Sadly I just missed buying at auction, an intriguing 1/43 model of an early internal combustion engine vehicle, (not my photo's). I seem to remember the actual car from B&W photographs I had in a book, when young. So I would be pleased if anyone could give any information on the original vehicle or the model itself. The underside gives little away.
@mikedetorrice It has real charm. What I like about these early vehicles is you can see their creators thinking anew, because the rules haven't been set, yet.
@jkuvakasI hope one of our number will give us the full low-down. I've been wondering if it's a DUGU model (Italy) or possibly Safir (which I think was French). It has lots of metal detail.
It is indeed a Dugu Bernardi. I seem to recall there were top up and top down versions, with one rarer than the other. I'm sure Karl can elaborate. For those here who don't know, Dugu was the FIRST 1:43 producer of collectable model cars aimed at the adult market, with Rio following a few months later. If their wheels weren't prone to melting from a tire-wheel interaction, I would still have a few. With old Rios so cheap these days, I probably should have kept them and swapped the wheels out.
@mg-harv I've got quite a few Rios as there was a time they were the only people I could find vintage and veteran cars from. Some of the '20s Fiats had great character - but yes, a bit fragile in places. This particular model above, seems to have come from the collection of an enthusiast who had added touches of paint here and there, to great effect and this has been reflected in the auction prices. I've just found a copy that I hope will replace the one I failed to get at auction: It is less than a tenth the price and looks it!
It's an 1896 Bernardi. Click here for some info on the model and here for some info on the car.
Some quick research and nice photo's - many thanks. The Carmodels example seems to have gone, but at 169.95€ , I'm quite pleased. Though it must be said this is the Top Up version that Harv' mentioned which it seems is much rarer than the Top Down (No. 10). According to Chris Sweetman at Flickr, it was issued as a club model only (No. 9).
At one time, likely as did Harv, I had the whole series of Dugu Models. Made in Italy they first appeared in 1963. There were two series, I think, one in 1/50 scale based on the Torino Museum cars (Museo Series).
A more highly detailed series in 1/43 called Miniautotoys was also produced. This Barnardi 3.5 was number 9 top up and 10 top down as shown here.
Just checked and I no longer have this one. I still have a dozen Fiats, the Cords and Duesenberg. There were 24 cars in this series and 14 in the Museo series.
My information shows that Dugu went out of business in 1974 although several models were continued by other manufCturers such as Oldcars. A company called Sispla used the Dugu name on a Fiat truck line for a short time in 1975.
Here is an informative article, by Chris Sweetman on Flickr that answers your question nicely. (I hope he does not mind my reproducing it here, without permission)..........
Dugu was a brand specialising in vintage model cars and was active from 1961 to 1973. The name was changed to Sispla in 1974 before they closed for business in 1975. The visionary behind this range was Bartolomeo Chiodo, a vintage car enthusiast. For the name of his company Mr Chiodo took inspiration from his birthplace. He was born in Varallo Sesia, a small town in Piedmount which was divided into two districts: "dugu" and "falcet" in local dialect. These translate to owl and falcon respectively. Mr Chiodo was born in the "dugu" area and hence selected this name for his company. The trademark became an owl and the stylised design was drawn by R. Violi, a respected graphic designer.
Mr Chiodo used the cars displayed in the Turin Automobile Museum as ideas for most of the models in the Dugu range. This museum also was a major buyer of his products and these were sold in the their shop.
Early Dugu models were made by Stampopolastica. In 1962 Stampopolastica introduced it's own range of vintage model cars under the Rio name.
This Dugu model represents Professor Bernardi's attempt to produce a functional internal combustion engine within a chassis. Unfortunately, Bernardi's vehicles, which date back to 1893, did not meet with enough success to make them really well known. This tri-car had a water cooled 624cc engine, three speed gear box, chain transmission and had a top speed of 20mph.
Note: a version with the hood raised was used by Dugu as a club model and was released as number 9. This model is classified as rare.
