There is almost a French civilian car in 1/35 styrene: LINK available from Bronco: Maybe someone could inform us about any external cosmetic differences (I know for sure that I can't !!) There is also the Citroën 11CV from Tamiya: LINK But we could of course use a few more for dioramas set in France / Robin

But for the "Traction Avant" we need some french criminals, maybe looking like a young Alain Delon or Jean-Paul Belmondo as figures: The originals Movie trailer Ah the old french movies of my youth...

Robin, the French licence-buit Fiat 500 Topolino a.k.a. Simca 5 is available from Tamiya : The Simca 5 is fitted with these "trafficators" : whereas those on the Topolino are usually located (when fitted) on the windshield pillars : IIRC, the front bumpers are different as well (2-part one on the Simca, 1-part on the Fiat when fitted). 1/35 French (and other nationalities) civilian cars of the 1930's are not really thick on the ground. Azimut has released some resin Peugeot 302 and 402. The Simca 5/Fiat 500 van variant has been released by DES Kit (resin) and Bronco. Wespe Models makes a Horch and a Skoda sedans.... H.P.

Thanks H.P. I had completely forgotten about the Tamiya kit, and I even have it in the stash I think Plus Models has some cars that could be considered civilian. JMP (not existing any more ?) had some Peugeots. There is also the Austin Tilly (Tamiya) which could possibly be given civilian "clothes", maybe working for Royal Mail ? / Robin

ICM has a Packard Twelve in 1:35.

Adding to the paddle: Simple statistics will help to solve Bill Cs problems… In 1931, 490,000 vehicles were registered in the Reich, in 1936 some 945,000 and 1939 1.4m*. In the 4 years while 70,000 170Vs were produced, only approximately 480,000 cars were newly registered in Germany. Not sure how many were scrapped, but for sure it were not many, and as such more than 14% of newly registered cars were newly produced 170V (Even deducting exports (German total export from 1935-1939 were below 150,000units and Opel was responsible for almost 50% of this)**, this was a common German car of the period by all means.) After all, comparing this small market with 900,000 vehicles produced by Ford in 1937 (mass production market, extraordinary second hand market, most bikes with the police force and state employed people rather than the common folks as in Germany)** is not helpful, as Bill stated himself. (200 vehicles/1000 USA vs. 10/100 inhabitants in Germany** - unit cost degression was nowhere to be seen but in the US in the early and mid 1920s auto industry with the above-seen effects in the 1930s). Our family owned a 170V pre-war, until a bomb destroyed it in Koln ‘44 or ’45, I got one old pic of it, once I find it, I’ll post it and we were an average Max Mustermann family. /Stefan Sources: * „MADE IN GERMANY“ – 125 Jahre Automobil Eine nicht nur statistische Rückschau, Münchner Statistik, 4. Quartalsheft, Jahrgang 2011, Adriana Wenzlaff, p20-23 ** Geschichte und Zukunft der deutschen Automobilindustrie, p 1-65

If I could just put in my two penn'orth; I think you have to get away from the thought of cars being that common pre-war in Europe. Of the "advanced" nations of Western Europe, Germany was by far the least mechanised. France had the highest number of motor vehicles per population. There was no correlation between the US experience of motor cars and Europe. None of my grandparents owned a car or could even drive. For the average working man, the bicycle was the form of transport he could afford. If slightly better off, he could manage a small motorcycle. The possession of ANY car meant you were doing pretty well, hence the Nazi design of the KDF (as the VW was known pre-war, as it was ordered by this Nazi organisation which promoted leisure activities for everyman). There were, no doubt old second hand cars about in some numbers which a worker with some mechanical nouse may keep running on a budget (like old Model T Fords in the US). Since there was a Ford plant in Germany, did this not produce cars for the German market, or was it only trucks? Opel of course was the German General Motors subsidiary, or was this post -war?

That's why bicycles were not requisitioned by French authorities in 1939 (contrary to other means of transportation). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel H.P.

Yep, but commom with German standards (as in terms of percentage of newly produced vehicles and registered ones) it was. We were a working class family and had one. Not belonging to the poor, but neither the rich. It would not have been common in the US by any standards, as you may see in my previous post. It also stated the use and importance of bikes in the German Reich in contrast to the US. See the two above mentioned books' statistics on this. The German second-hand market was miniscule (as there were not too many) by comparison to other markets with regard to the automotive industry. 1930 or so Ford plant in Cologne (well worth a visit, I was there 5 years ago) produced rather small numbers pre-war. It would be cool to have more of all kinds of pre WWII cars, but for a nice vehicle German car, the 170V is just perfect. Frenchys links will probably have some further numbers. /Stefan