u/Bortron86

Got this about 18 months ago, about 31000 miles on it (I've only added about 4000 of those). It's the third Focus I've had, after a Mk1.5 and a Mk2 that I loved but were getting expensive to keep running.

I then couldn't find a Focus in my price range so got a Citroën C4, and it was... a car. It got me around. But I felt no joy driving it. It had worse body roll than the SS Eastland. When that too started falling apart, I started having a brief look around and this Focus was the very first car I saw on a major car supermarket site. Booked a test drive right away, while looking around to check it was a good deal, which it very much was. The test drive was a formality.

I've just never driven a Focus and not been impressed by the handling, the smooth drive, and pretty much everything else. This one has the 1.5l EcoBoost engine, which is perfect for what I need and gets me much better mileage than my 1.6l Citroën, while having plenty more power. And zero turbo lag. And the colour is gorgeous, especially with the body kit. If I was buying new I wouldn't have chosen an ST-Line, but the spoilers etc. do look good.

My only minor quibbles: the boot is smaller than older models; the fuel tank is similarly small; and the Focus still doesn't have a driver's window button that will return it all the way up with one pull of it.

I posted my 1:18 collection the other day, and mentioned I was still missing the final two pieces: Nigel Mansell's Ferrari 640 or 641, and Damon Hill's Williams FW18. Thanks to some leads from u/xieem, and some determined eBaying, I finally managed to find one of each.

Mansell's 641 from Mexico in 1990, when he pulled off possibly the greatest pass in F1 history, and Hill's FW18 from France in 1996. The latter isn't perfect, as French law wouldn't allow even the Racing logos to replace Rothmans, and the Black Tower logo is abaent from the nose. But hey, that's a minor quibble, and it means I don't have to apply 30+ cigarette logos by hand.

I've now put all my Mansell and Hill models on the most prominent shelf, as my biggest heroes. The rest are in chronological order still, and I've added some closer shots of all of them.

A small number of these are from my teenage years, but most have been bought over the last 3-4 years. Variety of manufacturers, mostly Minichamps but a few from MCG, Premium X, Bburago, and Werk83. I have a few 1:24 and 1:43 models, but 1:18 has always been my favourite scale. I've tended to go for cars that are championship winners, significant/debut race winners, cars of favourite drivers (Mansell, Hill, Button), or just interesting/cool in some way.

I'm only waiting on two white whales to complete the collection: Nigel Mansell's Ferrari 640 or 641, and Damon Hill's Williams FW18. The Mazda and Ferrari Le Mans winners on the bottom row are placeholders for now. Mansell's Indycar will stay.

Can't remember all the exact grands prix these cars were based on, but where I can remember I'll specify them.

Top Row
Mercedes W196, Sterling Moss, 1955 British GP.
Ferrari 156, Wolfgang von Trips, 1961 Dutch GP.
Lotus 49, Jim Clark, 1967 US GP.
Lotus 72D, Emerson Fittipaldi, 1972.
Tyrrell 006, Jackie Stewart, 1973.
McLaren M23D, James Hunt, 1976.
Tyrrell P34, Jody Schekter, 1976 Swedish GP.

2nd row
Ferrari 312T2B, Niki Lauda, 1977.
Lotus 79, Mario Andretti, 1978.
Ferrari 312T4, Jody Schekter, 1979 Monaco GP.
Renault RS10, Jean-Pierre Jabouille, 1979 French GP.
Ferrari 126C2, Gilles Villeneuve, 1982 Belgian GP (qualifying).
Brabham BT52B, Riccardo Patrese, 1983 South African GP.

3rd Row
Tyrrell 012, Stefan Bellof, 1984 Monaco GP.
Toleman TG184, Ayrton Senna, 1984 British GP.
Lotus 97T, Ayrton Senna, 1985 Portuguese GP.
McLaren MP4/2B, Alain Prost, 1985 Monaco GP.
Williams FW11, Nigel Mansell, 1986.
Lotus 99T (dirty), Ayrton Senna, 1987 Monaco GP.

4th Row
Jordan 191, Michael Schumacher, 1991 Belgian GP.
Williams FW14B, Nigel Mansell, 1992.
[Newman-Haas Lola T93/00, Nigel Mansell, 1993.]
McLaren MP4/8, Ayrton Senna, 1993 European GP.
Williams FW16, Damon Hill, 1994.
Benetton B194, Michael Schumacher, 1994 Canadian GP.

5th Row
Benetton B195, Johnny Herbert, 1995 British GP.
Ferrari F300, Michael Schumacher, 1998 San Marino GP.
McLaren MP4/13, Mika Hakkinen, 1998.
Williams FW21, Alessandro Zanardi, 1999.
Williams FW22, Jenson Button, 2000.
BAR 006, Jenson Button, 2004.

6th Row
Williams FW26, Ralf Schumacher, 2004.
McLaren MP4-22, Lewis Hamilton, 2007.
McLaren MP4-23, Lewis Hamilton, 2008 Brazilian GP.
Brawn BGP 001, Jenson Button, 2009 Brazilian GP.
Mercedes W11 (dirty), Lewis Hamilton, 2020 Turkish GP.
Alpine A521, Esteban Ocon, 2021 Hungarian GP.

7th Row
Ferrari F1-75, Carlos Sainz Jr., 2022 British GP.
Mercedes W13, George Russell, 2022 Brazilian GP.
McLaren MCL38, Lando Norris, 2024 Miami GP.
Mercedes W15, Lewis Hamilton, 2024 British GP.
[Mazda 787B, Herbert/Gachot/Weidler, 1991 Le Mans]
[Ferrari 499P, Calado/Giovinazzi/Pier Guido, 2023 Le Mans]

I bought this in my teenage collecting era, in around 2000 (definitely before Zanardi's Lausitzring crash), solely because I loved how that Williams looked, but if they'd had Ralf's car available too I'd have probably got that one instead. But after 2001 I was never going to let this one go. He was an amazing guy.

It's one of only a handful from that collecting era that survived unscathed, as I was not great at looking after my collection back then. Although they're not in cases so I can fit more onto the shelves, I'm much more careful nowadays. Although yes, the wheels in particular get very dusty.

Seriously, what was the plot? Who were any of the characters? Who were they shooting at all the time? Is there anything Joe Estevez won't do for money? Why all the Frasier title cards? WHYYYYY?!

From Blood Waters of Dr. Z and Fishin’ with Rifftrax.

From Blood Waters of Dr. Z and Fishin' with Rifftrax.