Motor City USA was a collaborative effort and partnership between Alan Novak and Gene Parrill that formed around 1990. They primarily produced exquisitely detailed 1/43 white metal models but occasionally forayed into 1/24 notably their lineup of '60's Gassers. I was always intrigued by the work of prewar French coachbuilders with their aerodynamic Art Moderne styling and beyond some plastic kits were just not available in diecast. With the encouragement of our club, they produced 450 of the 1948 Cadillac roadster by Jacques Saoutchik.
Alan then offered a model that I found thrilling - a late '30s Talbot Lago 150C SS teardrop coupe bodied by Figoni et Falaschi whose designs for Delahaye were both beautiful and otherworldly. After all the grousing about it being a curbside and the "I only collect mid-fifties land yachts", it turned into a such a popular model that the numbered Maroon T-L edition of 300 was then supplemented a different F&F silver and blue variant with an edition size of 250. To satisfy those that missed out (or wanted them all) an all black numbered edition of 50 ended the run. I never saw the black so I'm not sure if is a repaint of the maroon or the blue/silver with removable sun roof. At any rate, these 2 models are most loved by me in that hypothetical scenario where "if you had to give up 99% of your collection, which models would you keep?"
The black one is a copy of the maroon one. All 4 have impeccable finish and overall quality. The Cadillac was issued first in resin version, LE of 85, but the production cost was prohibitive for larger batch. I believe the interest was so high, that MC decided to produce the model in white metal and the 450 LE came to fruition. This was all before my time of collecting, so I know all this from here, from Rich, Tony, JK ... and the database that is unfortunately since gone. Sadly nobody here has a good enough relationship with MintModels to figure out what happened with the reviews and if they will be ever restored.
These are absolutely stunning, and having been collecting specifically Figoni Et Falaschi and Jacques Saoutchik models for about twenty five years I'm amazed never to have encountered these models. The detail is breathtaking. Is this Motor City USA as in Design Studio? I have seen some of these models - such as their town and Countries get int the £1000 bracket - which would explain the beauty of these models.
"After all the grousing about it being a curbside and the "I only collect mid-fifties land yachts" "
I have been intrigued by this expression 'curbside' and I wonder if this is an expression denoting cars with right hand drive? If so there's an interesting detail: all these are French cars and they drive on the same side as Americans. Or rather, Americans drive on the same side as the French! Going back, even thousands of years through history, horsemen always passed other horsemen to their right side so as to be able to draw the sword more effectively. The history of salute comes from horsemen raising their sword hand in the air to show they were no threat. (left handed babies either being killed in infancy or becoming philosophers).
This brings us the l'ancien regime France, where noblemen would tear down the left hand side of roads in their fancy carriages sending all peasantry scattering, animals and hay wagons sent tumbling! So in his social reforms, Napoleon insisted that all carriages should pass to the left hand side and this command went throughout the French empire - including most of Europe. The aristocracy always took this to be a personal slight on the part of common revolutionaries, against them, and whenever possible, ignored the dictate.
For this reason, all French luxury cars kept to the tradition of millennia and put their steering wheels on the right hand side despite driving on the right. The same can be said of other European marques but to a lesser degree. With the French, it is strictly a class issue: all French luxury marques up to WWII have right hand drive, even though they drive on the right side. The English often think this is for export to the UK! No, it's class and it is only during the late '40s do they begrudgingly move them to the left.
Thank you all for the excellent histories and displays of these fine French vehicles, models and full sized on occasion. I’m sorry that I missed a lot of the details on our previous website.
"After all the grousing about it being a curbside and the "I only collect mid-fifties land yachts" "
I have been intrigued by this expression 'curbside' and I wonder if this is an expression denoting cars with right hand drive?
curbside = no openings, no working features. The Talbot's are 1/24 models, so in the golden years of FM and DM everything in their price range was compared to the mints benchmark. The Talbots' fit/finish/quality/accuracy/stance are classic example as why a curbside model could be superior to even the best models with openings, detailed engine bay etc.
I had 2 Holy Grail 1/24 models, 1) MCUSA black TL (LE of 50) and 2) B&G by EMC Bugatti Atlantic in black (LE of 100). Within the last year I was able to acquire both models!
I've just clicked through all the pics a second time. Works of automotive and modelers art! Thanks Rich. Lots of other great info in this thread. Thanks Chav, and well done on adding your 2 Holy Grails. Very interesting info Charles, thanks. And oh yeah, the reviews are a terrible loss, not just to this site but the hobby overall.
I just read the entire paragraph, very interesting history, I had no idea why the luxury French cars had right steering wheels. But how did the lady passengers agree to sit on the left side, that is the side of the road and hence very inconvenient to exit a vehicle in style.
Year 2000 - 50th Anniversary of Concours d' Elegance, Pebble Beach, CA. Theme - Teardrops & Boattails. Jay Olins, Raffi Minasian and I attended; met with George Dill. Knowing beforehand that I was going, Alan Novak and I spent a ton of time on the phone and through conversations developing a plan for the photographing of the Talbots for his company to build the 1:24th models. He owns Motor City USA. The above is a portion of the hundreds of images I took for that purpose.
All previous Best of Show winners were invited that year and almost all came. The eventual winner of the Best of Show for 2000 was this little bon bon, a 1937 Delahaye 135M Figoni et Falaschi Cabriolet:
Raffi Minasian, below and the Bugatti Royale above him:
