Learn the details about the Protar model motorcycle kits and how these little model racers made a big impact on future classics enthusiasts.
The opening scene to the 1967 movie classic The Graduate said it all. To set the stage, the main character, Benjamin Braddock (played by Dustin Hoffman), is approached at his college graduation party by a long-time friend of the family, Mr. McGuire (Robert Brooke), who gave advice to the new grad. McGuire’s pitch? In a word, “Plastics.” The future, he chided, rested in all things plastic. From cash (i.e., credit cards) to kitchen utensils to lawn chairs to scale model racing motorcycles to — wait, what?
Scale model racing motorcycles? Who really cares about them? Especially plastic scale model motorcycles.
Well, back in 1967, many Cycle World magazine readers cared about them. The June 1967 issue even featured an article about model kit maker Protar’s lineup featuring 1/9th-scale replicas of Grand Prix road racers — Mondial and Moto Morini 250 singles, Benelli 250 Four, Gilera 500 Four and the thundering Moto Guzzi 500 V-8 — that were sold by CW. The lineup expanded in subsequent issues to include other famous GP racers.
Each plastic model kit was composed of injection-molded color-coordinated parts that, when assembled, astonishingly resembled the real deal. Proper decals enhanced the authenticity to achieve a full-size likeness.
The kits themselves were developed by two-time Grand Prix road race champion Tarquinio Provini. The Moto Guzzi’s elaborate V-8 engine alone came in 46 individual parts that the builder glued together. Original tooling costs for each kit were in the same league as if building a real GP bike; Provini spent $21,000 for the Gilera’s tooling and about $30,000 for the Moto Guzzi V-8. No surprise, the single-cylinder kits required fewer parts and were considered to be the easiest to assemble by modelers.
But all the Protar kits boasted the same remarkable and intricate detail throughout. For instance, each bike’s suspension actually worked, and a pliable “drive chain” was held in place by “sprockets” that allowed the combination to rotate much like that on a real motorcycle. The model builder also had to “spoon” the tires onto the spoke-laced wheels. Fuel lines and brake and throttle cables were included.
B.R. Nicholls, who authored the Protar feature for CW, suggested this: “Making up (assembling) a Protar model … should be given just as much care as tuning a machine for the road. Then you will have a model to be proud of.”
The models that accompany this narrative were given such TLC by my brother, Alan Gingerelli, who assembled them “back in the day.” Surprisingly, the models that he assembled 50-plus years ago remain in his possession, surviving, as he said, “many (house to house) moves without much damage.”
Protar kits originally sold retail for $5.95 to $6.95. Similar plastic model kits were offered by several companies, including Revel, Pyro, Tamiya and Italeri, which was a spin-off of the original Protar banner. But with the exception of Tamiya and Italeri, few offered such life-like detail as the original Protar kits. Ol’ Mr. McGuire might have known more about Plastic’s future than we gave him credit for.
