#1083 PLAYLAND/WELLY – SEVERAL PULLBACK CARS IN 1:36 SCALE (Around 1993)

These kind of cars at a scale around 1:36 were relatively common in the early 90s. Somehow the 1:43s of the previous decade “grew” and became available in many places, including pound-shops, one dollar stores and their equivalents in each country. Some of the first “big” models I recall were some MC Toy cars with pull-back motor, such as the Porsche 959 or the 911 Cabrio. 

They also had the “standard” 1:64 series, but MC Toy came with this bigger series of sport cars that looked so nice and were so cheap. I guess many other brands followed, since MC Toy was the company that was doing best during these first years of the 90s decade.

PORSCHE 959 / OPEL OMEGA '88 “FEUERWEHR” / CHEVROLET CORVETTE '83 in dark blue

I have collected many over the last years. But today I will present only those which were marketed under the Playland – Mini Flitzer series in Germany. The identification is difficult since all the models are unmarked, and it is required to look for boxed models in order to be sure. Playland seems to be the brand used by the importer, which was AHG Wachsmuth & Krogmann from Hamburg. The logo depicts a cartoonish crocodile with a baseball cap. There were two designs for the box: a classic one in blue, and another more modern in purple, pink and green, very representative of the early 90s.

 

 

 

Several Boxed Items. The "Mini-Flitzer" with the Playland Logo, the other "Super Racer" with or without the Welly logo. All from ebay

 

These two pictures show the different styles of Playland boxes.

I found the firs four cars in on of those boxes on the Internet (mainly in German sites like ebay.de), but not the Ferrari, which I include here anyway, because it is so similar. This may belong to another, similar series.

CHEVROLET CORVETTE '83 in yellow

FERRARI TESTAROSSA

I suspect that the maker behind these cars might be Welly, although I am not 100% sure. Welly had their own lines like Super Racer or Old Timer in the same scale and also with a pullback motor feature. The models look in fact very similar, and so do the boxes, but one can never be sure. I include some picture of Welly Boxes for comparison. The same Chevrolet has been spoted in a Welly box, although that model was a cabrio and not a hardtop.

FACTS AND FIGURES: 

• Name: SEVERAL PULLBACK CARS IN 1:36 SCALE
• Scale: 1:36
• Year: Around 1993
• Company: Welly / Playland (China/Germany)
• Size: approx. 12 cm

#1082 - PLAYMAKERS/LARAMIE - PLASTIC WRESTLERS (Around 1986)

I bought this collection of 8 plastic wrestlers in Austria, but I didn’t know anything about them until very recently. They are unmarked and relatively small. At the time, I thougth they might come from those vending machines that sell plastic balls with some novelty toy inside, or, maybr, from a blister card from a Chinese or Indian bazar. The paint and the overall quality is very low, but the variety and body positions are great.

I later found out that they were manufactured in the 80s by companies such as:

• Playmakers, which sold them unpainted in a blister pack of 4 under the brand "Champion Wrestlers" (Made in Hong Kong)
• Ja-Ru, unpainted, under the brand "USA Wrestling Team" (Made in Hong Kong)
• Unknown Toymaker, painted, under the brand "Wrestling Champs/ Champions de Lutte" (Made in Hong Kong), using the same card as some of the "Wrestling Champions" bootlegs (same as the two-figure blister pack shown here, both on the front and on the back sides)
• Laramie painted under the brand "Wrestling Sper Champs" (Made in China, probably already in the 90s, as some colours schemes remind of Hulk Hogan)
• The colours used in my figures seem to be more "modern" than those of Laramie, I guess they could be even newer than these. However, for the "facts and figures" at the end of this article, I will use the apporximate year of 1986, as these is the educated guess for the Playmakers models.

I have eight figures, which are decorated in pairs wiht the same colour scheme, but two of them are not matching, so I supposed I was missing two more figures, but the truth is that I am missing 4 figures, as the original set from Playmakers clearly indicates that there are twelve models available.

Mine are: two blond wrestlers with long hair (note the same colour used in boots and trunks), two black-haired wrestlers with red trunks, and two brown-haired wresltlers with orange trunks. The two left-most figures the wrestler with beard and moustache and the bald wrestler with moustache do not have a second figure. 

They are somewhat similar to the plastic WWF wrestler shown here, but the singularity of these ones lies in that they are not bootlegging any known character.

Really cool, racket toys. 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: WRESTLER MINI FIGURES
• Toy Line: Unknown
• Year: Around 1986
• Company: Unknown Manufacturer (China)
  
• Size of the figures: 5-6 cm

#1081 MEBETOYS – FERRARI 312 B2 F1 (#6671) (1972)

Since I already covered the history of Mebetoys in a previous entry, there is not much I can write here. Just that, in the 1972 catalogue, Mebetoys introduced the Grand Prix Series, eight formula one refereces (#6670 to #6677) with the most important cars of that season. 

Here's the 312 B2 Ferrari from 1972. The driver was Jackie Ickx, who won only the German GP that year. The seaon winner was Jack Stewart for Tyrrell.

