Minichamps

Minichamps is a diecast car  producer founded  in Aachen, Germany , best known for its 1:43 scale models.

History
The first Minchamps car was created in 1990, it was a 1:43 scale DTM 1990 Audi V8 driven Hans-Joachim Stuck, The German Touring Car Champion. By 1995 Minichamps were making over 100 cars and sponsoring real racing cars. In 1996, Minichamps made Formula 1 models, Then starting making Street cars and 1:12 Motorbikes and Buses.

The excellent quality of Minichamps die-cast models has been appreciated by car manufacturers, many of whom, like Mercedes-Benz , Audi , Porsche , Volkswagen, Opel and BMW , have licensed it to produce official promotional replicas for there official websites. Additionally, model car collectors have sought out some of the company's 1/43 scale models paying very high prices. Possibly the best example is the  McLaren F1 GTR West Promotion model made for the  West cigarette company which trades for well over US $1000 on  eBay. Another rare item was the Michael Schumacher Benetton B195 #17 which was recalled after an error was found: it has been known to fetch over UK £1000.