A former bike dealer has one of Australia's finest model car collections
From Unique Cars #261, Jun/Jul 2006
Model collecting has become a popular pastime with many enthusiasts but you know you have a serious collector on your hands when you hear of one that has over 1200 models.
Still, as I wheeled into a quiet street in the small Victorian country town of Numurkah, 210km north of Melbourne in the rich Goulburn Valley, I was unsure of what to expect.
I know a few model collectors, in fact a good friend Tom Mathieson is President of the Matchbox Collectable Society, but most have their prized investments boxed and in storage so it’s sometimes difficult to get an appreciation of their collections.
As I pulled into Robert Powles driveway the only give-away that he possessed an exotic model car collection was a classy sign on a sandstone fence with the somewhat bold statement – the International Grand Prix Model Gallery.
Powles with his 1/8th scale Gumey Westlake Eagle
However, two pristine all-wheel drive Nissan Skylines on the driveway was enough to suggest the owner was a real enthusiast. Powles is one of those very likeable older enthusiasts you meet from time to time who gains much pleasure in sharing their hobby with others.
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The former Shepparton Kawasaki dealer ushers me through a side door and into the gallery he’s constructed on the front of his home and you are immediately overawed by the extent and the quality of his pride and joy.
A carpenter and joiner by trade, he proudly tells me he was Shepparton’s 1966 Apprentice of the Year, which has provided him with the skills to design and build a range of display cases. The high-quality cases feature their own in-built lighting and are constructed in such a way they can be easily cleaned and remain relatively dust free.
And the fitting of a complex alarm system indicates this is a very valuable collection.
Whilst Robert has been collecting for the last 40 years it’s taken him seven years to assemble the 600 models for display with another 600 in other areas of the house.
Adding to the display collection is an ongoing business and the 61 year-old openly admits he’s smitten with the hobby, constantly adding display cabinets and converting more and more rooms in his home for the exhibition.
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Above all, Robert sets out to display his models as a work of art – the big emphasis is on sports and racing cars but he admits that his collection has now grown outside this theme and covers motorcycles, production cars, rally cars, speedway cars and anything that takes his fancy. Ferrari road and race cars feature prominently so too Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Alfa Romeo, Jaguar, Chevrolet, Ducati and Honda.
Many of the models have been specially commissioned from both local and international model constructors – many sourced from well-known local model ace John Sachs in Shepparton and from noted UK constructor Jeff Luff.
Luff, who grew up near Goodwood and spent many a day missing school and watching the great races there in the 1950s and ’60s makes 1/12th scale models of some of his favourite racing and land speed cars. Lucky enough to serve his apprenticeship with Thorpe’s, the noted Architectural model makers, he went on to develop models for special effects in films.
Today, his model making is considered world class and his interpretation of Sir Malcolm Campbell’s 1935 Bluebird, a car that captured the land speed record at 301.29 mph (488.818km/h), is absolutely superb in every detail.
Land speed record holders such as Campbell’s Bluebird have a prized place in the collection
Other examples of Luff’s talent include short and long-nose D-Type Jaguars as well as a C-Type, the winning car at Le Mans in 1953. Other examples of his work include a beautiful 1/12th scale Vanwall Grand Prix car and Mike Hawthorn’s Ferrari.
The engine models are particularly striking – the detail so intricate on John Sach’s 1/8th scale 1.5-litre 1950 BRM 16-cylinder it includes the spark plugs.
Robert’s latest model he is personally constructing is a $2000 1/8th scale GMP example of the 1967 Gurney Westlake Eagle. He has been hand finishing touches to the resin nose cone and the intricate detail of the mesh grille and cast alloy wheels on this American model have to be seen to be believed.
His F1 cars are also impressive – he particularly likes the 1996 Jordan Peugeot 196, a car that crashed at the Melbourne GP in 1996, the driver running back to the pits to get the second team car.