The model is a beautiful reproduction of the real car, as most Mebetoys are. What is not so common is the 1:28 scale. The Grand Prix Series premiered this scale and the following year they would release the Gran Champions at scale 1:25. 

FACTS AND FIGURES: 

• Name:  FERRARI 312 B2 F1 (#6671)
• Scale: 1:28
• Year: 1972
• Company: Mebetoys (Italy)
• Size: approx. 12 cm

#1080 MAJORETTE SUPER CRISTAL - NISSAN TERRANO, VW COMBI CARAVELLE and HONDA NSX (107, 113 and 117) (1994)

I had interesting conversations with other collectors and miniature car enthusiasts regarding Novacar and the portuguese Majorettes since I started this blog, so I am happy to publish again something related to this particular topic.

I bought these three Majorette Super Crystal blisterpacks from eBay in October 2019, together with other boxed Majorettes and Zylmex, but this is the pace of this blog, it takes years to find a gap to be published!

The Super Crystal models from Majorette have a die-cast base and a plastic body, which allowed to make them transparent and include (or not) glitter in the plastic component. The cars look very different to any other die-cast model or subline and are commonly misregarded by most serious collectors. Still, they are nice toys, and also rare. The interior can be seen from the outside better than in die-cast models, and they remind a little bit of Micro Machines X-Rays, which are slightly older than these. Maybe was it an inspiration for Majorette?

There are not many models available (less than in the original Novacar reference list), but each of them could be found in different colours, so if you are a completists, I have bad news for you: One single cast can appear in up to 10 different „clear“ colours plus the same 10 colours plus „glitter“. I´ll try to list the colours first:

• Green, dark green, lime green
• Red, dark red, purple, pink
• Transparent
• Blue, turquoise

Now, let´s list the models. They use the same reference numbers as the original Novacar (as they share the chassis), but you´ll notice that there are some numbers missing in between. For example, number 101, which was a Ferrari 348 GTB is not available as a Super Crystal. Why? Nobady knows, but most probably it is because it would have been so similar to the 104 Ferrari Testarossa, that they would have been difficult to differentiate. Note that the details are more difficult to perceive in this shiny transparent body.  

Number 106 Peugeot 605 is also missing from the list (was it also too generic in its shape?), and there is also no trace of the two Formula ones  (these were probably not feasible with the glittery plastic compound or the spoilers couldn´t be made in glittery plastic, so they may have looked strange as prototypes.

So the complete list of Super Crystals is this one:

Serie 280 “Super Crystal”

• 102 – Nissan 300 ZX
• 103 – Chevrolet Corvette (’83)
• 104 – Ferrari Testarossa
• 105 – Mercedes 500 SL (Cabrio)
• 107 – Nissan Terrano (here presented in glittery green)
• 108 – Kenworth (T600)
• 109 – (Chevrolet) Impala Police
• 110 – Renault Espace
• 111 – Sport Proto (Porsche 962 Group C Racer)
• 113 – Combi VW Caravelle (here presented in glittery purple)
• 116 – Pick Up Chevrolet
• 117 – Honda NSX (here presented in clear transparent)

The cars could be purchased in single blisterpacks, like the ones I have, but also in double blisterpacks, but I have no notice of bigger boxes or gift sets. Of course, they were cheaper to produce than the standard die-cast series, but the shiny looking made them special so the gain per unit sold was probably great. Unfortunately, the sales were not good, and the line was discontinued after two years. They appear in the Majorette catalogues between 1994 and 1996, year in which the portuguese factory of  Paredes was closed (together with some other in France) and a big part of the prodcution moved to Thailand.

1996 Catalogue

FACTS AND FIGURES: 

• Name:  NISSAN TERRANO, VW COMBI CARAVELLE and HONDA NSX (107, 113 and 117)
• Scale: 1:64
• Year: 1994
• Company: Majorette (France/Portugal)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#1079 SIKU – JAGUAR E TYPE 2+2 (V294) and OPEL GT 1900 (V304) (1968 and 1970)

Two entries ago we presented an Opel GT from Schuco and said, the car had not been represented many times at scale as a toy. But here it is another representation of it, the model made by Siku at around 1:55 scale. And the Jaguar E as a companion.

Let' start commenting the Jaguar E, as it is slightly older than the Opel. The model was produced between 1968 and 1982, and has an scale of 1:60. It was originally released with the reference V294, but from 1974 on, the model carries the 1015 reference.

My car is the silver version, although there are also white or red miniatures available. Being one of the most iconic British cars of all times, it is a common reproduction in many die-cast brands, including the major and best-selling ones.

The second car, the Opel GT was produced between 1970 and 1978 at the same scale. Until 1974, it was reference number V304, then 1018. Unfortunately, it presents a lot of paint chips, but it may take years until I find a better one, so this goes to my Siku collection. 

FACTS AND FIGURES: 

• Name:  JAGUAR E TYPE 2+2 (V294) and OPEL GT (V304)
• Scale: 1:60
• Year: 1968 and 1970
• Company: Siku (West Germany)
• Size: approx. 8 cm