Desert Island Cars Vol. 3: Apok's Top Ten

Apok from Slovenia

After some thought this is what I've come up with. These are not sorted in any way, as I can't really say that I like one car more than the other. I like the cars for different reasons and comparing is very hard.

I could populate most of this list with CM's corp. made cars. Their rally cars are some of the best you can find in this scale and their releases covered a broad spectrum of rally cars. Most of the Italian legends of the 1970's and 1980's can be found in small scale thanks to this company.
With many of these cars to choose from in my personal collection I've ultimately decided to go with the Fiat 131 (the 1977 Sanremo rally winner). It's one of CM's best efforts. The casting is accurate, the paint is flawless and the crisp decals beautifully recreate the vivid design of the original.

I'm not going to hide my bias towards BMW. It's my favorite car manufacturer and I'm proud of it, but to add even more fuel to the fanboy fire, I love the Jägermeister race car livery. The bright orange gives the cars presence. It says ''Look at me, I'm awesome and fast''. It also says something about how you should buy Jägermeister right now, but I tend to ignore that bit.
Ignoring my inescapable bias for a moment, this particular model by Kyosho is fantastic. The scale is noticeably off from the advertised 1/64, but I can't really fault it for anything else. Wonderful representation of a car I love the looks of mean this was an easy pick for this list.

I've already explained my thoughts about BMW's and this particular 6 series is the embodiment about what I love about this particular era of their cars. The design is properly angular, but the car still looks fast and mean.
However, having said all that, this model by Siku isn't a very accurate representation of the car. It was never meant to be one, yet I still find it striking. Perhaps it's because it's a BMW, or maybe because Siku's are noticeably larger than competing brands of toy cars. Personally I think it's because of the inherent badassery of the car, but I love it.

It doesn't get much more french than this. This was my first Norev model and it's still my favorite. Despite the price being lower than 'premium' brands like Tomica Limited Vintage, Kyosho, Minichamps, etc. this model looks amazing. It's simple, yet executed well. An accurate casting, good quality paint, a few dabs of silver and clear plastic headlights were all it needed for this to become a favorite.

This is on the list for similar reasons as the Norev above it, yet this time it's Siku that came up with an accessible (available in supermarkets for a few €!), yet accurate and pleasing miniature of a cult classic. Siku's quality has fallen off slightly in the past few years, so I believe this is some of the best that they've ever released.

Imagine yourself going back in time to the early 70's. In the shops you might be able to find Matchbox Superfast cars with their big wheels, bright and flashy decals and tow hooks (and equivalents of course, such as Hot Wheels). But perhaps there's a Schuco 'Super Schnell' sitting besides it, and it looks pretty bizarre.

It looks bizarre, because Schuco models were smaller, yet more faithful to the original cars. The wheels are more accurately proportioned, the colors are tame, there are no ridiculous tow hooks or accessories. Schuco have stayed true to this philosophy to this day, and you can find their cars in many specialized stores alongside 400€ Märklin model trains. So as far as I can tell, they've always catered more towards collectors, even when that wasn't as popular as nowadays.
I own a few Schuco cars and this Audi 100 coupe is my favorite simply because of its lovely design.

I never really meant to buy this car. I bid on it on eBay more as a joke, because I was sure that someone would outbid me. Surely I would never be the top bidder of a mint Tomica with a lovely black box. Yet a few days later I found myself paying for it with a slightly bad taste in my mouth. At the time it was my most expensive small scale model.
The bad taste went away as soon as I first looked at it when it arrived. Despite being around 40 years old, it looks brand new, not only because it's mint condition, but the casting looks fantastic. If Tomica sold a recolor of this exact casting and said it was new, I'm sure many people would be none the wiser, as it stands up to this day.

I am not sure what to write here. It's a very well remembered cult car (like most on my list) and there's absolutely nothing special about it. It's really not exciting at all. It's a nice enough effort by Majorette and there's nothing particularly wrong with it (other than maybe the garish yellow interior), but there's nothing super exciting to write home about (except maybe the huge TURBO decal).
But when I first saw it, it really struck a chord with me and I had to have one. This one is absolutely mint and it even came with an attachable boat trailer. Maybe I can use the boat to escape the desert island!

Remember how I wrote, that for a certain time the Tomica was my most expensive small scale model? It stopped being that as soon as I bought this thing. A Polistil Renault 5 in excellent condition.
It's an absolute survivor and I'm sure I won't look as good when I reach the age it is now (somewhere around 40 years I believe, similar to the Tomica).
I quite like the Renault 5. It was one of those cars I could see driving around everywhere as a kid, but now they've mostly disappeared. The real ones might have mostly been scrapped, but this one is sticking around for a long time, if I have anything to say about it.

I started with a racing car and I'm ending with a racing car. The Porsche 935 has undeniable presence with it's crazy stance and huge rear wheels. Add to that the classic Martini livery and you have a very memorable car.
Minichamps are in my eyes one of the best when it comes to 1/64. If only they made more of them.
You can see why too. The details are incredible, the decals are straight, the wheels are super detailed, even the car underbody features painted bits. To top it all off, the windscreen wiper is a separate part! Buy one now and take a look at the wiper, it's so cool!
Wow!

Yes, I am easily amused.

Minicar Pics 1/64:  My collection is very Japanese & American-leaning, so I found this top ten truly refreshing.  Very impressive list & presentation too, Apok.  Thank you!  :)

CHECK OUT ALL DESERT ISLAND LISTS HERE!!!