COBI German Staff Car Type 230 Set 2277

COBI's German Staff Car Type 230 is a 1:35 model built from 247 blocks, with turning wheels, opening doors and an opening boot. New brick shapes were introduced for this set, useful for building vehicles generally. A brick with the car's printed name is included.

Seven bodies on one chassis — and you can build the others

The Type 230 was sold in seven body variants on the same running gear: the four-door saloon in this set, a two-door cabriolet, a seven-seat limousine, and others.

That was normal practice before the war. A manufacturer built a chassis with engine, transmission and suspension, and the body was a separate item — sometimes built in-house, sometimes by a coachbuilder to order. Buying a car meant choosing a chassis and then choosing what went on top of it.

Which makes this a good set for anyone who likes modifying rather than following instructions. The chassis is done; the body is where the work is, and the original had six documented alternatives to copy. COBI designed several new parts for this model specifically because they are useful for that.

The car

Over 20,000 were built between 1937 and 1941 — one of the most common German cars of the period — with a 2.2-litre petrol engine producing 40 kW and a top speed around 116 km/h. It was used by state institutions and by ordinary civilian owners, and requisitioned in numbers when the war began.

In the COBI range

Part of the 1:35 vehicle collection, alongside the Opel Blitz (2259), the Horch 901 (2405) and the Citroën Tractions.

Specifications

Pieces: 247 · Scale: 1:35 · Opening doors and boot, turning wheels