Alfa Romeo Spider

It’s quite common for a model car to be supplied in some kind of display box or diorama, but in the case of this 1980 Alfa Romeo Spider the packaging does more than provide a backdrop – it tells a story.

The female driver of the Alfa, emerging from a busy junction, has collided with a pizza delivery driver’s Vespa. Fortunately, he seems to be dazed rather than seriously injured, but the pizza is definitely ruined.

This slice of 1:43-scale life comes from Vitesse, a company founded in Oporto, Portugal, in the early 1980s to make products ‘aimed purely at the adult collector’. It was one of the first to spot the growing demand for models of classic cars of the ’50s and ’60s, and Vitesse showed originality in producing quirky variations, often with accompanying figures. There was even a Volkswagen from Marrakech that consisted of an empty Beetle bodyshell mounted on cartwheels and pulled by a donkey.

In 1999 Vitesse decided to celebrate the new millennium with a collection of cars marking 100 years of motoring, from an 1899 Opel to the latest VW New Beetle. What sets these apart is the way each model is presented. The 1950s, for example, are represented by the Jaguar D-type, supplied with a mechanic and driver, while for the 1940s there’s a Citroën 2CV outside a boulangerie, with a customer and baker, and a basket full of baguettes.

By then the production of Vitesse models had been transferred to the Far East and the brand is currently owned by Chinese toy company Sun Star.

The cars in the Vitesse Millennium Collection might not be rare or expensive, but the figures and diorama settings will certainly liven up a display.