MARZAL MODELLING MADNESS

reference to the Lamborghini Marzal in issue 288 (November 2021), struck a chord and opened the age old authenticity can of worms. Few things get me hot under the collar quicker than seeing models of a car in a myriad of colours, all of which are wrong, although I should add that I’m referring in particular to types such as concept cars of which only one was ever produced. The Marzal is a case in point, but there have been numerous others, for example the 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo. The Alan Mann Racing Ford F3L from 1968 is another one that fell foul of overly zealous model manufacturers. I’ve written before in these pages and in the former Model Collector about it, so for those who may not have seen my previous correspondence, I’ll re-iterate. The Marzal was first shown to the public at the Geneva Motor Show in 1967 and also appeared at London’s Earls Court Motor Show that year. The car was driven on the parade lap of the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix by the late Prince Rainier of Monaco, accompanied by his wife, Grace Kelly. Designed by Marcelo Gandini at Bertone, it was a styling exercise not intended for production, but some of its styling cues would be clearly seen in the more familiar Espada. It was powered by a rear-mounted transverse 2-litre V6 engine, which effectively was a four litre Lamborghini V12 cut in half. This one off project was painted silver, although due to whatever shade of light was available at the time photographs were taken, it usually appears to be white. The rear engine cover detailing, albeit in different styles, would later be seen on the Carabo, the 1970 Boss Mustang and the Fiat X1/9 of 1972. The Marzal sold at auction in 2011 for 1.5m euros. The car is still in existence. I was advised during a visit to the factory in 2019 that the car had been on display in the museum the week before. The Lamborghini Marzal never was day-glo pink, yellow, green or all the colours of the rainbow with a red interior. The Carabo and F3L were green and red and gold respectively. If collectors are happy with those, that’s fine, it’s a personal thing, each to their own. Were they ever supposed to be collectors models or toys? Maybe I would be bothered if I hadn’t seen the real thing. The manufacturer of the model I have is unknown, but I suspect it may be a Polistil. As good as it is, it still has one minor flaw. The seats and interior on the actual car were a sort of ‘chrome silver’ leather, on the model they’re light grey, but that’s nit picking. Pictures of the car can easily be found on the internet. Whatever it is, it’s a fine model of the type of car so familiar from the Italian styling houses back then.

Mick Haven, email

ED I totally agree, Mick. I’m very keen to have models in authentic colour schemes, and your message is very timely – you may have already spotted my Code 3 Superfast Marzal on page 65, in silver with the chrome-effect interior. My other authenticity pet peeve is when manufacturers clearly don’t research original cars properly and get graphics wrong, particularly racing cars. Too often these days, a laziness creeps in and restored cars are used as reference points rather than digging back to source original images. This can range from missing or incorrectly-replicated graphics, through to the wrong font being used for sponsor logos – Rothmans and Martini seem to be regularly recreated badly, either because the vehicle has been restored poorly, or the model manufacturer has rushed things. Thankfully, there are many that take the time to do the job properly.