#394 CKO / KOVAP – MERCEDES 350 SL COUPÉ (Nr. 440) (Reedition) (1991)

BRIEF HISTORY OF CKO (KELLERMAN & CO.)

NOTE: The information for this article is a summary of what I could read from this website (in german): http://www.sammeln-sammler.de/blechspielzeug/kellermann-cko/

The company was founded by Georg Kellerman in 1910 in Nürnberg. Mr. Kellerman had previously worked as master-workman with Karl Bub, being one of the most renowned workers in his category. He was also the master of some (later) famous toy manufacturers, like Johann Einfalt (who later would found "Gebrüder Einfalt Nürnberg -GEN-  Technofix"). He also worked for Distler, where gained more experience as a master-workman and also as a production manager, before he could start his own bussiness.
The production on the first years were mostly pennytoys: simple, small and cheap tintoys with simple lithography. Some were offered as promotional articles.

In 1914 the company was already prepared to expand itself, and move to larger facilities, but without leaving the city of Nürnberg. In 1920 Kellerman introduced its CKO logo for the first time. All previous toys are unmarked. The production of Kellerman & Co. in the 20s were cheap autos, trains or automatons (robot-figures).

Apparently, much of the toys produced by CKO were exported. It is nowadays easier to find CKO toys in the USA or the United Kingdom, rather than in Germany. This trade politics would be successful, and the company kept expanding and had to move again to a new factory in 1926.

From 1935 to 1939, the company would produce many military toys, as “panzers”, warplanes and ships, motorbikes… but also the KDF-Wagen (Volkswagen Beetle).

Wilhem (Willi) Kellerman, son of the founder Georg, would enter the company in 1929 after he finished his degree in engineering, and would be responsible for the quality of the products. Only two years later, and after the decease of his father, he would become the manager of the company. In 1935, his co-partner also died, so Willi found himself as the only owner of the company.

Despite the hard times that the 30s in Europe were, the company had a first golden age, employing over 100 workers. This first epoch would end with the Second World War. As usual during wartimes, toy industries stop producing toys and start producing weaponry and armoury to help winning the war. This made toy factories important military targets for the enemies, and the CKO factory was severely damaged (and later plundered) in 1942.

When the war ended, the toy manufacture had to start from zero (or almost). CKO survived with just a few workers and some old machines and tools, producing less and simpler toys, since most models and patterns had been destroyed or robbed. Luckily, Nürnberg was in the zone administrated by the Americans, and there were available resources. All toys produced after the war were marked “Made in the U.S. Zone Germany”.

In the 60s the firma specialised in tin cars, and continued the famous Rollo-Serie (in 1:35 scale), which was started in 1954. Although the cars were well done, they were still quite simple, mass-produced toys.

And already in the 70s, the company kept producing these tin series, without switching production to plastic, which was much modern and cheaper. Japanese toys also played a major role in the 70s, and increased the pressure on the European markets. CKO closed in 1979. One year before that, and after some years of bad economic results, the company turned a limited partnership, but that could save it. CKO was the last (or one of the last) tintoy manufacturers in Germany.

The car you see in the pictures is one of the KOVAP replicas, made later in the Czech Republic (around 1991) but with the original plans and machinery from CKO. It looks great, and I can make my mind about how great toys those rollo’s were.These are marked with the CKO logo plus the word REPLICA, and included the KOVAP logo in a sticker (missing in this model).

Note the nice interiors, and sorry for the pictures. They were taken in a hurry, I should have taken them with a lower angle, so you can see the front and the rear of the car.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MERCEDES 350 SL COUPÉ (Nr. 440) (Reedition)
• Scale: 1:35
• Year: 1991
• Company: CKO - Kellerman & Co. (West Germany), KOVAP (Czech Republic)
• Size: approx. Around 14 cm

#312 ROMAN – MOTO SPRINT FRICCIÓN (V-201) (1978)

HISTORY OF JUGUETES ROMÁN

This company was founded in Ibi in 1969 with the name "Asunción Román Albero". The name of the company was at the same time a name of a woman. Her children, the Valls Román brothers, were the founders of the company that named after their mother. Later (1971) they turned the family business into a share company: Juguetes Román S.A.

