Monday, December 7, 2009

1998 Volkswagen Golf Mk4 Rally Burago 1:24











The Volkswagen Golf Mk3 is a compact car/small family car, the third generation of the Volkswagen Golf and the successor to the Volkswagen Golf Mk2, which was produced by Volkswagen from August 1991 (for the 1992 model year) to 2002 (for cabrio convertible). It was launched in mainland Europe in August 1991, in the United Kingdom in February 1992, and in North America in the spring of 1994. The delay in North America was due to Volkswagen's decision to supply U.S. and Canadian dealerships with Mk3 Golfs (and A3 Jettas) from the VW plant in Puebla, Mexico. Quality control problems led Volkswagen of America to reject Golfs and Jettas from Mexico; shortly thereafter labor unrest at the plant delayed production there even further. The third-generation Golf and Jetta first appeared in North America as 1993 models in the San Diego, California area and in Canada, then in the autumn in the rest of North America as 1995 models. The Mk3 Cabrio replaced the Volkswagen Cabriolet, which continued the original Golf until 1994, although the original Golf, sold as Rabbit in the United States and Canada ceased sales in 1984. The Mk3 Cabrio continued until the 2002 model year, when Volkswagen replaced it with a convertible version of the Volkswagen New Beetle. Like the previous two generations, it was supposed to be built at the TAS factory in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, when the car was first released, the Yugoslav War broke out, leading to the destruction of the factory. Thanks to this, TAS went bankrupt in 1995. This meant it was the only Golf before the Mk4 not to be built in Bosnia and Herzegovina, although a single Mk3 managed to roll off the assembly line in Sarajevo, its fate being unknown. The Mk3 was sold in Japan alongside the Polo, where both vehicles were in compliance with Japanese Government dimension regulations that encouraged sales. A 1993 UK advert featured the Bluebells song Young At Heart which resulted in a 4-week spell at Number 1 thanks to the popularity of it.

The Volkswagen Golf Mk3 was replaced with the October 1997 (model year 1998) introduction of the Volkswagen Golf Mk4.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

1991 Chevrolet Lumina #25 Bill Venturini Revell 1:64














William "Bill" Venturini (born February 14, 1953), nicknamed "Big Bill", is a retired American professional stock car racing driver who currently co-owns Venturini Motorsports, a team that competes in the ARCA Menards Series which he founded. As a driver, he primarily competed in the same series from 1982 through 1996. Venturini has won two ARCA championships, which came in 1987 and 1991.

As a driver, "Big Bill" Venturini made his ARCA Series debut in 1982. In 1983, Venturini won his first ARCA race at Flat Rock Speedway and at the end of the season he became rookie of the year and finished runner-up to Bob Dotter. Venturini backed up this performance by finishing runner-up in 1984 and 1985. After finishing third in 1986 Venturini won his first ARCA championship in 1987. After finishing fourth in the 1988 season Venturini scaled down and only ran a part-time schedule in 1989 and 1990. Venturini won his second ARCA championship in 1991 after a consistent season. He finished third in 1992 and sixth in his last full-time season in 1994. Venturini made his last ARCA Racing Series start at the season finale at Atlanta in 1996. During his ARCA Racing Series career Venturini set the all-time qualifying records at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
Venturini made thirteen NASCAR starts across all three national series. He made his Winston Cup Series debut at Michigan International Speedway in 1989. In his seven Cup Series starts, his best finish was eighteenth at the 1990 Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Venturini attempted to qualify for the Daytona 500 in 1990 and 1991 but failed to qualify on both occasions.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

1950 Ford Custom Deluxe Convertible Maisto 1:18

 








1950 saw a new Crestliner "sports sedan"—a 2-door sedan with 2-tone paint intended to battle Chevrolet's popular hardtop coupe of 1950. Another new name was Country Squire, which referred to the 2-door wood-sided station wagon. All wagons received flat-folding middle seats at mid-year, an innovation that would reappear in the minivans of the 1990s. The 1949 and 1950 styling was similar, with a single central "bullet" in the frowning chrome grille. In the center there was a red space that had either a 6 or 8 depending if the car had the six-cylinder engine or the V8. The trim lines were renamed as well, with "Standard" becoming "Deluxe" and "Custom" renamed "Custom Deluxe". The new Fords got the now-famous "Ford Crest" which appeared on the division's vehicles for many decades in one form or another. A Deluxe Business Coupe was also marketed.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

1995 Tecate-Quaker State Galles Racing Adrian Fernandez #10 IndyCar F1 1:24











His talent apparent, Fernández made the jump to the CART IndyCar World Series in 1993, competing in five races for Galles Racing International. He ran his first full CART season in 1994 with Galles finishing 13th and capturing the "Marco Magaña" and "Luchador Olmeca" awards and the "JAC" trophy for "Best Driver" outside Mexico. Competing again with Galles in 1995, Fernández finished 12th in the standings placing in the top ten nine times.

Fernández moved to Tasman Motorsports in 1996. He had six top ten finishes, including his first career CART victory at Toronto. Unfortunately his delight at taking his first win was dampened by the fatal accident suffered by Jeff Krosnoff late in the race. The win in Toronto made him the first Mexican to win a CART event since Héctor Rebaque in 1982, and Fernández went on to finish 12th in the season points tally. However, 1997 was a disappointing season for Fernández. The Tasman team ran a Lola chassis which failed to perform to expectations. Through force of will, determination and talent, Fernández battled to three top ten finishes and 18th place in the PPG Cup standings.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

1994 Ferrari F355 Berlinetta Maisto 1:24












El Ferrari F355 es un automóvil deportivo construido por el fabricante italiano Ferrari entre los años 1994 y 1999. Es la evolución del Ferrari 348 y fue reemplazado por el Ferrari 360. Siguiendo la estela de sus antecesores, el F355 ha sido un coche relativamente bastante común (teniendo en cuenta que es un Ferrari), habiéndose construido un total de 11.273 unidades. En el momento de su lanzamiento se vendían dos versiones del F355: el coupé Berlinetta y el GTS. Más adelante, en 1995, fue introducido el modelo Spider (descapotable). Finalmente, en 1998, se introdujo la versión F1, que traía mejoras mecánicas añadiéndose un sobreprecio de £6.000.
En el caso del Ferrari F355, la nomenclatura no sigue la fórmula utilizada por Ferrari en sus modelos anteriores, es decir, el cubicaje y el número de cilindros. En este caso se usó también la capacidad del motor, pero en vez del número de cilindros, usaron la cantidad de válvulas de cada uno. Así, con un motor de 3,5 litros y 5 válvulas por cilindro, el nombre es F355.
En los 355 con transmisión F1 se descontinúa el uso de la "F" inicial, ya que F355F1 sonaba redundante y no tenía sentido, quedando finalmente como 355F1 la nomenclatura para estos modelos.
El motor del F355 es un 8 cilindros en V con una potencia de 380 CV. La principal diferencia de este motor V8 respecto al del 348, aparte del incremento de cubicaje de 3,4 a 3,5 litros, es el uso de 5 válvulas por cilindro, que le dio un notable aumento de potencia. El F355 venía equipado con una caja de cambios manual de 6 velocidades, o una semiautomática F1 de 6 velocidades.