Trevor Wright Mercedes-Benz W196 1954 F1 Car Hand Made/Painted White Metal Model

1954/5 Mercedes-Benz W196 Grand Prix Car made by Trevor Wright (TW) Models as part of his “Brands Hatch” range - Motor Racing in the 1950s series.

1:40 scale (10cm long) painted and assembled white metal model. Painted in silver with black detailing for the front grille and side vents, silver side exit exhaust, glazed windscreen. The cockpit has a blue painted seat and 4-spoke steering wheel with brown rim. The static model sits on cast metal wire wheels with black rubber tyres. The base of the has an embossed “TW” logo.

1 of 2 available.

The Mercedes-Benz W196 (sometimes written as the Mercedes-Benz W 196 R) was a Formula One racing car produced by Mercedes-Benz for the 1954 and 1955 F1 seasons. Successor to the W194 300 SL sportscar and to the W195 1500cc supercharged V12 concept, in the hands of Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss it won 9 of 12 races entered and captured the both world championships in which it competed.

Firsts included the use of desmodromic valves and Daimler-Benz developed mechanical direct fuel injection adapted from the DB 601 high-performance V12 used on the Messerschmitt Bf 109E fighter during World War II.

The 3-litre 300 SLR was derived from the W196 for the 1955 World Sportscar Championship season. Its crash at Le Mans that year ended not only its own short-lived domination but also spelled the end for the W196. Mercedes pulled out of competitive racing in 1955 and did not return for another three decades.

Attractive as the streamlined “Monza” body was, it was really only suited to high-speed tracks made up of straights and slow corners, leading to defeat at its second race, the British Grand Prix at the high-speed corner dominated Silverstone circuit, where Fangio hit a number of oil barrels that marked out the circuit. A conventional open-wheel-version was introduced for the most important race on the calendar for Mercedes, the German Grand Prix at the twisty and long Nürburgring. Fangio, who had already won the first two GPs of 1954 with a Maserati in his home city of Buenos Aires and at Spa, won this and the two following GPs in Switzerland with the 'open wheel' version and Italy, as said, on the closed-wheel streamlined 'Type Monza', securing his 2nd World Championship.

At the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, the last race of the 1954 season the low-mounted Mercedes air-intake clogged with leaves, costing the race to Mike Hawthorn in a Ferrari, and leading to the intake's relocation atop the hood.

In the shortened 1955 Formula One season, abbreviated after the Le Mans disaster, the W196 won every race except the Monaco Grand Prix, where Hans Herrmann crashed in practice and the other three team Mercedes cars failed to finish. A highlight for driver Stirling Moss was his finish 0.2 seconds ahead of stable mate Fangio at his home event, the British Grand Prix, his first GP win, a race where Mercedes romped home with a 1–2–3–4 finish.

After capturing the two world championships it competed in, Mercedes withdrew from motorsport at the end of the 1955 season. Despite its strong reliability and good track performance, drivers Fangio and Moss described the car in MotorSport magazine as being "a bit difficult to drive, with a tendency for snap oversteer". Moss also later said that "I'm surprised that the Merc wasn't a little bit easier to drive, because it wasn't. It was a driver's car, but not an easy car to drive." Fangio shared similar feelings, also saying in MotorSport Magazine in 1979 that the car was "not so nice to drive as a Maserati 250F, but you were almost sure to finish. So the Mercedes was incredible in that way." 1970s/80s Formula One driver John Watson drove the W196 at Hockenheim, providing some insight as to why the car was difficult to drive. He said that "if you gave this car wider and grippier tyres and altered the suspension to suit, then the handling would be of a very high order indeed." The W196 was so advanced and ahead of its time, that the narrow tyres available at the time simply could not fully handle the car's exceptional performance and potential.

Trevor Wright

Responding to the needs of amateur builders, Trevor Wright’s TW range has contributed to the revival of the craft side of the industry, whereby he has developed simple artisan examples produced in his own home. Wasn’t that where the early pioneers came in?

