Category: Silberpfeile

And now I’m disappointed with Minichamps 😣

Well, being honest, it’s more like I’m mad at them. A couple of weeks ago I discovered that the brand released quite a few new Silberpfeile. Since models of the Silver Arrows are pretty rare, I was really happy. I even posted about them – though, at the time, I wasn’t aware about the Typ A “Langheck” #1 below. However, since then I had the time to look them over in more detail. And after some research, I was pretty upset with what I found.

Typ D Stromlinie #18 – 1935 French Grand Prix (R. Hasse) – #410382018

Above is one of the new models. Auto Union arrived at Reims in 1938 with two new D streamliners and two old Typ C. Unhappily, during practice two cars crashed. For race day the team decided to use the two remaining chassis without the streamliner body. Therefore, the two cars that raced were a mishmash of both Typ D and C with a somewhat open body. Here you can see the starting grid – the three Mercedes W154 in front and the two Auto Unions (#16 and #20) right behind. From the pic you can see that the Auto Unions did NOT have a streamliner body. Besides, Rudolf Hasse piloted car #20, and not #18. And as you see on the model’s plinth, Minichamps also got the year wrong 🙄.

Typ A Langheck #1 – 1934 ADAC Eiffelrennen (H. Stuck) – #410342001

The Typ A #1 above is the other model in the same boat. At the 1934 Eiffel race (June 3rd), all three Typ A were short tails (Kurzheck), and not long tails (Langheck). Not a perfect angle, yet you can see Stuck’s #1 Kurzheck in the Eiffelrennen here. The Typ A Langheck was only used at the AVUS-Rennen on May 27th, and the three cars were numbered #42, #44 and #46. Moreover, all three cars had “closed” front suspension. In summary, Minichamps royally botched the model.

So… Are these models worth having? HELL NO, they’re totally wrong 😤. I can’t believe it toke decades (!) for new Silberpfeile to come up and this is what we get. Yes, they do look very nice in terms of details and craftsmanship, yet they’re still wrong. In essence, “fantasy cars”. Nonetheless, I thought about moding them into something historically accurate. Though the Typ A Langheck is basically useless, maybe you could create a test car of the Typ D. A good and feasible idea, however Minichamps announced that they would release this car in the future (#410382000). Another idea would be to make the Reims practice car (before the crash), yet since there’s no photos of the cars before the race as a reference, that possibility is out.

So, in conclusion, Minichamps made a royal SNAFU. And yes, they really got my panties in a bunch here…

Auto Union’s Silberpfeile

After I found that old Grand Prix racing video I posted a few days ago, I stumbled upon this. This one is exclusively about Auto Union’s Silver Arrows. Almost 42 minutes long, the footage is pretty good. Yet, being quite old, it is far from the “movies quality” we’re currently used to. And of course, the race noises and tires screeching dubbed over the scenes are not exactly high quality…🙄 Even so, pretty nice for the Silberpfeil fan.

Golden Age of Grand Prix Racing

Though this has been on YouTube for many years, I first saw it last night. The original documentary is pretty old (80s, perhaps?), so the video quality is far from what we expect today. Even so, it’s a delightful 49 minutes about the Golden Era of Grand Prix racing. The last third part of the film is almost solely about the Silberpfeile, which of course was the best part in my opinion. In fact, this was the first time I saw color footage on the Silver Arrows. All in all, a very nice documentary about the Silberpfeile and something on their predecessors.

Richard Seaman – Britain’s forgotten ace pilot

Richard John Beattie-Seaman was more than probably England’s best racing driver of the 1930s. Despite that, his name is relegated to footnotes in history books. This 47 minute-long video by the Discovery Channel tells his story. A little bit over-dramatic at parts, and also not 100% historically factual, however a thoroughly delightful film. I really enjoyed seeing actual Golden Era race footage, specially of the 1937 Avusrennen.

All in all a very interesting window to the Silberpfeile and the Golden Era of GP racing.

The really first Silberpfeil

In January last year Jay Leno released a very interesting episode in his “Jay Leno’s Garage”. I talked about this car in the second part of my Silver Arrows series last month. This is the replica of the original 1932 Silberpfeil that Mercedes Benz built in 2019, and Jay Leno made a fantastic 28 minutes video about it. In this video was the first time I heard Mercedes admit that it wasn’t Alfred Neubauer who originally coined the term.

Historical origins aside, as usual, Leno produced a fantastic video that’s really worth the watch.