Ralph Lauren Home Introduces Scale Models of Lauren's Personal Classic Cars

No USA for me, Portugal, and i have already done a couple of jobs for other european countries, so Suitzerland it´s not a problem!!! In fact, just the other day, a carpenter that works with me went for a week to geneva to work on a house who was being remodeled..he told me that the local guys working there pretty much sucked, and that theyr work was not very well finished, he said even the materials were not very good...but that everything was very expensive over there...wichi´m not surprised with. I know France pretty well, and i know taht if you need a plumber to fix something, or a carpenter you will pay a fortune, and the work will be worst tha crap most of the times....that´s why we have so many carpenters and other people involved in construction working all over europe, because they are very skillfull and for a fraction of the price.

 

Ross, I may have a solution.
I like to collect Chokin art paintings.
My wife likes Chinese silk paintings.
She said I was getting too many.
So I bought her a couple of silk paintings.
Now she does'nt complain and once again there is peace in the house.
What does your wife collect ?
When you answer that question you may be able to take some of those models off of the top shelf.
And furoni won't need to build you a bigger house.
And he and jeremy-john can come over and visit !

 

Ross, I may have a solution.
I like to collect Chokin art paintings.
My wife likes Chinese silk paintings.
She said I was getting too many.
So I bought her a couple of silk paintings.
Now she does'nt complain and once again there is peace in the house.
What does your wife collect ?
When you answer that question you may be able to take some of those models off of the top shelf.
And furoni won't need to build you a bigger house.
And he and jeremy-john can come over and visit !

 

I bought a 1:8 scale Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 direct from Amalgam a few months back and it came direct to me from the Amalgam assembly plant in --- you guessed it --- China. Tracking numbers don't lie. So the Amalgams are already made in China and that probably includes the RL models as well.

 

I heard from a friend of mine who ponied up the bucks for an RL model, which was sold to him from a RL store (where it was on display) and he said that RL and Amalgam both told him that the model doesn't have a serial number or a certificate, though it does have 'RL' on the corners of the display case and a plaque saying it is from "The Ralph Lauren Collection". It also came with a glossy booklet containing the history of Amalgam.

 

including all RL collection are made in China, and have been for years now. Overall they are great models.

 

LOL ...i was joking of course, but is always cool to see nice displays made for car collections!

 

I have been selling fine model cars for 22 years. There was a time when 'Made in China' was frowned upon, especially by my Asian clients. Those days are long gone.....some of the greatest automotive miniatures are made there - or nearby - including CMC, AutoArt, GMP, etc. etc. Everyone needs to focus more on quality and less on heritage. The bottom line is, if these manufacturers could make these items for the same price in Germany, USA, etc. they would. But the simple fact is labor is cheaper AND skill set is HIGH. End of story. Regarding Amalgam nearly all of their employees are British...not that this really matters, the models are stunning and each new release gets better and better.

Check out the collection here - including the new McLaren P1, Lotus 49b, Aston Martin Vanquish, and very shortly, the LaFerrari, here:

Large Scale Models

Morry
ps- my new gallery is ready and is a vast improvement. Email for pix if you wish to see it.

 

They are made in China, but the image Amalgam and RL are projecting is that these models are assembled by skilled, seasoned craftsman in little cottages in the Cotswolds or someplace like that (see Honoring Amalgam Model Cars, and Highlights from the Americana Manhasset Concours d?Elegance | Vanity Fair), but my guess is they are actually made by vast armies of Chinese working for minimum wage in an assembly-line operation. That's fine, and I have no complaints about the quality, except that the packing is often quite slipshod, the clear tops of the display cases are covered with smudges and sometimes tape adhesive (which you ten have to clean and fix up yourself), and sometimes parts shake loose during shipping (There's a reason why Andy Mathews personally hand delivers all of his models to his customers). And the clear windows of the models can have very visible fingerprints on them, all of which are inexcusable for models at the prices they charge. AutoArt has much better quality control. I have a Amalgam Lambo Aventador and an Audi R8 road car.

I also have an RL/Amalgam Ferrari 250 LM and it's a GREAT model, with INCREDIBLE detail (the front hood opens and locks shut with full detail under the hood, the doors open and lock shut, and likewise for the engine cover, which also opens and locks shut: the model has full engine, suspension and cockpit detail) but the RL models no longer have serial numbers. My guess is that the models aren't selling, so RL is just selling off the current inventory and no more will be made. They can't say you have #5 of 99 if they can't even sell 10 of each model, so they have stopped numbering them. At least that's the only reason I can think of as to why they have stopped numbering them. The reasons they are not selling are probably (1)the price, $9,500 each; and (2)they are selling them in clothing/furniture stores, which means they are not marketed to hobbyist car model collectors who might have more of an inclination to cough up the money once they see the quality of the models, most of which have all open panels and doors and all of which have full engine detail.

See Ferrari 250 LM Safety Movie on Vimeo for details on the 250 LM. The other RL models also have videos on vimeo.

The thing that might push Amalgam prices down and quality up is the very welcome re-emergence of Pocher. Anybody who shells out $5K or more for an Amalgam Aventador from this point on is probably wasting at least $3500, since the first model Pocher is issuing is the Aventador. And the Pocher Aventador, unlike the Amalgam model, has all opening panels with full engine and suspension detail; it looks like a better model than the Amalgam, and pro-build pre-orders are selling for about $1500.

 

I've been browsing around looking at 1:8 scale models and I'm just confused what caused your opinion on models made in China to change from the first to second post? The first post appears to be incredibly misleading considering the lengths Amalgram seems to go to hide the fact that they're made in China and the fact I don't see it mentioned anywhere on your site either.

You might want to be a bit more transparent or people like me will buy from your competitors instead.

 

you have a very nice display!

 

destaccado - very interesting first post....let me know if you see anything on my site that you like. As you might know from looking around, the majority of my inventory cannot be found in stock under one roof...I have built this collection up over 22 years...

Morry

FChat sponsor

 

Any item with a designer's name attached to it has a simply ludicrous price markup, no thanks Ralph.

 

That Mclaren F1 GTR does look pretty special though!

 

I agree and I think they all look fantastic and are surely the highest quality, guess I'm just sad/mad that I cannot afford them.

 

superbe RL models