The BMW M1, the first ever car to wear that much coveted M badge. It was a sight to behold. Designed by Giugaro and initially to be built by Lamborghini. It had the looks, the power and the pedigree. The development of BMW’s mid-engined M1 project began in 1976, though it was to be built by Lamborghini, the Italian supercar maker ran into financial difficulty and caused BMW to move production over to Baur. (Who made their convertibles) But by the time production resumed, the homologation rules for international Group 5 racing had been changed. Since BMW had not met the required sales figures of 400 cars in 24 months, the M1 went to the new Procar series instead. By the time BMW had sold enough cars, the M1 was no longer competitive for Group 5 racing. Quite a waste really.

Personally, and honestly speaking, i do not know much about the history of the #81 M-Wilkenhock car. I just thought it had a pretty cool paint scheme (among all the M1s availible) which was pretty striking. Yellow and Black, very basic colors but very effective together. Given a choice, i would have gone for the even more attention grabbing BASF car. But that one’s really difficult to find. Anyway, let’s move on to the review.

This 1:18 replica of the M1 is made by you guessed it, Minichamps. I’m quite a fan of their work. (haha!) Nonetheless, this model has quite a number of faults which we must all look at. It must be said though, this car is one of Minichamps’ earlier cars, so we cannot really compare it with today’s offerings.

Paint

The bright yellow paint on this car is quite well applied though some might say a slight bit on the thicker side. Logos, Badges and Sponsor’s logos are all sadly, decals, but they are well applied and do not seem to be coming off anytime soon. The front hood does not open but has painted hood clips. Not very fine on the detailings there but at least it gets the job done.

Exterior

Probably the main reason why i bought this car was because of the exterior. I really loved the M1’s shape. It was probably one of BMW’s best efforts, it even looks better then the 8 series and all the current BMWs on sale today. It was supercar quick and it was supercar cool. The stance of the car is almost there. But, the exterior of the model though, could do with a whole lot of updating, start off with the non opening front hood. That’s just sad, in a model at this price range. With today’s standards of diecast construction and building, we can only imagine how well this car would have been made. The front grilles and air intake inlets are all not perforated and are instead made up of moulded plastic. Only the front vents on top of the front hood are proper openings. Pity.

Lights front and back have rather obvious fastening pins. Door handles are just moulding with black paint on them. The side vents on the engine cover do not have proper openings as well. Doors are doglegs and because of that, they do not shut as tight as i would like. Some of the lines on the car are not as delicately detailed as present day models, reason being probably the slightly thick paint application.

Moving on towards the rear, when we open up the engine cover, we are greeted by probably the best bit of this model in terms of detailing. The engine is wonderfully made and wonderfully replicated, with hoses and wiring all shown and it all looks good here.

The exhaust though, another slight letdown due to the fact that we can see the pipe is not fully hollow. The undercarriage though is not too bad really. With hoses and engine all visible.

Interior

I didn’t take a photo of the interior because well, its really dark and your not missing out on anything here. Its all black and all very spartan. The plastics used in here are on the hard / harsh side. The only thing good about the interior is the seats that has a carpeted texture and seperate seat belts. (But the seat does suffer from another fault being a sticker for the BMW badge… shudder…) Moving on…

Wheels and Brakes

I can’t really fault it on the brakes here because honestly, i can’t see them!Behind the blacked out hubcaps, i think i do see a hint of the brakes, but its not enough for me to comment on them. Since i can’t really see them , i will just imagine and make myself belive how good it is down there. Great thing about the tyres though, they are branded, but as they are slicks, not much detailing present. No fault on Minichamps’ part though.

Summary

Quite a horror story on a Minichamps model don’t you think? But, that’s where you’re wrong. Truth is, though the model itself is very flawed, especially in this price range. The one big question that collectors will have to face is, “How much do i want an M1 in my collection?” Don’t get me wrong, even though the car has a number of problems, i still love it very much. It DOES look really good when you don’t go opening it up and all. But display it next to other AA / Minichamps race cars and it will hold it’s own. It might be an old model. But my guess is, a car like this, you either hate it, or love it. People are not going to buy it for the details or features or wonderful photo-etched parts. People are going to buy it because of the subject matter, because they want an M1.

Go to a shop, take a look at the car and decide how much you really want it before buying it. If your into buying models solely for the “detailing” factor, look elsewhere. But if you love cars and love the M1, maybe you should stop by and take a look. My guess is these cars will sooner or later be discountinued, so get them while you still can.
Love or Hate i guess, no in between.

Overall 5.5/10
A model in this range is just very slightly below average at best. Obvious flaws overshadow the postives. But some features stand out to make it a viable option.

*Rating system and review was written with reference to DiecastXchange’s review guidelines*

This entry was posted on Monday, November 7th, 2005 at 11:12 pm and is filed under Updates, 1:18 Reviews, BMW. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.