The Transporter Before the Motorhome: Historic Racing Trucks in Scale

The paddock belonged to the transporter long before it belonged to the motorhome. From the late 1950s through the 1980s, the trucks that moved racing cars from factory to circuit were as much a part of a team's identity as the liveries on the cars themselves — Ferrari red on a Fiat 642 RN2 Bartoletti, Alitalia green and white on a Fiat 673, Rothmans blue and gold on a converted Mercedes-Benz O317 bus. These vehicles did not merely transport machinery. They were rolling declarations of intent, arriving at Monza, Monte Carlo, and Le Mans hours ahead of the cars they carried. Today, they are among the most evocative subjects in the scale model collecting world — and among the most underestimated.

The Fiat 642 RN2 Bartoletti: Ferrari's Works Transporter

In 1957, Scuderia Ferrari relied on two Fiat 642 RN2 trucks, coach-bodied by the Forlì firm Bartoletti, to carry its Formula 1 and sports-prototype race cars across Europe. The 642 RN2 was built on a Fiat bus chassis with a 6.2-litre diesel engine, capable of sustaining road speeds sufficient to move from one European Grand Prix circuit to the next on the tight race calendar of the era. The Bartoletti body featured a rear loading ramp, an enclosed upper deck for spare parts and crew luggage, and an external livery finished in Ferrari red with Shell and Agip sponsor graphics.

Only two of these trucks were built for Ferrari, making them among the rarest operational vehicles in motorsport history. Both attended Grands Prix throughout the late 1950s and into the early 1960s, transporting cars including the Dino 246 F1, the Testa Rossa, and the 250 GTO across circuits from Reims to Monza to the Nürburgring. The Fiat 642 RN2 Bartoletti was not a spectacle at the time — it was simply the most efficient solution available to a team moving fragile, irreplaceable machinery across post-war European roads. Its iconic status was earned retrospectively.

CMC and CMR: The Fiat 642 RN2 in 1/18 Scale

Two manufacturers have approached the Fiat 642 RN2 Bartoletti Ferrari transporter in 1/18 die-cast, and the contrast between them is instructive for collectors.

CMC (Classic Model Cars) reproduces the 642 RN2 in an all-metal, hand-assembled construction comprising over 1,000 individual parts. The CMC version — reference M-084 — features a fully functional rear loading ramp, an opening driver's door, photo-etched exterior trim, and a deck capable of carrying three 1/18 scale Ferrari models. The tampo-printed livery replicates the Ferrari red with Shell, Agip, and Pirelli period graphics with dimensional accuracy. CMC's production philosophy positions this model as a display-grade centrepiece rather than an entry-level die-cast — it carries a price point that reflects the part count, the all-metal specification, and the limited production run. The CMC Fiat 642 RN2 Bartoletti Ferrari Transporter is available now in the Vroomi catalogue.

CMR (Classic Model Replicars) offers the same subject at a more accessible price point, with die-cast construction and opening features — driver's door, crew cab, and rear ramp — in two distinct liveries: the Ferrari red Bordeaux version (CMR140) and the Maserati blue and yellow transporter (CMR141). The CMR approach makes the Bartoletti transporter accessible to collectors building a full 1950s racing paddock without the investment required by the CMC edition. Both manufacturers offer legitimate reproductions of the same historical vehicle — the choice depends on the collector's ambition for the piece.

The Fiat 673 and the Lancia Alitalia Rally Team, 1976

By the mid-1970s, the transporter's role in motorsport had evolved. WRC teams operated on an entirely different logistical rhythm from Formula 1 — stages ran through mountain passes and forest roads, and the transporter had to reach the service park through the same terrain. For the Lancia Alitalia works rally squad, that vehicle was the Fiat 673.

The 1976 WRC season was the Lancia Stratos HF at the apex of its competitive dominance. The Stratos had taken the World Rally Championship title in 1974 and 1975, and the 1976 campaign continued that trajectory across gravel and tarmac events throughout Europe. The Fiat 673 transporter — finished in the Alitalia livery of white, green, and red — carried the works Stratos entries and arrived at service parks bearing one of the most recognisable commercial sponsorship identities in motorsport history. The Alitalia livery on the Fiat 673 was not incidental decoration; it was the visual coherence of an entire Italian works programme, from transporter to race car.

IXO Models reproduces the Fiat 673 Team Lancia Alitalia Rally Transporter 1976 in 1/43 die-cast with tampo-printed Alitalia graphics and accurate proportions. At 1/43 scale, it pairs directly with IXO or Spark Model Lancia Stratos Alitalia editions from the same season to recreate a complete 1976 WRC service park.

The Mercedes-Benz O317: A Bus Built for Porsche

The most unconventional transporter in this group entered production as a city bus. The Mercedes-Benz O317, introduced in 1957, was a high-floor intercity coach powered by a 10.8-litre inline six-cylinder diesel producing 210 hp and measuring nearly twelve metres in length. Daimler-Benz built the self-supporting O317 structure until 1972. It was never intended for a racing circuit.

Porsche commissioned Stuttgart coachbuilder Robert Schenk to convert three O317 units into race car transporters, equipped with a double-stacking loading system designed to accommodate the low-slung profiles of the 917, 935, and 956. The first O317 was delivered in 1967 and later passed to John Wyer Automotive Engineering for the Gulf-liveried 917 programme. A second served Porsche through multiple Martini liveries until 1983. The third carried Rothmans colours into the 1984 season, arriving at Le Mans, Monza, and Spa ahead of the Porsche 956 that would go on to win the 24 Heures du Mans four consecutive times between 1982 and 1985.

What makes the O317 compelling as a collecting subject is precisely this contradiction — a civilian bus chassis repurposed as the operational backbone of one of the most technically dominant racing programmes in endurance history. The Mercedes-Benz O317 Porsche Transporter 1984 is reproduced in 1/43 die-cast in the blue 1984 configuration, available in the Vroomi trucks catalogue. It pairs naturally with 1/43 Porsche 956 editions from Spark Model or IXO to reconstruct the full Rothmans-era Le Mans paddock.

For a detailed account of the O317's service history with Porsche, the Mercedes-Benz O317 Porsche transporter archive at Supercar Nostalgia provides primary-source documentation on all three converted units.

Why Collecting Racing Transporters Matters

A transporter model in a collection does something a race car model alone cannot: it contextualises the car within its operational reality. The Lancia Stratos on a display shelf tells one story. The Stratos alongside the Alitalia Fiat 673 tells the whole story — team, logistics, era, sponsor, and the infrastructure that made a WRC title challenge possible.

At 1/43 scale, transporters from IXO sit at a shelf-friendly size that integrates with the dominant scale for rally and Formula 1 collecting. At 1/18, the CMC Fiat 642 RN2 Bartoletti is a standalone statement piece — a model that commands space and rewards close inspection in a way that few race car replicas can match.

The Vroomi trucks and transporters collection brings together the most significant historic racing transporters across CMC, CMR, IXO, and Schuco — from the 1950s Bartoletti to the 1980s Rothmans O317. Explore the full range and Add to Your Grid.