If you are a collector of scale model classic competition sports cars, a great theme for your collection is the classic Italian Mille Miglia or "one thousand miles" race.

There are many models available of the cars that took part in the race over its thirty year life between 1927 and 1957 and of the cars that were inspired by it. Amazingly, the Mille Miglia was held on open public roads which was very dangerous but it had the advantage of bringing together the excitement of a high-speed car race, the beauty and elegance of the cars, the wonderful scenery of rural Italy and the Italian people who lined the roads to watch.

The founders of the race wanted to give a boost to the early Italian car industry by bringing the cars out onto local roads so that people could see them close up and by demonstrating the durability and reliability of the cars in a long race. The course of the race ran between the town of Brescia and the city of Milan and back again by a different route. The length was 1,600 kilometres which was approximately 1,000 miles , hence the name. Although Italians measure distance in kilometres it was felt that by using the word ‘miles’ they were evoking the past glories of the Roman age - the Romans measured distance in miles.

In 1949 a new way of numbering the cars in the race was introduced. The smaller engined, slower cars, like the Fiat 500 and Renault 4CV, began first leaving Brescia at one minute intervals from nine in the evening. Cars would be leaving all through the night until the most powerful ones would be leaving the following morning. The car’s number was the time it left Brescia so, for example, a car leaving at 7:22 am would have the number 722 and one leaving at 10:30 the previous evening would have the number 1030. This system made it easy for spectators to see how well the cars were doing in the race.

The Mille Miglia was one of the races that helped to establish the reputations of the great touring car manufacturers such as Mercedes, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari. In fact, of the 12 races run before World War II, 10 were won by Alfa Romeo and of the 11 races run after the war, 7 were won by Ferrari . The first Ferrari was the Tipo815 which was entered in the 1940 Mille Miglia. After the war, one of the first cars produced by this newcomer to the motoring scene was the Ferrari 166 which won the 1949 Mille Miglia. In celebration of the victory a Ferrari 166 MM (Mille Miglia) was made which won the race in 1950. In 1955 the British racing driver, Stirling Moss, won the race in a Mercedes 300SLR at an incredible average speed of 97.96 mph(157.65 km/h) an amazing feat when you remember that this was on public roads and at a distance of 1,000 miles.

After World War II the Italian car industry found a new confidence and enthusiasm which spawned many small racing car manufacturers known as the "etceterinis" who were eager to take part in races like the Mille Miglia. They based their cars on Fiat components for the most part but they made cars with very individual personalities. These manufacturers faded out in the 1970s but the cars have remained popular with enthusiasts particularly in the USA. Cisitalia made the legendary 202 Coupe styled by Pnin Farina which was considered so cutting-edge and influential on all other car design that it became part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Abarth began as one of these independent manufacturers until it became absorbed by Fiat and became their internal performance car department. Other notable etceterinis were Stanguellini and Nardi.

Of course, the idea of running a high-speed race on public roads was a deeply flawed one. It was banned once just before World War II because of a serious accident in which 10 people were killed. Tragedy struck once again in 1957 when two separate accidents killed 13 people and the Italian government stepped in to ban the race for ever. Yet somehow the spirit of the Mille Miglia had become ingrained in Italian and motor sport culture and would not go away. Now there is an annual classic car rally which carries on the Mille Miglia tradition for cars made in the period of the races between 1927 and 1957.

Models of Mille Miglia cars are to be found in good diecast model vehicle stores such as Golden Age of Motoring. Starline is a model maker who have produced many excellent precision models of Mille Miglia cars in 1/43 scale including the etceterinis such as Cisitalia and Stanguellini. Several model makers have interpreted the Mercedes 300SLR and the Ferrari 166MM and there are also a number of inexpensive models of Mille Miglia cars to be found if you look carefully.