later joined by more powerful and even more expensive models called Imperator and Commendatore. These are still available built to order individually nowadays. Besides Isdera is active behind the scenes developing prototypes on behalf of other companies.

H0 scale pewter models of the Isdera Spyder and Imperator are made by the German company Lion Models.

KAISER (US) 1946-1955

This marque was also produced by the Kaiser-Frazer Corp in Willow Run MI. Henry Kaiser had become very successful in the shipbuilding industry during WWII. He then joined with Joseph Frazer to establish a new line of automobiles. It is noted that the production quotas of this new marque in its early years exceeded all other independent manufacturers. The styling of this car was very advanced and innovative. This was no doubt due to the connection with famed designer, Howard "Dutch" Darrin. In 1951 Kaiser introduced a less stylish compact car called the Henry J. A sister model called the Allstate was also issued. However the Allstate which was slightly modified in appearance, was only available from select Sears-Roebuck Stores in certain parts of the US. In 1953 Kaiser merged with Willys-Overland. The new Kaiser-Willys Sales Corp relocated to Toledo OH. This relationship allowed Kaiser to take over Jeep manufacture. Also about this time Kaiser introduced a very stylish and advanced design sports car. Called the Kaiser-Darrin, it was a softtop 2 seater with sliding (for safety) side doors . Although all US production ceased in 1955, the larger Kaisers were imported and later manufactured in Argentina under the name of IKA Carabela until 1962. A model of the earlier Kaiser was reportedly produced in resin by Greg's Garage.

LE ZÈBRE (FR) 1909-1932

This French brand of cheap small cars was founded by Jacques Bizet (son of the famous composer Georges Bizet) and Jules Solomon of Unic. It was very popular in its early years but suffered later on from losing its most important participants to other companies such as Citroën and Amilcar after WW I. The first cars of those two companies were largely based on Le Zèbre designs. Towards its end, Le Zèbre pioneered the use of diesel engines in passenger cars, but eventually the revolutionary diesel-powered Le Zèbre did not reach production.

Anguplas of Spain made an H0 scale plastic model of an early Le Zèbre.

ORYX (GE) 1907-1922

A German brand of passenger cars and taxicabs, made in Berlin. From 1909 onward the company was a subsidiary of Dürkopp of Bielefeld.

Anguplas of Spain produced an H0 scale plastic model of an early Oryx taxicab, which was later re-made by Eko for sale in Germany under the "Alt-Berlin" label.

TRESER (GE) 1987-1988

Walter Treser worked for Audi and was involved in the creation of the successful Audi Quattro rally car. Later on he produced tuned versions of Audi cars and worked on the development of his own sports car, to be built under his own name. The result of this was the Treser TR1 roadster, powered by a VW Golf GTI engine and featuring a retractable hardtop. The overall costs of putting this car into production in Berlin turned out to be much higher than expected and drove Treser's company into receivership. Only a few dozen examples were ever made.

The only small scale model of the Treser TR1 has been issued by Darda of Germany in the shape of a racer with a spring engine.

TRIPPEL (GE) 1936-1944, 1949-1958

Hanns Trippel spent all of his life designing amphibious cars. In the late 1930s and 1940s, his SG6 model was produced in a quantity of about 800 units for the German army, but was overshadowed by the smaller VW 166. After WWII Trippel designed a small non-amphibious rear-engined car called SK10, which he manufactured in small quantities while looking for a company to produce it under license. Marathon in France, Perl in Austria, Wilford in Belgium, Troll in Norway and Weidner in Germany all attempted to put variations of this car on the market, but none of them succeeded eventually; the total quantity made did not exceed a few hundred. Later on Trippel designed more amphibious vehicles, among them the prototypes of DWM's Amphicar (1960s) and RMA's Amphi-Ranger (1980s), but Trippel as a car brand did not reappear. Hanns Trippel died in 2001, aged 93.

Cromwell of Germany and Novamodel of the Czech Republic have produced resin models of the Trippel SG6 in 1/76 scale.

VERITAS (GE) 1947-1953

Veritas was founded by former BMW employees in the town of Meßkirch in Baden for the purpose of building racing cars based on pre-war BMW parts. While some examples made were suitable for road use, a proper series production of road-going sports cars did not happen until 1950, when the models Saturn and Comet and the smaller Panhard-based Dyna-Veritas were introduced. In 1951, financial difficulties led to a transfer of production to the Nürburgring, where it continued on a much smaller scale than originally intended and was eventually stopped due to lack of customers. The market for luxury sports cars was just too small in post-war Germany.

Lion Models of Germany offers H0 scale pewter models of the Veritas Saturn and Comet.

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