Saturday, February 9, 2013

#247 JOAL – MONZA G.T. and ALFA ROMEO GIULIA 1600 (Around 1969)





These two beautiful cars were made by Joal around 1969 or 1970. The first one is a Chevrolet Corvair Monza GT and the second one is a Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600, also known as “Canguro”.
The Monza GT is based on a previous model by Tekno, while the Alfa Romeo was previously produced by Polistil and Mercury. Joal's seems to be based in the second model (Mercury). In an old blog entry (#20) we saw a model based on Corgi.



Both models have great detail and practicable parts, but the Monza G.T. also has direction and opening headlights.


Detail of opened headlights.

Chassis detail. The peg above opens the headlights. The front wheels steer.

As usual for this brand, each model was manufactured in different colours, so a quick search on the internet will reveal these models in many different colours. Mine are both bright red.

A curious thing about these models is that both have license/plate number "A 100108" and "A 103065". This type of plate was used in Spain prior to 1971, and these number (if they were real) would have been issued by mid-1966. “A” as usual refers to Alicante, the Spanish province in which the Joal factory was settled.

Plate A 103065
Unfortunately there is not much more information I can add to what I already told in the previous entries about Joal. In their website, there’s a short history of the company, but I wish it was more complete.

In Rosaspage.com, however, there’s a long article dealing only with 1:43 scale cars by Joal. The production started by the end of the 60s (probably 1968), and continued during the 70s and part of the 80s. Among the first models, were the Seat 850 Coupé and also the Seat 124 (similar to Mebetoys').

The casts are very well detailed, including the interiors (in plastic). All cars had practicable parts, including opening doors, bonnet and trunks. In the last two cases, the motor and the trunk are also beautifully decorated in plastic or metal. These practicable parts fit very well.






The construction of the cars is very robust, made almost completely in metal. The wheels were also made of metal with a plastic tyre, and the suspension system was also extremely soft and nice to drive. Relative to the robust construction, even the paint had very high quality, and even nowadays, most Joal cars look great, with very few chips. As a negative point, we might indicate that in some parts of the body, the paint layer is too thick and can hide some details of the cast.

These models were available in cardboard boxes, that we will show some other time, or in jewel-cases with a yellow base.



FACTS AND FIGURES:
  • Name: MONZA G.T. and ALFA ROMEO GIULIA 1600
  • Scale: 1:43
  • Year: Around 1969
  • Company: Joal (Spain)
  • Size: approx. 9 cm

10 comments:

  1. Hola Gog! me gustaria por favor que me dieras informacion de libros editados sobre juguetes en España. Lo que haya. Un saludo.

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  2. Hola Carlos,

    Pues la verdad es que hay muy muy poca cosa, y casi todo descatalogado. La mayor parte de los libros escritos en España sobre juguetes "clásicos" están editados en Valencia por universidades y fundaciones varias: hay un par de libros de las marcas clásicas de España, pero están más que descatalogados. Hace un tiempo miré en Iberlibro a ver si conseguía alguno, pero ni por esas. Ahora mismo en Iberlibro hay un libro de juguetes pero no sé si será muy interesante, pues cuenta la historia entre 1900 y 1940, antes del todo el "desarrollismo", que para mí, al menos, es más interesante.

    En principio la información tienes que buscártela tu mismo en blogs como "juguetes antiguos de Ibi" de Raimundo Payá o rosaspage.com. Éste último también ha editado varios libros sobre juguetes y jugueteras.
    También conozco algunas compañías que están queriendo editar libros sobre su historia, a ver qué pasa y si cambia ésto un poco a corto plazo. De momento hay que moverse mucho por foros y con un poco de criterio sacar lo que sea verdad y descartar todo lo inventado, rumores, etc.

    Otra opción interesante sería que te pasaras por los museos de Ibi y Valencia, donde seguro tienen tiendas que ofrecen libros sobre el tema. Si yo viviera cerca de la provincia de Alicante iría sin dudarlo.

    Espero que te sea de ayuda.
    Saludos
    Juan

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  3. Me han encantado estos dos. ¡Menudo nivel de detalle para tener los años que tienen!. Además de ser un par de coches de los más bonitos.

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  4. ¡Muy cierto! Gracias por los comentarios que me has dejado hoy.

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  5. The Monza is a Tekno Denmark toy, made by Kirk Denmark. Tekno toys was sold after 1972 in parts. A Joal Monza is not made befor 1972. Cars sold as Walco did have the name Tekno or Kirk on the bottom. Joel Mercedes 130SL is a copy af the Tekno. The Dalia Mercedes 180SL is infact the original Tekno but made by Dalia.

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  6. Joal i think, did not made a Tekno Toy before 1972/74. The Monza is intact made by Kirk Denmark first for Tekno then also sold as Kirk. Tekno and Kirk produktion of toys was sold out around 1974, and trucks SaaB 99 and Volvo 144 was sold to Holland Joal and Dalia did by som tools. Dalai Mercedes 180 SL IS A Tekno made by Dalia. BUT Joal Mercedes 130 SL is a copy car. Cars sold as german Walco have the Tekno or Kirk name under neath.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Hans,

      Thanks for your comments, I don't know if I understand everything, because there is a lot of information there.

      I have made some research about this in the past, and I am quite sure about the prouction date of Joal's Jaguar E-Type, Monza GT and others, the famous catalogue that you can find in some of my Joal entries is dated 1970 by the company itself. Some sources say that Joal started producing scale cars in 1968 (which sound pretty good to me) and the models in that catalogue have very low reference numbers (between 100 and 115...), so they had to be manufactured shortly after 1968. How did they get the casts from Tekno, I don't know. Maybe Tekno had more than one cast, maybe they kept a big stock of certain models that reached up to 1972, maybe it is also a copy, I never really compared both on my hands, because I only have one Tekno model. I will keep an eye on this topic, in case I find more information, or in case I can compare both models. I own Tekno's and Joal's Jaguar E-Type, maybe I can start comparing these.

      Thanks again for the comment, and hope to read you again. Take a look at other articles from my blog, like:
      http://toysfromthepast.blogspot.com/search/label/Dalia
      http://toysfromthepast.blogspot.com/search/label/Joal
      http://toysfromthepast.blogspot.com/search/label/Tekno

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  7. I wrote an article for Model Collector (UK) on these Monzas. So I compared the Tekno and the Joal; they are so close its hard to tell if they are copies or from the same mold. I also have Joal starting to make them in 1970. I myself think they are very good copies. Pilen also did the Monza with a few slight differences!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Karl,

      Many thanks for joining this conversation and sorry for the late reply. I was abroad the whole last two weeks.

      I have never read your article, it its quite difficult to get Model Collector outside the UK.

      About Joal and Pilen, I am quite sure Pilen bought the cast from Joal, and if there are any differences, they were made afterwards. Both companies were based in the same village and it was common practice among the die-cast manufacturers there to exchange casts.

      The connection to Tekno is not quite clear, but since Dalia already made toys based on Tekno's cast (with the appropriate license), it wouldn´t surprise me if Tekno really sold one cast to Joal in 1970. I have checked Dalia listings, and there is no Monza on them. This means, the cast didn´t come from Dalia. Either direct from Tekno or it is a copy.

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  8. So great to find information on my E-type Jaguar 1:43 . Mine is green and was in a grab bag for $1.95.Canadian found near Toronto. Love this little car.

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