In all, Powles’ models range from 1/43 scale to 1/8th, 1/10th, 1/12th and 1/18th scale depending on the maker. He has no real preference of manufacturer but claims Japanese company Tamiya builds the best models in the world.
Founded in 1958 Tamiya builds superb 1/12th scale Formula One cars and Robert has some great examples including the 1974 McLaren M23, 1977 Wolf WR1, 1980 Renault RE20 turbo and 1988 McLaren MP4/4.
A standout in the collection is a 1/12th scale model by Italian company Protar of the 1927 Fiat 806/406 racer representing the last competition car from this Italian company – a 1.5-litre supercharged 12-cylinder. Such is the detail on this exquisite kit that the model maker even has to temper the miniature steel spring leaves by dipping them in oil.
GT40s are a firm favourite
Other highlights include larger 1/8th scale Pocher models – these exacting Italian replicas of some of our greatest cars are highly regarded the world over – Robert has fine examples of the Porsche 911, Ferrari Testarossa Coupe and Spider, several Ferrari F40s, also the famous Fiat F2 racer from 1907; winner of the French Grand Prix in that year. He also has the very appealing Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza and 8C 2600 Mille Miglia cars from the ’30s, Bugatti type 50 Coupe d’Ville and a Mercedes-Benz 540K cabrio Special.
Pocher is no longer but today you can buy unassembled kits on the internet and there’s a few specialty companies that make spare parts as I was fortunate enough to find out for my Phantom II Rolls-Royce.
Also in Robert’s collection are some very detailed 1/18th scale models from CMC – a German company with a factory in China. Its examples of the Mercedes-Benz W154 and W165 of 1938/39 and the W196 monoposto racer from 1954/55 are stunningly accurate and built from historic drawings. Even the seats have the right cloth and the wheels with individual spokes.
Other CMC models include the short-wheelbase 1961 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta that dominated GT racing, from the mid-’50s to the early-’60s. This high-grade metal model, based on the street or Stradale version, features 1141 parts and one suspects given its intricate detail it would have been harder to assemble as a model than in real life.
In 2004 CMC, celebrating 90 years of Maserati, produced a model of the legendary 250F Grand Prix car – apart from winning at Albert Park in 1956 in the hands of Stirling Moss, in 1957 this model gave Fangio his famous win at the Nurburgring and his fifth world championship title. Robert’s superb CMC miniature even has the tubular space frame recreated in metal and the precise recreation of the double-leaf central wheel locking nut right down to the engraved ‘Borrani’ manufacturers logo.
The big money in the collection is in two Grand Prix Jordans and a Williams – all three from Amalgam, a company that today produces most of the models for the Formula One teams. Each is valued at around $6000 although their replacement cost today would be closer to $10,000.
Another favourite is the exotic Mazda 787B. Built for the 1991 Le Mans 24-hours this 1/18th scale, China-built model from AutoArt is highly detailed.
On top of that his section devoted to Ferrari models is enough to stir the blood of any Prancing Horse enthusiast.
Robert has sourced his collection from around 17 different model makers around the world including Revell, Kyoshi, MotorMax, Exoto, Erti, BBR and local company Biante but most build the end product in China.
He particularly laments the recent passing of Biante founder Trevor Young who he suggests was an innovator in model building here and the first to manufacture precision Aussie road and competition cars. The collection has a good selection of Biante’s work including the famed Falcon GT-HO.
Like full-size car collectors model collectors always have favourites and currently this happy-go-lucky collector is taken by transkits – kits you develop another manufacturer’s model with. At the moment he has taken a standard 1/12th Tamiya diecast Ferrari F50, pulled it apart and rebuilt it with a transkit from APM – a company formed by a group of model builders, crafters and collectors that produce the customised items to transform the F50 into an F50 GT, of which only three cars were ever produced.
Moving in a world of miniatures Powles is at his happiest – lucky enough to have a wife who understands why her home is slowly shrinking as the collection grows. Somehow, just somehow, when this guy was a kid I reckon he must have been a big fan of Gulliver’s Travels.
Photography: Stuart Grant