AUTOart In-depth: Wangan Midnight Blackbird Porsche 930 • DiecastSociety.com

AUTOart In-depth: Wangan Midnight Blackbird Porsche 930

Wangan Midnight (湾岸ミッドナイト) is a Japanese manga comic series written and illustrated by Michiharu Kusunoki. The story has its roots in the street racing culture centered on the Bayshore Route of Tokyo’s Shuto Expressway. “Wangan” (literally bayshore in Japanese) is the longest, straightest road in Japan. Because of the road traffic to contend with, including a fair number of heavy trucks, the racing action is inherently hazardous and wrecks are common. Blown engines are also a frequent hazard among the extremely high power engines.

In the story, Tatsuya Shima (島達也 Shima Tatsuya?), a doctor, in his black Porsche 930 Turbo, dubbed the “Blackbird.” He is the main rival of Akio Asakura driving his Nissan Fairlady Z regularly gives him a challenge.

AUTOart once again faithfully replicates a famous vehicle from manga fiction, recreating the Blackbird exactly according to the comic series, down to the smallest details of the car.

The main features of this scale 1:18 Blackbird Porsche 930 die-cast model are below:

*Front and rear aero parts made according to the comic series
*Front large oil cooler
*Rear fender air-intake
*Aerodynamic door mirrors to reduce drag on high speed
*Low ground clearance
*18” 3-piece modular wheels and low-profile tires
*Large brake rotors
*Special license plate as shown in the comic
*Large turbo intercooler with big turbocharger
*Special dual exhaust pipes
*Safety roll bar inside the cabin
*Bucket seats with 4-point harnesses
*Sport steering wheel
*Center console with additional gauges
*Turbo boost gauge and adjustable boost knob

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9 Responses to "AUTOart In-depth: Wangan Midnight Blackbird Porsche 930"

  1. Mark says:

    Are really these Japanese fiction or tuning cars, which are appearing or are planned to show up, that miracle, which will save the profits for the manufactures ? I mean, am I the only one,who think they are getting really nuts, or I doesnt understand it completely ?

    • Robert says:

      There is a market for modified diecast cars. GMP has been doing it for years with their lines of muscle cars, Ertl/Autoworld does the same to a lesser extent. Movie cars (Vanishing Point, Bullitt, Fast & Furious…) and cars that were on TV also sell well (Dukes Of Hazzard, Batman…). So what’s wrong with AutoArt trying something like this once in a while? This model looks plenty good enough to be bought, ok so I don’t know the source, so what, the car looks very good this way and is different enough from factory stock . The Nissan Z that is this car’s rival also looks great. I’m not into Porsches but this one, I just might scoop up because it’s modified.

      • Mark says:

        I understand there is a market also for these types of creations, my point was, that I think there is too much of them recently and I would like to see, something more ´standard´. Like they even have forms for die-cast full openable Porsche 962, which would be best on the market from what was released till now ( though pricey for sure ), but no, we see this. But I understand it. Minimum work, maximum profit. I bet it will cost minimum 200,- Euro.

  2. Eric says:

    I generally could care less about fictional cars but this 930 looks amazing. I will most likely be getting it once it becomes available!

  3. Scott says:

    Had it on preorder for months i cant wait for this……

  4. Moondawn says:

    Even though I like the model and even though they made a long list of features, it’s still a really cheap way to issue a “new” model. So if the price is going north of 200 again, I’m not interested. Not by a long shot. But I guess the japanese will be…

  5. D N'D-Land says:

    I really would like to see AUTOart make a MK IV Supra in die-cast for this series…as well as a Nissan 300ZX Z32/Fairlady Z since they were also competition to the Devil Z :) Wishful thinking, I know :(

  6. Love it! This brings more to the culture that is Automotive! I’d love to have this model!

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