ren16tx wrote:love the R16 models!! and the black DS23 !
When Norev released the DS, it first came in this green metallic that makes split pea soup look good, then in brown, then in blue.
I said from the beginning that I want mine in black. I found the limited edition purely by coincidence. It was commissioned by the French diecast online shop Les Tacots and has been produced in a series of 1000 examples. You just have to be lucky sometimes.
However, the grey R16 seems to be even more obsure and likely even fewer were produced. It was commissioned by Renault Germany and sold through their dealer network. However, few found the colour appealing and hence reception was lukewarm to say the least. Not many were ordered. I bought it simply on the grounds that my father had one exactly in this colour.
Now, there is rumor that Renault France commissioned a black one, to be sold through the French Renault dealers. If I manage to get one of those, I'll pass the grey one on to my father as a gift.
My goal is to re-create an imaginatry 'Deuxieme Bureau' fleet through the decades, hence I am after black examples like the devil is after the soul.
Imagine the following lineup:
15CV/Fregate/403
DS19/blank/404
DS23/R16/504
CX/R30/505
XM/R25/605
And all these in black in the same display cabinet! The automotive history of the French secret service through six decades.
The OTTO TX is quite recent. You may still be able to catch one. Their models are also very limited and made from resin, i.e. polyurethane plastic.