The other day, after quite a journey from Russia, a rather unusual 1:43 (closer to 1:40) model landed, or more appropriately rolled onto my desk: the Lessner van from approximately 1909/1910. In fact, this van and others were produced under DMG license, and bore a strong resemblance to the 18 HP 1903 DMG-made Daimler “Hotelbus”, as well as to the mostly identical looking 9HP van manufactured in 1905/1906 by the DMG, described as a Daimler Geschäftswagen”, or commercial van.
The 1:43 model is handmade in Russia by Andranik Manukyan. He produces essentially 1:43 models of Russian vehicles, which are marketed under the brand MAL Studios, and this particular one is nothing but a very finely made reproduction of the original Lessner-van, as it was in service with the Treugolnik company of St.Petersburg.
Gustav Arnold Leßner (b. 1823 in Dresden, d. 1886 in St. Petersburg) founded his "Lessner Maschinenbaufabrik" in St. Petersburg in 1853.
His son Emil Gustav Arnold (b. 1861 in Dresden, d. date unknown) [see picture], expanded the company and fulfilled orders from the Imperial Russian Navy Department by building, among others, mine vehicles and self-propelled mines. The engines for the vehicles were ordered from Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft.
At some point, this business relationship between the DMG in Cannstatt and the Lessner company led to a license agreement on December 14, 1901.
From then on, and apparently until 1909/1910, the Company built Daimler vehicles under the Lessner brand, including this delivery van type, as well as
its own cars. In 1907, Tsar Nicholas II awarded Emil Gustav Anold Lessner the Grand Medal of the Sovereign Emperor "For the Establishment of Automobile Production in Russia."
Translated, the inscription on the top and bottom of the sides of the Lessner built Daimler-van identifies it as belonging to the: “Treugolnik Russian-American Rubber Manufacturing Company”, with the company’s triangular logo in the centre.
The Treugolnik Russian-American Rubber Manufacturing Company was founded in 1860 in St. Petersburg by the Hamburg merchant F. Krauskopf and partners. Called “Treugolnik” for short as of 1908, Treugolnik means “triangle”, thus the logo’s shape. It quickly became successful with the production of rubber overshoes aka. galoshes (10 Million pairs in 1910, 12 Million in 1912, 25% of that exported across Europe).
Its other products encompassed machine belts, valves, gaskets, pipes, insulation, medical instruments, bicycle tires and inner tubes, and it rapidly became fiercely competitive all across Europe with its successful Treugolnik car tires.
Its lot size in St. Petersburg was twice the space the Kremlin occupies in Moscow!
Over one hundred years ago, at the beginning of the 20th century, Treugolnik was in fact the largest rubber goods manufacturer in Russia and across the whole of Europe.
In 1918 the Company was nationalized and renamed Red Triangle (Krasny Treugolnik).
Today, the enormous property is a mix of abandoned buildings, small companies, garages, and rehearsal spaces for musicians. But mostly it is a decaying wasteland, a monument to the old industrialization of the city, ripe for redevelopment.
Then
Now
The Maybach DSH (1935) „Mobile saw”
From Autocult we have been used to extraordinary, unusual models since the beginning, but this model, which will appear soon, seems to take it to the next level.
Here the description of this unique vehicle from the Technik Museum Sinsheim: the Maybach DSH 1935 “Mobile saw”:
“This Maybach is in unrestored original condition. In the difficult period after the second World War, a mobile saw was made from the once proud representative vehicle to earn a living. The luxury car "misused" as a commercial vehicle is a Maybach DSH built in 1935, of which only 50 were built. The car now cost the then exorbitant sum of 25,000 Reichsmark. Powered by a 5.1 l 130 hp 6-cylinder engine, it once reached a top speed of 135 km/h. The owner until 1986 was Mr. Georg Ewald, who worked with the saw until old age. In his will, he decreed that he would donate the saw to the museum so that it would remain in its original state and not be restored.”
Ich musste mich am Kopf kratzen: Ist dieser "Actros" nun ein 1:43-Modell, oder ist es ein 1:43 Spielzeug ??
Von beiden Seiten und von hinten gesehen, ist es ein relativ gut gemachtes, wenn auch nicht gerade preiswertes Modell. Von vorne gesehen, aber es ist ein Spielzeug!
Tatsache ist, dass das Modell gefallen könnte, wäre da nicht eine völlig flache Front. Keine der zugegebenermaßen feinen Krümmungen des echten Actros wurde berücksichtigt. Wer auch immer der Hersteller ist, er ist weder ein Auto-Kenner, noch ein Modell-Sammler.Vielleicht ist es jemand, der nur für das Geld dabei ist?
