Desert island diecasts
Imagine you’re stranded on a remote island and had only taken a handful of your collection favourites on that fateful trip, which five would you want it to be? Brian Cullum is this month’s castaway hero.
Brian Cullum is this month's castaway.
And as the ship sunk slowly in the west, I grabbed my latest copy of Diecast Collector and five of my models from my sea-chest containing my 60-yearold collection of 1/43 scale model cars and associated motoring memories. After I had paddled to a nearby desert island, sucked at a Magnum ice-cream on a stick, I looked lovingly at the five models from my total of 287 and was grateful to reach land and sit under the shade of a palm tree.
DINKY TOYS 1958 AUSTIN FARINA A40
This is a model of my first brand new car, after an A30.All my family bought Austins.This model was in the same colours as the full-size one, blue body and black roof. I liked the design of the car. Bragging about it in the lunchtime restaurant, an attractive dental nurse said that she wished that she could drive – would I teach her? We had driving lessons once a week and she proved to be an apt pupil.Then, one day, as I looked out of my office window, I saw her drive past in an MG Magnette. End of lessons!
VANGUARDS 1966 AUSTIN 1800 MK 1
While living in Australia, I bought two of these cars, one in ivory white for weekdays and one in willow green for Sunday driving! Not popular with the Aussies, they reckoned that “like all British cars, not suitable for Australian conditions”, with the lack of rain, the east-west engine and exposed electrics. I could see no problems, but when it did rain, oh boy! A breakdown trucker’s dream. I would still own the Sunday car, but L-driver Auntie Queenie ran it up a telegraph pole!
RIO 1925 FIAT TIPO 501 TOURER
I used to own a 1926 Willys Model 96 (I restored it myself), but as I have failed to find any models of Willys’ cars, except the Jeep, I feel that this Fiat is
a spitting image of it. John Willys wanted his new designs to look continental. I coloured my own car Sudan Beige with black guards and it was very reliable and popular for weddings. I always got the blushing bride to her nuptials on time, despite the hectic Sydney traffic, thanks to the 4-cylinder, side valve engine which was developed further for use in the Willys Jeep. I remember one wedding day, on the way to the reception, the bride asked me to pull over, apparently, in the draughty tourer, the groom’s toupee had been blown off and she couldn’t fix it. They hadn’t been cuddling at all.
FRANKLIN MINT 1912 ROLLSROYCE SILVER GHOST
I have about 32 models of the finest cars in the world, of which this Silver Ghost is the representative. I had a friend who owned 17 Rolls-Royces and Bentleys, in Sydney, and I was privileged to be asked if I would drive any of them for weddings.The most expensive car he owned had belonged to the British Ambassador in
Australia - it was a huge 1956 Silver Wraith and was worth a small fortune at that time.When I was an architect, and I was designing a very tight circular ramp down to a hotel basement car park, I remember saying to my colleague “I wouldn’t like to drive a Rolls down this ramp”.And, yes, dear readers, one day I had to drive the Silver Wraith down it!
DUGU 1937 CORD 812 PHAETON COUPE
In Australia, I also owned and restored a floodbodied 1939 Willys Overland - 3,000 were made, all with soft tops. People thought that it was a Cord lookalike, so this model is included as a reminder. My car had been used for road racing and the running boards had been removed and the windscreen designed to fold flat.The car (which I loved) is now in Georgia, USA, and I understand is for sale for US$ 30,000.
I can see a smoking funnel coming over the horizon, perhaps I’m going to be rescued. So maybe it’s time to pack up my treasures and light a smoking fire for rescue. DC