PARA64 Plays the Sports Car Field with September Releases

In the 1/64 world of me-toos and bandwagons, it’s refreshing for a manufacturer to resist riding the coattails of another constructor’s casting. PARA64 has a charming way to find a void in the small scale universe and fill it with a very sensible creation. So while the MK2 Supra you see before you is an obvious oversight in premium replicas, the Cizeta V16T is downright outrageous in both its former absence and current execution in 1/64 scale.

The MK2 Supra, or Celica Supra, was a turning point for Toyota’s flagship performance coupe. I owned an ’81 Celica for a while and although it didn’t possess the pizzaz of the six-cylinder engine, it still drove like a truck. I also had an ’89 Supra that was a decent driver when the 7M-GE wasn’t overheating. The MK2, in my opinion, has the enviable assurance of hindsight making it a great car. All the qualities we’ve convinced ourself to love are there, including fender flares, pop-up headlights and a short rear deck/long hood layout. 

PARA64 once again captures the essence of the car in their very honest way. The car doesn’t appear fragile like some of the higher priced brands, but at the same time isn’t chunky and oddly proportioned. It’s a pocket car for the premium collector, if you will. A few notable things include mud flaps that are cast into the body and a B-pillar that’s part of the window plastic, but raised and tampo’d for added realism. I’m looking forward to adding this one to my collection.

Raise your hand if you think the Cizeta looks like a Diablo after you’ve had a few Four Lokos. It’s especially disorienting with the quad lights in the up position, almost recalling the face of the Wagon Queen Family Truckster. Blinking repeatedly while rubbing your eyes does not make it any better. The car, conceived by an automotive engineer and a music composer, is an amalgam of ideas that somehow work together. The designer, Marcello Gandini, saw it as a second chance to pedal a previously rejected Diablo design. While the front was acceptable, the rear was reworked by the aforementioned engineer, Claudio Zampolli. In true low volume production sports car fashion, the taillights were yoinked from elsewhere – in this case I believe the Renault Alpine GTA, but I’m not 100%.

I have never seen a Cizeta V16T in person, but I have studied many pictures (rather perplexing I might add). The first thing that caught my eye was how PARA64 captured the rear wheel arch. When I brought it up, Adrian was very proud of their work, stating it was a challenge to tuck the wheels inboard of the diecast body. He also mentioned there are very small lenses for the headlights and that the blue paint seen here was very hard to match, as it has a purple base coat. 

While no doubt there will be some scrutinizers looking at these images with their finest magnifying glasses, please keep in mind that these are the first color samples and subject to improvements as necessary. They’re slated to be released in September along with a handful of other recolors of two previously released castings.

Find all previously released PARA64 models on eBay.

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