I am guessing there must be collectors out there who are interested in the Chris Amon / Bruce McLaren / Denny Hulme era and who try to collect the cars those drivers raced — and not a bad idea either now that I think of it. With models of cars that relate to the beginnings of each individual driver's career this must be difficult as I surmise they are not available as models in many cases.

The Saxon model.

Partly solving this problem, the English company Saxon Models has produced an Austin Seven which was used in speed record attempts for its class in the early 1930s and someone in the company has commendably done their homework and discovered Bruce McLaren started his racing in one of these and they have produced a McLaren Special from the same casting, done out in his colours of the time (bright red). The car looks cute and is I presume reasonably accurate — I can find sketches but can't immediately find photos of the original. It doesn't look very stable for a car you would want to race in but it is such a great little colourful model I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few Club members were interested in this off-mainstream piece of McLaren history.

It comes a a kit or ready-built. I can't find any website reference for the maker, but they get a very good report for accuracy and detail from retailers. They seem to have some sort of relationship with the well known English makers, Marsh Models, and as such the model dimensions will therefore be exactly right. I hope the model sells well for them.

John MacGregor
November, 2006

[It might still be available in 2011 — check out http://www.marshmodels.com/modelList.asp — it is the very last entry on the page... Webmaster]
[No longer listed in 2014 but a google search turned up this page... http://www.marshmodels.com/Ask.php?subject=Austin%207%20Bruce%20Mclaren ]

The real McLaren Austin Seven