Here’s another “how to” post, improving one of the quite basic Onyx Indycar models to enhance its appearance, in this case Michael Andretti’s Newman-Haas Lola from the 1995 Indy 500. Essentially, the process is pull it apart, clean it up, do some detail painting, remove the front axle and re-assemble.
The Car
1995, the last year for CART teams racing at the Indianapolis 500, just prior to the CART/IRL feud that split open-wheel racing in America. The ’95 500 was famous for an opening lap crash (Stan Fox breaking the front off his car) and Jacques Villeneuve’s win, despite a 2-lap penalty for passing the pace car.
The subject of this post is Michael Andretti’s Newman/Hass Racing Lola T95-00 powered by a Ford-Cosworth XB turbocharged V8 engine. Andretti qualified the car fourth and led 45 laps of the race, but retired with bent suspension after brushing the wall while avoiding another car, to be classified 25th.
The Model
1/43 diecast by Onyx, item number 263 (though there is no identification number on the box). Onyx were trying to pass this model off as 1995, but the casting was their 1994 Lola which wasn’t accurate to begin with. So, while the decoration is 1995, most other detail is either wrong or poorly done, which was typical for the time with Onyx.
The model had proven quite elusive. I have no idea on production numbers or distribution, but I could not find one in Australia. While there are plenty of Michael Andretti Newman/Hass cars around, I could never find the 1995 version. Thankfully this popped up on eBay in the UK at a good price.
The Enhancement Job
This was a pretty quick job, all done in a day. As a point of note, I enhanced the sister car to this, Paul Tracy’s Budweiser Lola, a few years back. See that HERE.