NAMAC members show many thousands of miniature cars

This year NAMAC is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary with a huge miniature car exhibition from 1 July to 9 August 2015 at the Louwman Museum.

Jhr. Gijs van Lennep opened the Jubilee Exhibition of NAMAC, the Dutch General Miniature Car Club, on Tuesday 30 June at the Louwman Museum in The Hague. By placing an exclusive scale model of the Porsche 917 in a display case where this miniature was still missing, Van Lennep performed the opening act in front of a large audience.

The miniature with which Van Lennep completed the exhibition is a 1:18 scale model of the Porsche 917 with which he won the legendary 24 hour race of Le Mans in 1971. In that race he and his teammate Helmut Marko set a distance record (5,335.313 km in 24 hours) that remained unbroken until 2010. Incidentally, Van Lennep won the 24 hour race of Le Mans once again in 1976. That year he won the race with a Porsche 935, of which, of course, a miniature can also be admired at the NAMAC Jubilee Exhibition.

The anniversary exhibition comprises no fewer than 112 display cases, which are set up in the Great Hall and the Toyoda Hall of the Louwman Museum. Members of Europes largest association of miniature car collectors each present various aspects of their hobby, each with their own theme. The club also displays historical objects and documents from its rich history.

Each display case has been arranged by a different NAMAC member, so that all kinds of collecting themes are represented. After all, there is much more than the proverbial Dinky Toys and plastic model kits. The exhibition gives an idea of how broad the miniature car hobby is, although it cannot be completely comprehensive in that aim.

Collectors give their own twist to the hobby. Many NAMAC members build, convert and restore their models themselves. Numerous examples of this can also be admired at the Jubilee Exhibition. Naturally, the display cases are filled with miniature cars, trucks and other vehicles from all kinds of manufacturers, car brands and scales – from Dinky Toys to Matrix, from the Model T Ford to the Toyota Prius, from garbage trucks to race trucks and from police cars to race and rally cars.

But there is also an impressive scale model of the former Citroen building at Stadionplein in Amsterdam to admire, as well as intriguing paintings of Dinky Toys that clearly show children have played with them, and models of cars from songs, for the ultimate childhood nostalgia...

Catalog

At the Anniversary Exhibition, NAMAC is publishing a catalog in which the club and the participants in the exhibition provide background information on all the beautiful items on display. Of course, NAMAC members will also be present every day to tell visitors even more about this wonderful hobby and to gladly answer any questions they may have.