Tuesday, March 28, 2017

#792 SIKU – VOLKSWAGEN KASTENWAGEN (TRANSPORTER III) and MERCEDES 208 (Ref. 1331 and 1918) (1981)


These two bulky vans are an example of typical vans from the early 80s, very rectangular, huge load capacity and not very beautiful. Siku made these two models, which are both from German manufacturers.


A van is a toy that is usually very versatile, since it can be used in several decorations or with slight modifications to look very different from each other. Vans can also be used as promotional toys, just by printing the logo and the name of a company on one side (as it actually happened with these models), and children love opening the rear doors and looking inside, or putting some small item inside.



The two models presented today are in vey good condition.


The first one is the VW Kastenwagen (a.k.a. Transporter, 3rd generation) and was available between 1981 and 1994. It carried number 1331 and was available in many colours and decorations, most notably: skyblue (two shades), red (Coca-Cola), grey, white and green. The same cast was also used in other two references: Radio Van (yellow) and Fire Brigade Van (red) (with a few plastic ad-ons: an aerial and a ladder, respectively).



 

The Mercedes 208 I am presenting was probably part of reference 1918 (Minivan with Trailer) that was available between 1981 and 1988.



Again, the van was available in a single blister in colours silver, bright brown, red, cream white "Holiday Inn" and then in some variations like Schoolbus (orange), Police Van (yellowish green, with plastic horn mounted on roof) and Towtruck (modified cast, various colours).



UPDATE (Dec/2018) A Mercedes 208 "AIrport Service" in grey. Cool!





UPDATE1 (Feb/2019): Green VW Kastenwagen / Transporter III






FACTS AND FIGURES:
  • Name: VOLKSWAGEN KASTENWAGEN (TRANSPORTER III) and MERCEDES 208 (Ref. 1331 and 1918)
  • Scale: 1:55
  • Year: 1981
  • Company: Siku (West-Germany)
  • Size: approx. 7 cm

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