Share your favorites on Show & Tell

Rare 1940s old stock Auto-Union racing car models

In Model Cars > Diecast Model Cars > Show & Tell.
Recent activity96701 of 237900For the love of Pete, use a coaster!Texaco gas station service station set
5
Love it
2
Like it

miikemiike loves this.
bucketheadbuckethead loves this.
superdansuperdan likes this.
manolispetmanolispet likes this.
AzTomAzTom loves this.
ThriftStoreAddictThriftStoreAddict loves this.
officialfuelofficialfuel loves this.
See 5 more
Add to collection

    Please create an account, or Log in here

    If you don't have an account, create one here.


    Create a Show & TellReport as inappropriate


    Posted 12 years ago

    anakronismo
    (1 item)

    Recently I aquired a collection of vintage, identical model racing cars, in five different color combinations. The models were retrieved by a friend over twenty years ago from a house in Frankfurt in Germany. The cars are all unused, packed together in numbers of some twenty to thirty cars, still sitting in over sixty-year-old cardboard boxes. Inside the boxes we found some pages from the 1948 Berlin newspaper Der Kurier, as well as some technical German norm sheets from 1944, used as packaging material. The boxes were sent from one Friedrich Wilhelm Krebs in Berlin to ‘Fraulein’ Tilly Krebs in the ‘American Zone’ of Frankfurt, presumably in 1948. And that is where they stayed; the models were never unwrapped, sold, or used.

    The models are of the famous Auto-Union racing car, designed by Ferdinand Porsche’s design bureau, which made its debut in 1934 – most notably of the 1934 Auto-Union Type A ‘long-tail’ model. The racing cars by Auto-Union as well as their competitors by Mercedes-Benz – known as the ‘silver arrows’ – were the flagships of Nazi-Germany and delivered fierce combat with Bugatti, Alfa Romeo and Maserati racing cars on the European racing circuits up until the outbreak of World War Two. The Auto-Union racing cars clearly had their heyday in pre-war Nazi-Germany – but when where these models made? They must be either from pre-war old stock, or of early post-war production, presumably using pre-war casting molds.

    The models appear to be in standard 1:43 scale, in metal ‘zamac’ die cast with rubber tires. The holes for the wheel axes must have been drilled after casting. The models were made in five different color combinations: off-white with red seat, light green with red seat, red with blue seat, dark red with off-white seat, and blue with red seat. The models have no separate bottom-plate, and there is no mention of a manufacturer. The underside of the driver’s seat only contains the number ‘B 1300’ and a tiny logo with a letter ‘B’ in the centre, presumably reading ‘K B G’ (this could stand for a KG ‘Kommanditgesellschaft’, a kind of Limited Partnership, from Berlin) or or ‘K B K’ (one source mentions Kurt Becker KG as the possible manufacturer).

    As soon as more information has been gathered about the historical background and signifigance of these models they will be offered for sale, either individually or in sets of 5 cars – one of each color. For more information please contact me through the contact form at: http://www.ganz-volkswagen.org/contact.htm

    logo
    Diecast Model Cars
    See all
    HOT WHEELS / MATCHBOX RANDOM LOT OF 12 CARS Vintage - Modern Diecast Cars
    HOT WHEELS / MATCHBOX RANDOM LOT OF...
    $25
    Vintage Knight Rider KITT 1982 ERTL SEALED UNPUNCHED Knight 2000 RARE 1/64 SCALE
    Vintage Knight Rider KITT 1982 ERTL...
    $21
    Vintage Lesney Matchbox #72 jeep, TEN TIRES (VEHICLE NOT INCLUDED)
    Vintage Lesney Matchbox #72 jeep, T...
    $6
    Mixed Loose Hot Wheels/Matchbox Lot of 15 VINTAGE - MODERN Diecast Cars
    Mixed Loose Hot Wheels/Matchbox Lot...
    $17
    logo
    HOT WHEELS / MATCHBOX RANDOM LOT OF 12 CARS Vintage - Modern Diecast Cars
    HOT WHEELS / MATCHBOX RANDOM LOT OF...
    $25
    See all

    Comments

    1. pixmax pixmax, 10 years ago
      Solved mystery:
      http://blog.vintage-racing-cars.com/2013/05/kbk-die-unbekannten-renner-aus-berlin/
      and
      http://blog.vintage-racing-cars.com/2014/04/kbk-die-unbekannten-renner-aus-berlin-teil-2/

    Want to post a comment?

    Create an account or login in order to post a comment.