BeeJay Models, 1997 – 2000

By Fedor Eliseev

This article will continue a series of white metal reviews, the first one being Milestone Miniatures. I hope my efforts will help you remember some forgotten names in model car history. If you want to support this project, more information will be very useful for future articles. I am looking for Model Auto Review magazines 1982- 1990; 1999- 2013; white metal reviews from Model Collector 1991- 2005; white metal articles by Mr. Carlson published in Diecast Collector magazine from 1997 – 2010s; photos, catalogs, ModeleX brochures, photos from collections, etc. I am sure that readers who are interested in the history of 1:43 will help, and future generations will be very grateful to us for documenting this interesting part of the past model car industry.

A couple months ago HobbyDB published my article about BeeJay Models. All information was based on 1997- 98 Model Auto Review magazines. Now we have an opportunity to show you a real model of the 1902 Mors Z built from a kit which belongs to Anthony Hanna from Australia. Also I was able to learn a little information about Brian J. McLean, the founder and proprietor of Beejay Models.

Brian J. McLean was a serious collector who concentrated on Land Speed Record cars, Le Mans winners, Monte Carlo Rallye cars, movie vehicles and Australian Holdens. In the 1990s and 2000s, he and his wife often traveled to Australia.

Without any doubt, his collection of LSR cars was one of the best in the UK and assembled many LSR kits from Pandora Models, LSR Models, John Day, and others. Moreover, he wasn’t just building them but making many upgrades and adding new details.

During his working life Brian served in the RAF (Royal Air Force). His last position before retirement in the UK was selected young recruits for flight school. Unfortunately, there has been no news about Brian since the late 2000s.

Being a great fan of LSR, Mr. McLean paid attention to the Brass Era which hadn’t been represented widely in model form, even by little companies. Therefore, he decided to make his own models and chose one of the most interesting prototypes, the Mors Type Z, for modelling.

Nowadays the French company Mors is a forgotten name in automobile history and only people deeply involved in the Brass Era know about it. In the first years of the 20th century, Mors was a very respected company with cars that took part in many races. In 1902 the Mors Type Z was built. This car was designed with a 9,2 litre 60 hp engine, a very innovative gearbox, and shock absorbers.

For the 1902 Paris-Vienna Race, Mors made six Type Z cars. They were driven by Henri Fournier, Fernand Gabriel, Charles Rolls, Baron Pierre de Caters, Foxhall Keene and a Monsieur Augieres. Alas, their innovations in construction were very unreliable; only 2 сars fished the race, the best of which, Baron de Caters, finished in 9 place.

Despite these poor results, the Mors Type Z demonstrated it could run at high speed, and some time later its time to shine came when on the 5th of November in 1902, William Kissam Vanderbilt II set a Land Speed Record in France of 122,44 km/h. On that day, this record was broken by M. Fournier who achieved 123,28 km/h. Then on the 17th of November, M. Augieres achieved 124, 13 km/h driving the same car. As you can see, the Mors Type Z had a very fascinated history.

It is no wonder that being LSR enthusiast, Brian J. McLean chose this car to model. In 1997 he established a small workshop and named it Beejay Models based on his first two initials. To announce the new model, Model Auto Review published his advertisement, republished recently.

The next year the first Mors Type Z Land Speed Record was produced. It was a very sophisticated white metal replica made with photo etched parts and white tyres which match the Brass Era. The details of the transmission, steering wheel, and dashboard were also modeled on the highest level. Most of the models were available only in kit form, because Brian had no time for painting and assembling and had to satisfy a huge demand.

At the end of 1998, he announced plans to make the Paris-Vienna version. It perhaps was introduced the next year, but I have not yet found photos or other evidence. This second version had 2 spare wheels in the back and some additional body details. The Paris-Vienna master was shown in Model Auto Review 109 back in 1997. (All the colour photos above are of the LSR car.)

Apparently, this is the last model by Beejay Models and after 1999 we can’t find any mention of it. I hope LSR enthusiasts who read this blog will know more and will be able to add new information and photos.

Many thanks to Anthony Hanna for the model photos and information about Mr. McLean.