Custom Car Update: Carriage House Models

Nissan Jam is this Sunday in SoCal: go for the cars, leave with the diecast...

You lucky folks in Southern California have a real treat this weekend. This Sunday will be the 3rd Annual Nissan Jam in West Covina at West Covina Nissan. Nissan, Datsun, and even Infiniti old and new will be represented, and from what we have heard it has become one of the premiere j-tin car shows in the US.

Obviously, go for the vehicular niceties, but don't miss out on the diecast fun to be had as well. There will be two booths to make sure you visit. Jeff Koch, aka @the_toy_pimp on IG, who is well known for his JDM-heavy booth at JCCS, will be there with all kinds of Japanese diecast goodness for sale from Hot Wheels, Kyosho, Tomica, Tomica Limited Vintage and on and on and on. (Emphasis on that "on and on and on" part. Anyone who has seen Jeff's booth know that it is a "have to see it to believe it" sea of diecast.)

It will be a perfect time to fill in gaps, or add some unique pieces to your Nissan/Datsun collections. Some of the items that will be there:

You will blow your entire budget at Jeff's booth, so we suggest before you go there you hit the Japanese Nostalgic Car booth first. They always have unique goodies for each event, including t-shirts and stickers, but they will also be showcasing large scale diecast for sale from Carriage House Models. We have purchased two models from Carriage House in the past, are in awe of their selection, and would love to see what they are bringing this Sunday. We hear it will be Skyline heavy, including this R34 Skyline from AutoArt.

We wish we could be there, as there is bound to be a ton (several tons actually) of machinery we would love to ogle over, plus a slew of diecast to acquire. If you go, let us know how it is...

Just Released: Ignition Models 1:43 NISSAN SKYLINE GT-R KPGC-110 (1973)...

1:43!?! C'mon Lamley, stick to your guns.

No, we haven't shown any 1:43 models before, and doing so now is not the result of a long series of meetings of the Lamley Board of Directors to determine whether this was a prudent direction for the brand. Plus, one of our board members, my dog, was more interested in barking at the dog a few houses down, and another board member, my 9-year-old daughter, kept interrupting to show me her latest gymnastics skills. Board meetings here at Lamley are very unproductive.

So we have to go back to the origins of Lamley, which was essentially an avenue for me to show what I want to show, and frankly, I really want to show this 1:43 model.

I was introduced to Ignition Models a few months ago when Carriage House Models made them available on their website. I was so impressed I even forked over a few dollars for a 1:18 scale Kenmeri Skyline.

For those of you not familiar, Ignition Models make small-batch resin-cast replicas of Japanese classic cars. They are among the most detailed 43-scale models there are (from what we are told), and the you can see in every little detail. Of particular note are the rims, which are so authentic that they require a separate license from the wheel manufacturers to reproduce. Double the license, double the fun. The Ignition experience extends beyond the cars themselves, which come mounted on leather bases with engraved plaques denoting the model and chassis code (and in the case of their 1:18-scale cars, the production number of each example.)

Since our first encounter with Carriage House, we have grown more and more interested in Ignition. The 1:18 scale Kenmeri is one of those must-see-to-believe models, and we have heard it is the same with all the others.

But 1:43 is more down our alley, so this black trim 1:43 Kenmeri really caught our attention, so...well...we ordered one. And it is on its way for a Lamley Board of Directors review.

Here is the thing. These are EXTREMELY limited. With typical production runs limited to 150-300 pieces, Ignition Models sell out quickly. Carriage House Models often receives only 2 to 3 examples of each model, so interested parties are advised to move quickly to secure their cars. You can find it here:

Ignition Models 1:43 NISSAN SKYLINE GT-R KPGC-110 (1973)

And there are more coming. We have already earmarked a Nissan 300ZX (Z32) that is set to be released later this year, and there is a ton more out.

So, yeah, 1:43. It might not happen a lot on Lamley, but you cannot ignore how fantastic these are...