{"id":18966,"date":"2026-01-02T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/?p=18966"},"modified":"2026-01-02T11:10:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T14:10:29","slug":"top-5-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/02\/top-5-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 5 &#8211; 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"233\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/top5.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12966\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">I&#8217;ll be honest: I entertained the idea of <em>not doing<\/em> a Top 5 list this year. As you undoubtedly noticed, I&#8217;m very rarely showing new models \ud83d\ude25. A son studying abroad has the tendency to wipe away your toys &amp; candy fund. Moreover, like everything else, 1:43 models are each year more expensive, so that <em>complicate <\/em>things. Even so, right now the W-143 Garage counts on <strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-red-color\">584 <\/mark><\/strong>cool models \ud83d\ude0e! Okay, okay, there may be some not-so-cool ones in there and even some dogs, but <em>most<\/em> are cool. Since this year the new acquisitions were slimmer, it was easier to make the <strong>Top 5 Models of 2025 <\/strong>list (in chronological order):<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/+upload\/p-z\/peugeot_9x8_93_02.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:500px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/peugeot-9x8-93-spark\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2023 Peugeot 9X8 #93<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>1\ufe0f\u20e3 OBVIOUSLY, the 9X8. In my eyes the poster boy for the Hypercar era, even though that wingless design was a disaster, it looked cool af.  No doubt, perhaps THE most unique-looking car at La Sarthe in the last 30 years. And of course, a grail model for me.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/+upload\/a-h\/ferrari_499p_51_02.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:500px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/ferrari-499p-51-looksmart\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2023 Ferrari 499P #51<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>2\ufe0f\u20e3 Perhaps I may have mentioned before that I&#8217;m not a great Maranello fan \ud83e\udd14? Yeah, maybe once or twice&#8230; \ud83d\ude02 Well, I may not like the brand very much but they have two important things going for them. First, Ferrari has some VERY gorgeous cars. And second, they have <em>history<\/em>, which for me is paramount. And in this case, 50 years in the making.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/+upload\/porsche\/race911\/porsche_911_hoonipigasus_43_04.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:500px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/porsche-911-svrsr-hoonipigasus-43-spark\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2022 Porsche 911 SVRSR \u201cHoonipigasus\u201d #43<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>3\ufe0f\u20e3 The Hoonipigasus is for sure one of the wackiest racecars I&#8217;ve ever seen. Something that for any rational purpose, shouldn&#8217;t exist. Yet, thankfully to some individuals that think <em>&#8220;Why not?&#8221;<\/em>, it exists and I have it in the W-143 Garage. It&#8217;s one of those models that you have to know the history behind it to fully appreciate it.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/+upload\/a-h\/chevrolet_camarozl1_24_04.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:500px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/chevrolet-camaro-zl1-24-tsm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2023 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 #24<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>4\ufe0f\u20e3 A NASCAR racing at La Sarthe? For 24 hours \ud83e\udd28? Sounds like a publicity stunt&#8230; Well, it was, but a VERY cool publicity stunt. The last time that happened was in 1976, also as a publicity stunt. The difference is that none of the 1976 NASCAR cars finished, and the ZL1 #24 finished in 39<sup>th<\/sup> place. And it came in first in its (one car) class. Helluva good publicity stunt if you ask me.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/+upload\/p-z\/peugeot_205t16_3_04.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:500px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/peugeot-205-t16-3-ixo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1985 Peugeot 205 T16 #3<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>5\ufe0f\u20e3 In my eyes, the 205 T16, along with the Audi Quattro and Lancia S4, are THE best Group B cars ever. It took a long time for me to add one to the W-143 Garage, but in June I finally got one. Nowadays, these models are HTF and usually expensive, but a gorgeous model from Ixo, very well represented in 1:43. So of course, one of my rally grails.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ll be honest: I entertained the idea of not doing a Top 5 list this year. As you undoubtedly noticed, I&#8217;m very rarely showing new models \ud83d\ude25. A son studying abroad has the tendency to wipe away your toys &amp; candy fund. Moreover, like everything else, 1:43 models are each year more expensive, so that &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/02\/top-5-2025\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Top 5 &#8211; 2025&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,21,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collectors-corner","category-miscellaneous","category-model-review"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18966"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18996,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18966\/revisions\/18996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}