Trevor’s childhood recollections are not so much of Dinky Toys to start with, but of military figures. He recalls that soon after the Second World War, his parents took him to the renowned Hamleys toy shop in Regents Street, and he fell in love with the Skybirds range of soldiers. They were all made to 1:72 scale; a six foot man then becomes 1”. Skybirds had originally started manufacture in the 1930s.

In due course, Trevor’s most treasured possessions became his Dinky Toys, but as he approached entry into National Service, his toys were all packed away, and largely forgotten about. However, he does recall a visit to Ireland with Royal Air Force colleagues, and spotting a Dinky Toys military Quad field gun set, and with heavy encouragement from his friends, he bought it for 12/6d.

On returning to ‘civvy street’ Trevor took his experience in Air Traffic Control from Germany to Gatwick, and finally switched to the commercial operator, British United Airways, followed by British Caledonian Airways.

Come 1969, Trevor had begun selling military Dinky Toys, and he recalls being contacted by the Army who were seeking a wider range of military recognition models. In the training room at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, tables were laid out with sand, and he recognised dozens of Denzil Skinner’s tanks of all nations. Trevor agreed to supply the army with chipped Dinky military vehicles, which they then sprayed all over with desert sand paint.

In due course, he found that he had amassed a considerable collection. He had discovered the model car press, replied to 3 advertisements, and realised that there was money to be made from prudent purchasing. He borrowed £200 from his father, and with this backing, in six months had built up a 5 page list, and repaid the loan. His trading included regular advertisements in Modellers’ World magazine, and the swapping of 45 RPM records with a French dealer in French Dinky Toys.

Trevor soon became friends with dealer Bryan Garfield Jones, and together they would visit the Windsor swapmeet, where he met Mike and Sue Richardson. As Bryan’s range of Motorkits took off, Trevor was able to supply him with a few diecast models from European makers to be used as patterns for his white metal ranges. These included the Tekno MGA coupe, Volvo PV544, and others.

During the 1970s Trevor was writing regularly for Modellers’ World, and Model Collector, on military vehicles, his first love.

By 1980 he decided that he wanted to make models for his own collection. He then set about teaching himself to cast using rubber moulds, and passed on much of his knowledge to friend Ian Law, founder of PP Copy Models, making replicas of earlier toys. Retirement from his job as an aviation overseas manager arrived in 1986, and Trevor began his creative work with a number of 1:76 scale trucks, including the Canadian pattern Chevrolet, calling them Military Motors. A few years later, he was approached by Chris Fruin, of London Toy Soldiers, asking if he would make a range of soldiers for him. Trevor switched to 1:32 scale, and at his request, focussed on the Royal Medical Corps, creating a number of boxed sets of figures in action, all depicting First World War poses. These included rather large military vehicles, such as tanks, ambulances, etc.

Post retirement business blossomed, and a strong association was built up with London Toy Soldiers. Unfortunately, in 1993, financial difficulties caused Chris Fruin’s business to close down, leaving Trevor with many unsold kits.

However, another love for Trevor, came to the rescue. At a Kempton Park toy fair his interest in racing cars, led him to spot that the Dinky 23 series and Crescent ranges omitted some important historic cars, such as the Ferrari Squalo, and Alfa Romeo Bimotore.

Using his innovative approach, he first took moulds from existing castings, and then adapted them, with plasticene, cardboard, paper clips, and matchsticks and in true ‘Blue Peter’ fashion, any other materials that would create the desired effect. This provided the masters, from which moulds could then be used to cast new models in white metal. And so a Ferrari Squallo was born, and 5 were sold very quickly!

Through the 1990s, and with the assistance of publicity in journals such as Classic & Sports Car, Trevor realised that 1:43 scale was the universally recognised scale for model cars, and in 2000 talked with Mike and Sue Richardson about their views on him reproducing copies of some of the cars they had modelled in their ranges. Using their original as a pattern, he first made the Squire.

Further exposure in Octane magazine, and Rev Counter, the journal of the Austin Healey club, led Trevor to create new subjects of cars never before modelled, including the range of Healeys made by the Healey Motor Company.

A few famous people have models in their collections made from Trevor’s kits, including the late American singer Frankie Laine, David Coulthard and Sir Stirling Moss.

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