Birth of new 1/43rd standards

AMR official history starts on april 1st of 1975 with the release of the Porsche RSR turbo Le Mans 1974. 1200 samples, hand built in the kitchen of the family.

Fast rewind: André-Marie Ruf was born in 1946. Growing up, he drew and then sculpted cars in plasticine. As an adult, he started collecting the models of the great industrial modelcar makers: Dinky Toys, Solido, Corgi Toys, Norev etc. And conceived the same frustration as collectors of the time: the news of motorsport is not really followed by manufacturers. In the early 1970s, he joined a club of scale models. He discovered the sintofer there and learns to use candles to deform the plastic of the NOREVs to create on 1/43 the cars seen in magazines or on tracks. A few months after the 1974 24 Hours of Le Mans, he presented his vision of the Le Mans Porsche Turbo to the club. Instant success: most members wanted one. So he left his job at Renault and, with the help of his wife Marie-Claude, founded AMR. Production began in the apartment kitchen. With a never-changed credo: to make quality, whatever the price.

Keep in mind early 1970’s is a period of history when no 3d printer was around, no tutorials on youtube. In other words, Everything had to be invented or improved from the existing standards. At the time, John Day kits were the pinacle of the craftsman ship.

Undercover kit producer

In 1976, André-Marie Ruf and his team (his wife and his mate Francis Bensignor), starts producing kits on commission, along with the AMR range. A very welcomed additional income for the young AMR company.

The very first is a Maserati Tipo 151 for french shop Manou Le Mans. The most famous will remain the BAM-X kits. BAM standing for Boutique Auto Moto, a modelcar shop in Paris.

Less AMR, more X

The arrival of Jean-Perre Viranet in the team allows the launching of a new range dedicated to single seaters (see pic below).

It will grow up to reach half of the production figures of the young AMR company.

Andre-Marie Ruf keeps being focused on creating 1/43rd closed door models. The first kit officially released by AMR being the Ferrari BB 365 GT4 NART.

Not much detailed, but such a stance! And that’s what André-Marie is after, and will always be. Paying more attention to the body than to the interior. Cheating with the shapes, enhancing some curves to make the model looks like he feels it should be on 1/43.

The quality of the white-metal and the look of the modelcars offered by AMR raises awards and request of commissioning. The young german brand Minichamps is one of them.

Photoetching

To stay ahead of its competitors, AMR constantly innovates. The level of detail on each new models increases. AMR is very likely the first to introduce photo etching in the modelcar « industry ». And, at the time, it’s nothing but groundbreaking.

First AMR-X model to benefit of this improvement is of course the Ferrari 250 GTO. The kit counts barely 40 parts but, in 1979, is considered as an unrivaled work of craftsmanship.

 

New standards for 1/43rd kit packaging

The return of the factory built

Since 1981, AMR was focused on the range of kits branded X. In 1984, the factory built are back. A baseplate is introduced, allowing the model to be manipulated safely. Of course, the box of the factory built gets bigger.

600 samples of the Ferrari California will be made. Only 165 of the Renault van in Martini livery. André-Marie Ruf was passionate about all kind of vehicles as far as they have « stance ». Sales figures of this van shows collectors did not share his point of view.

Big fish eat the little ones

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End of an era

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Mentos in diet coke

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Brand new start

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