Wie ich bereits schon einmal geschrieben hatte, das Bedauerliche ist, dass die Leute alles kaufen werden, solange ein Mercedes-Stern drauf ist! Aber ein "Stern" bedeutet noch lange nicht Genauigkeit der Umsetzung.
Für mich ist dieses Modell keiner seriösen Mercedes-Kollektion würdig, was bedauerlich ist...
Results of the survey
The collectors have spoken
About 70% of the responses I got back would like to see more car models made/offered from the period of 1900 to 1935, of these about half would like to see models from before 1900 up to 1925, and the other half from 1925 to 1935.(This category also includes the desire for early race cars).
Of the other 30%, 20% would love to see more trucks, buses, and emergency vehicles from the period from about 1886 to 1935/39.
The remaining 10% would like to see about equal numbers of post-war cars up to the 1970's, prototypes from the post-war period up to the present, and emergency vehicles. A few (2) responses were "everything."
The collectors have spoken!
From /von Matrix: the /der Mercedes-Benz ESF 13 (1972)
From Matrix we are soon getting a new 1:43 Mercedes-Benz model, the Experimental Safety vehicle ESF 13 from 1972.
Toward the end of the1960s, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) became increasingly concerned about the rising number of traffic fatalities on U.S. roads. In response, the DOT launched a program in 1968 that called for automakers to develop what it called Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESVs) (i.e., Enhanced Safety Vehicles). Two years later, in 1970, the first standards for occupant protection in ESVs were established, which included front, rear and side impact standards that were difficult for automakers to master, among other requirements.
Mercedes-Benz was one of several manufacturers to take up the challenge, and over the next four years the Stuttgart-based automaker built 35 ESVs (ESFs), based on five experimental models, all for the purpose of improving road safety [and, of course, of not losing the lucrative U.S. market].
The ESF 13 car, introduced in June 1972, was designed, in accordance with the requirements of the ESV, to withstand a frontal impact against a fixed obstacle or post at 80 km/h, a rear impact at 80 km/h and a vertical drop of 0.5 meters. Inside, occupants benefited from five three-point safety belts, equipped with force limiters to reduce injuries, and both front and rear seat passengers were further protected by airbags. The rear-seat airbags, which protected only the passengers seated on the outside, were installed in the oversized front seats, and to maintain rear legroom, the wheelbase was extended by 100 millimeters.
The ESF13 took all the lessons learned from the development of its predecessor, the ESF 05, and packaged them into a more palatable sedan body.
The front bumper, for example, was increased to 406 mm, yet the structure of the bumper barely protruded more than on conventional sedans of the time. The secret was in the packaging: Mercedes-Benz had redesigned the front and rear sections of the car, and a new front extension concealed the enlarged front bumper. In the event of an accident, both the front and rear bumpers were designed to slide under the car and absorb the impact energy without compromising the safety of the occupants.
As with the ESF 5, the ESF 13's biggest shortcoming was its weight. Changes to the front and rear body panels increased the overall length by 503 mm, while the additional sheet metal and safety structures added 703 kilos to the car's weight. Although the car looks more contemporary, it is likely that the weight and performance sacrifices would not have made the car competitive on the open market, but it did advance Mercedes-Benz's knowledge of how to build safer automobiles.
Militaria collectors will rejoice, scale model collectors less so: This Unimog S404 of the Swiss Army pulling a 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun behind him, is lacking one of the main characteristics of the Unimog, of ALL the Unimogs: the portal axles! Indeed, on this model that purports to be a typical Unimog high ground clearance truck, both front and rear axles lead right through the centers of the wheels, just like a plain ordinary truck.
For memory: Portal axles are an off-road vehicle suspension and drive technology where the axle tube or the half-shaft (3) is off-set from – usually above – the center of the wheel hub (2) and where driving power is transferred to each wheel via a simple gearbox (1), built onto each hub. Compared to a normal axle layout, portal axles enable the vehicle to gain a higher ground clearance, as both the axle tube and differential casing are tucked up higher under the vehicle.
I am surprised to see such a problem, particularly on a 1:43 model with a retail price of 199 CHF (ca. USD 221.50 or 184 €).
The reproduction of a portal axle in 1:43rd scale has already been mastered years ago by model suppliers such as NZG, Schuco and Minichamps with their Unimog S404 Bundeswehr trucks, to name just those three.
The model is part of the ACE Arwico Collectors edition, and it is sold in Switzerland by the “Hobby Shop Hässig” in CH-5610 Wohlen. Website: https://www.hobbyshop.ch/unimog-s404-mit-l-flab54-1-43-85.005517.html
ACE Arwico produces only models of Swiss vehicles, or such that are being used in Switzerland.
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