Dick Browne
The Beacon for 1:43 Scale Collectors

Dick Browne is an indefatigable evangelist and champion for the hobby of collecting 1:43 models. He does so less with spoken advocacy than by reveling in every aspect of enjoying a hobby like this one. He writes, he moderates a busy forum, he visits with makers and collectors around the world.

He has pursued his enthusiasm for this scale, fanning the kindling of interest in the US for this international scale.

He was the principal writer for an informal newsletter put out by the San Francisco Bay Brooklin Club. His writing transformed the inexpensively printed bulletin into fascinating excerpts from the history of the automobile. The three events held each year devoted to 1:43, he loyally attended.

He became founder and moderator of Forum 43 on the Diecast Zone, building that forum into an ebullient community of thoroughly engaged collectors.

He is also Associate Editor for The Car Room Magazine, founded by another of this year’s honorees, Joe Kelly Jr. His beat? 1:43 models of course!

Where Dick is, is where the 1:43 hobby has decamped. With this award, he is being recognized for giving this hobby an identity and energy it would never have attained without him.