I got these two cars recently. Normally I am not interested in the die-cast models when I cannot recognise the brand. In this case, I recognised them as Tomica knock-offs and they were in their original blister cards, so I decided to buy them. 1 euro each blister.
Can you recognise which models they are?
The car is a Nissan Fairlady Z, like the one in entry #548.
The truck is a Hino Dump Truck, although the plastic part is different from the original Tomica one.
This kind of die-cast models are usually unmarked in the base (just "made in China"), so it is difficult to match model with toymaker. With the blister, obviously, I can say it is Speed Wheels. At the cardback there are several models depicted, one of each kind: sport cars, formula racing cars, pick-up trucks, tractor racers and more. I do not know how many of each type were made, but both blisters have the text "SERIES IV" in the front. I don't know either how many series were made, but on Google you can easily find pictures of series V (some Yatming KO's there), series III (look like Matchbox's Super G.T.s), series X (look quite modern and better done than the previous series, some look like Maisto other like Hot Wheels KOs), series XIII, and more.
The upper part of the blister is cutted off because originally it had the price tag on it. It costed 0,69 US$ per unit or 1 US$ if you took two. As I could see on Google, some blisters have this part also cut off.
I have noticed models that were available in two different series, I guess the card was redone everytime they wanted to change the retail price, but most of the times the assortment just remained as it was.
Interestingly, the one who seems to be the earliest blister pack of "Speed Wheels" on Google (does not show any series number) has the Faie brand printed on the card, so does this series relate anyhow to Faie? I think it is more probable that behind Speed Wheels hides a company that bought stock rests or maybe obsolete machinery to get/make very cheap models, so maybe they started buying from Faie, then from Yatming, then from Welly, Maisto... It could even be that the brand is still in use.
Interestingly, the distributor is a company from Illinois, U.S.A.
Other Speed Wheels came in plastic bags, in this case, each model was 0.39 US$ or 1 US$ for three cars. These cheaper models look like Summer's withouh windows.
And for the TFTP record, some unknown models from past entries seem to be Speed Wheels too! The mobile crane in entry #766 has also been seen inside one of these blister packages!
FACTS AND FIGURES:
- Name: HINO DUMP TRUCK and NISSAN FAIRLADY Z (TOMICA KO's)
- Scale: Around 1:61 and 1:100
- Year: Around 1990
- Company: Speed Wheels (U.S.A.) / Unknown Manufacturer, maybe Welly? (China)
- Size: approx. 7 cm
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