Retired European Models Spend Their Days Teaching at DFW Elite Toy Museum.com

    /24-7PressRelease/ - DALLAS, TX, April 21, 2008 - Although learning the basics of the automobile is simple for people who have grown up in the world of cars, it wasn't always so easy. When cars were still revolutionary, educating people about how cars worked and how to keep them in working order was a challenge.

"Many Americans purchased their first car in the early 1950s because consumer goods were available again after a prolonged war effort. With so many families buying first cars, a way had to be found to teach the basics of how cars worked and how to keep them running," explained Ron Sturgeon, owner of DFW Elite Toy Museum.com.

Initially, car owners or their chauffeurs learned to drive by getting behind the wheel. Because cars were less predictable, roads less smooth and ABS brakes yet to be imagined, inexperienced drivers could be deadly. The world needed a safer way to educate new drivers.

In the late 1930s, an Opel dealer in Germany named Emil Hohm developed the first instructional models to show drivers how cars worked. The effectiveness of his models as teaching tools created a cottage industry building working scale models of automotive systems for use by driving schools.

Although driving school models were used in the U.S. with success, it was in Europe - Germany in particular - where they truly flourished. The Hohm Company built about 1,000 complete frames and system instruction models after World War II, and the elaborate detail of the models perfectly depicted the inner workings of a full-size automobile.

"Actually, instruction [on how cars functioned] began with what we now call 'pop-up books,'" says chello.nl, a long-time collector from the Netherlands. "Mass production for car instruction started in the 1930s in Germany, where driving schools were required by law to have these models. As far as I know, Germany was the only country where, by law, students had to learn the car's technical operations."

Films and videos gradually made the driving school models obsolete. As they became rare, these retired driving school models became unusual and valuable collectors' items. Sturgeon, a noted car collector and enthusiast, has amassed nearly 200 driving school models. Most of them are on display at his automotive-themed toy museum in Dallas-Fort Worth.

"These models are extremely rare here in the U.S. and we have the largest collection in the states," says Rodney Ross, curator of DFW Elite Toy Museum. "The majority of our driving school models came from large collections in Germany, as well as from various sellers all over the world."

Of the many models on display, Ross says the most popular is the Nuevo Autoeuro Fiat 100-103", which also happens to be the largest model at the museum. Originally powered by 220 volts, the popular scale model was converted to 100 volts by the museum so that it would run without a transformer.

"The Nuevo Fiat driving school model is fun and educational," Ross says. "All the lights, motor, transmission, brakes, rear end, clutch - everything - works. It's just a fantastic scale model that you have to see to appreciate."

See the collection of driving school models, along with rare memorabilia and antique toy cars, at the Toy Museum inside DFW Elite Auto Rental.com at 5940 Eden in Fort Worth. Hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, with weekend hours by appointment. In Fort Worth, call 817.838. RENT (7368); in Dallas call 214.247.4700. For more information, visit them online at http://www.dfweliteautorental.com.

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