For kids who already own a computer and a video recorder, how about a little Porsche Cabriolet under the tree on Christmas morning? Or if the $3,500 price tag seems just a bit much, there is always the $1,995 Mercedes 500 SL. This year about 500 doting parents have already spent $800 to $12,500 to give their kids a scaled-down six-to nine-foot luxury car. Although the minicars lack cigarette lighters, those sold at F.A.O. Schwarz in New York City and by car dealers in Miami and Beverly Hills duplicate the real thing; some even include stick shifts and stereos. And their lawn-mower-size gas engines let kids accelerate as high as 15 to 28 mph. Says Arizona cattle rancher Tex Earnhardt, who bought his 9-year-old granddaughter a mini "monster" Ford pickup, "Who wouldn't want to buy their kids one of these cars? They're safe and they're gorgeous."
In the past six months Levon Gugasian, head of Beverly Hills's Rodeo Coach corporation sold 160 miniatures that were parked next to the bigger models he sells to well-heeled parents. Pint-size actor Gary Coleman bought a $12,500 red Lamborghini Countach to tool around his Chicago home. Both Rodeo Coach and Beverly Hills Motoring Accessories, the only West Coast outlets, get their foreign models from three European manufacturers, including Agostini Autojunior. In 1982, owner Roberto Agostini, 38, custom-made the first luxury minicar for his daughter, and it was such a hit that he kept making them.
Fred Wagenhals, one of a handful of U.S. minicar makers, started producing domestic models in 1973, mostly for corporations for promotional use. But Wagenhals's F.W. Leisure Company in Tempe, Ariz. also fills personal orders. Farrah Fawcett bought Ryan O'Neal a black International Harvester Scout for $1,000, Sugar Ray Leonard gave his son an $800 red Corvette, and Sly Stallone bought his son a $900 yellow Pennzoil Indy racer.
To date the Beverly Hills police report no crack-ups of minicars, which are banned from public roads. But drinking and driving may yet become a problem. "We can put a phone in one of these," says one dealer, "so the kid could call his mom and ask for a glass of orange juice." Gulp.
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