There is nothing quite like the flare or perhaps the flamboyance of French autos from the art deco era. I readily admit that this style of cars and time period is very near and dear to me.
Some of you are probably familiar with Spark Models. They are one of the more prolific model car manufacturers at the moment. Their range is large and eclectic. This year they’ve branched out from making mostly sports cars and racing cars to now making models of some of the most stunning classic cars ever to hit the road. Spark also produced a Delage D6 in road and Le Mans race trim several years ago. Maybe that was a test run? Until recently, these types of French classics were strictly the domain of European model makers such as Ma Collection, Heco, and a few others, producing truly limited edition hand built models. Those days are gone which is both good and bad; that discussion is for another day.
Most of Spark’s models such as our three examples here are produced in 1:43 scale, though they do offer several sports and racing cars in tiny 1:87 and others in fairly large 1:18, and they even took a brief journey into 1:24 as well. All of their models are static pieces, and most (but not all) feature great detail. For the most part you get great value for the money. These are volume produced, hand built resin models, made in China. Edition sizes range from a low of about maybe 750 to a high of about 1,500. Unfortunately No exact numbers are given nor do they offer any other information about their editions which would all be appreciated by collectors.
Each model comes mounted in a nice display case. Paint finish on all three classics shown here is very good, but could be better, as it is on some of their sports cars and race car models. Panel lines are crisp, and on the Voisin and Delahaye they have gone the extra step to paint in the panel lines with black to give that little extra punch often needed on a small model painted white. That works very well.
The Read Deal. The Voisin as it appears in the Mullin Automotive Museum. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.
It appears that someone at Spark was particularly enamored with the Voisin since it has a wealth of detail, down to the hard to see, separate photo etched pedals replicating the unique items in the real car! As for the rest of the interior…. wow; love it or hate it, the “interesting” geometric pattern of the fabric covering the entire passenger compartment has been simulated, and even the headliner has been covered. However, if you look closely, you’ll see it is not at all the correct pattern. At first glance it looks fairly convincing, though further inspection shows that it is wrong. I don’t understand going to all this trouble to make the wrong pattern.
The exterior is very, very complete, and has a surprising amount of photo etched trim parts, all around the lower edges of the body and including wheel openings. They have gone as far as to simulate the stamped pattern of all the edge trim. You have to see this model in person to appreciate it. The overall shape has been very well captured, though a few areas of front bodywork are dimensionally off, but not enough to be bothersome. Study photos of the real car, and it’s fairly easy to see where they missed. I do recall another manufacturer in Europe modeling this car once before, as a very limited run, but not to this level of detail, and the price was also about 4 or 5 times more. So yes, even with the mistakes, this is a bargain at $64.95.
The Real Deal. We agree: Delage's personal car is one of the most beautiful cars ever.
Priced the same as the Voisin, but not as much of a bargain is the Delage D8, Ch. No. 51620 with coach-work by Portout. This was Louis Delage’s personal car…… no surprise there! It won the coveted Best of Show title at Pebble Beach in 2005, and is one of my all time favorite automobiles. I vividly remember stopping dead in my tracks when I first saw it roll onto the lawn at Pebble that morning. This Delage also happens to be a car which I have personally and extensively researched.
Overall Spark have done a good job, but there are several misses accompanying this one. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest, I can only give this model a 7 and in some respects I am probably being generous. While the overall body shape certainly captures the car, it is wrong in many areas; too much to list. Adding to that is the ride height, my sample sits too low, wheel rims are missing chrome trim rings, window trim is a little heavy, the radiator shell doesn’t have the correct rake, other nuances are off, the exhaust pipe is both the wrong style and in the wrong location, it should be dead center, not on the right side as on the model. Metallic silver paint is difficult to apply well, and Spark have done a decent job. It is shiny, but not high gloss, and in some spots not as clean as it should be; though overall pretty good.
On the plus side; the blue interior is well done with a good amount of detail, and there are numerous fine details such as hood latches, all window trim is photo etched, and there are teeny-tiny photo etched Portout emblems. Another nice touch is the correct split between front & rear side windows.
This Delage has been modeled before by Heco in their Challange series, but at more than 3 times the price, so again, even with the issues, the model is still very attractive and somewhat begrudgingly recommended. You certainly won’t find a better one in this price range.
The Real Deal..but is it the one Spark chose to create in miniature? A lot of detail differences. This is chassis 48666, Pray's is 49667, but there is no doubt that the model's exterior and interior represent Pray's car. Photo from the Internet.
Well, here is the final conundrum of todays group. I have spent more time than I should have to trying to determine which Delahaye 135 Spark have modeled. Granted it is a Geo Ham styled Figoni & Falaschi body, but I cannot find any Delahaye that this model is an exact match for. The minimal information provided by Spark is less than helpful, and does not cite a specific car. As far as I can tell, this model as beautiful as it is, appears to be a “bitsa.” The closest car, which I believe is what they used as their basis for their model is Ch. No. 48667 which resides in Malcolm Pray’s collection. Aside from Pray’s car not currently sporting any front bumper….. well….. the color of his car is two tone blue and ivory, and its original color was blue. It was never painted the red and Ivory Spark have chosen. Paint finish is good, but again could be a little better, some orange peel can be seen and gloss is not as high as we’ve come to expect.
One other noticeable mistake, which anyone familiar with classic cars featuring fully enclosed front wheels will see, is the incorrect front track on this model. With this type of front fender, the wheels are always set in much closer to the center so as to allow for turning left & right. Spark have built this model for straight line cruising only.
Overall this Delahaye is a great looking model with numerous nice little details inside and out. That’s the real shame, since I find it difficult to rave about it with the color and wheel issue in mind. However, if you can get past those two little things, then this model will make a nice addition to many collections. Buy it for arts sake. As they say of some female super models: “she sure is pretty.”
Spark have a number of other French classics slated to come out in the near future. Let’s hope that they do their homework, and bring them up to the same level as many of their more accurately modeled racing cars.
This Voisin in the Mullin collection is a Replica on a Voisin chassis. The original one-off car is lost. This car was reconstructed in France about 5 years ago, shown at Rétromobile, and purchased Mr. Mullin. The Voisin with which Mullin won Pebble 2011 is of course an original car.