The Porsche 911 is often derogatorily referred to as a Beetle. This one, however, is related to a completely different boy band.
Les Charlots (“the clowns/idiots”) was a French comedy troupe popular in the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, but technically still active until 1997, and briefly between 2008 and 2011. At their height there were 5 members: Gérard Rinaldi, the good looking crooner, Jean Sarrus, the short funny guy with the moustache, Gérard Filipelli, the tall blond one, Luis Rego, the sarcastic Portuguese one, and Jean-Guy Fechner, the tall one with the bushy beard. Their style was light-hearted and absurd, with definite influences by the Marx Brothers.
In the 1970s they appeared in 9 films. The first was considered terrible, while the last 8 were world-wide successes. Their 1973 film Le Grand Bazar is today’s topic, as they used the 1973 Tour de France Automobile race to promote the film with the 911 RS 2.7 you see here.
The Tour the France Automobile was a road race ran in France between 1899 and 1986 in 7 stages. Some of our favorite French drivers won it over the years, including Gérard Larrousse, Michèle Mouton, and Jean Ragnotti. In 1980 the race was incorporated into the European Rally Championship. After it went extinct in 1986 the race was renamed the Auto Tour in 1992 as a 5-day event for historic cars, combining 2500km of roads, 4-5 circuit races, and 6-8 hill climbs.
In 1973 Italian Sandro Munari won the Tour in a Marlboro liveried Lancia Stratos HF. The #103 “Le Grand Bazar,” driven by Hervé Bayard (winner of the French Hillclimb Championship in 1970) and co-driven by René Ligonnet was unfortunately one of the 45 cars out of 77 starters who did not make it to the end.
I haven’t seen the film, thought now I’m definitely intrigued, but I was drawn to this livery as soon as I saw it on one of my many ebay searches for “Porsche 1/43" over the last few years. When it popped up on Replicarz black friday sale I promptly notified my family secret santa, and voila! Christmas day it showed up!
I don’t need to tell you guys how much I enjoy TSM models, both 1:43 and 1:18, and you’ll be happy to know that this example does not disappoint! Details are excellent, she features many delicate accessories like the windshield wipers, mirror, and electricity cutoff switch, and decals are amazing. Just look at that insane little “2.7" grille badge!
I’m super stoked to have this bizarre but ultra-seventies livery in my 1:43 collection!
