Porsche releases $14,689 model car

It's a replica of the 919 Le Mans car.

Porsche has just released a model that costs $14,689. That's a clearance bin bargain for a Porsche, you might say. Well, actually, it's just for a 1:8 scale model that you can't actually drive.

The official Porsche shop is offering a 1:8 scale model of its Le Mans-winning 919 race car. That's fairly big for a model car, but it also means greater detail. According to the description, the scale is "accurate to one tenth of a millimeter." For reference, a Hot Wheels is about 1:64 scale.

The model features opening doors and rear engine cover. The car is mostly made of resin, not the traditional diecast metal, though resin is becoming increasingly popular in the scale model world. In addition, Porsche says that "Smaller parts [are] made of aluminum and pewter" and that it has been "manufactured with a technology used to create prototypes in the automotive design industry."

Furthermore, the paint on the model is said to be "authentic," but it doesn't outright state whether it is the same paint used on the race cars. However, it is polished by hand, and each one takes 3,000 hours to assemble.

Each model will come with a badge with the production number. Only 100 will be made, and according to the website at the time of this writing only four remain.