One of the world's greatest names in the miniature model business will now be available in India. Automania, the importers for Minichamps have added Franklin Mint to their list of exclusive high grade models and the first two of these are depicted here.

Franklin Mint made its mark doing 1:24 and 1:18 scale models of great cars and motorcycles plus also of airplanes it was for years the standard bearer for the best among the mass produced miniature collectibles and was the one American model maker which everyone measured itself against. In recent years with the advent of firms like Minichamps, Paul's Model Art, CMC, GMP, Kyosho and Exoto to name some of the best in the business, Franklin Mint seemed to be floundering with its preponderance of doing just American cars and motorcycles. However given that the others have very few Yankee autos and bikes in their model portfolio, this gives Franklin Mint something of an eclectic standing among the model making fraternity.

The 1947 Harley-Davidson Fire Chief Servi-Car is a glorious rendition of a unique H-D utility machine created in large 1:10 scale. In fact, much of the thinking behind such a vehicle was also the basis for the Harley autorickshaws which plied in New Delhi for the better part of half a century! One just has to zero in on the details of this machine to see how finely crafted this bike is. In fact this is a limited edition piece from Franklin Mint, my unit being No. 1299 out of 5000 units for worldwide distribution.

The second model featured is an even greater American icon that truly revolutionized personal mobility the world over. Made using over 100 separate components and with terrific attention to detail this car is a very rare one with a production run of just 1500 units worldwide. In fact, the certificate that accompanied my model denotes it as No. 26 out of 1500. Possibly a rarity given that the actual model it is based on was produced to the tune of over 15 million over its life span!