Asunción Román Albero produced spring loaded toys, but after the re-foundation of the company, the company started producing tin lithograph toys. With the appearance of plastic, Román also incorporated plastic in their models to spare production costs. They also used some mechanisms in their toys to make them more attractive, like battery operated direction, obstacle cars, friction motors and more.

The family business was located in a small factory in San Isidro street, but since the business was successful, they moved to more suitable and larger facilities in Espronceda street, that they built themselves. This place was later sold and does not exist anymore.

Currently Juguetes Román is placed in Córdoba street, in the outskirts of the city, in one of the industrial areas. We talked about the company which it is today in our previous entry dedicated to this toy company.

In that same entry, we showed a friction motorbike that was a copy of a Japanese toy. If you check that entry, you’ll notice that this motorbike is almost identical to it. And you’re right. The difference between them is the size. This model V-201 is around 50% larger than the first one.

Other differences are that this model is completely made of tin (except the side wheels), without any plastic part and that it was sold in a box instead of a bag. The box is beautifully illustrated and is also very colourful. It depicts one version of the motorbike on each side (references V-201 -Police- and V-202 -Race-). On the sides of the box, there’s a nice illustration of the policeman and the race driver that drive the motorbikes.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MOTO SPRINT FRICCIÓN
• Year: Around 1978 (Probably sold during many years)
• Company: Román (Spain)
• Size: 10 cm

#277 SCHUCO – WIND-UP SEDAN -MIRAKO SERIES- (Ref. 1001) (Around 1951)

HISTORY OF SCHUCO

Schuco is an over 100 years old German toymaker. The company was founded in 1912 in Nürnberg by Heinrich Schreyer und Heinrich Müller. The second person was a tool and die maker and had previously worked for Bing. The first name of the company was “Schreyer und Co.”. Soon, the production had to stop because both men were recruited for the German army to fight in the First World War. When the war was over in 1918, Schreyer left the company because he thought there would be no future for toy companies. This observation was based on a heavily impoverisched and partly devastated Germany. When he left, Adolf Kahn replaced him, but until 1924 the company kept its original name. Then it was shortened to Schuco (Sch u Co).

During the first years, only unique tin toys were made. The skills of Mr. Müller fit these toys with surprising clockwork mechanisms. During the 20s decade, toys were already produced in a (small) assembly line. Some of these toys started gaining popularity and were produced massively, for example the Pick-Pick-Bird, that sold around 20 million times from the 20s to the 60s.

In 1936, Schuco produced its first toy car. Mr. Müller casting surprised everybody, from concurrent companies to children, for its precision. He invented many mechanisms for toy cars, like a gearbox, cable-controlled steering, hand brake or even a mechanism to control the car with your voice.

In 1939, the previously weeks before World War II, Mr. Kahn had to emigrate to the United States because he was a jew. This didn’t mean that he left the company; he was still part of the company and cooperated in its business success, as he became importer of Schuco toys for the American and Canadian markets.

After the war, the company restarted its activities, and slowly introduced new toys in their catalogue, that was going out of style after 5 years without production.

Among the novelties in 1951, the Varianto System, which consisted of cars driving over cable-rails. Until now, cars did not represent any real car, were simply casted after the imagination of Mr. Müller and other workers. Mirako models also date from these years and consisted in older models (for example model 1001 from 1936) with a transversal motor that gave the impression that the car could steer itself quite intelliegently, since it would not fall off from a table.

In 1958 Heinrich Müller died and his sohn Werner replaced him in the company, and introduced and promoted new toy lines including ships, planes (Radiant), construction kits (Ingenico), and even “Alweg” trains.

That same year, the “Piccolo” collection was introduced. It was a new concept of very small cars made of solid metal. Despite its small size (scale 1:90), they were quite heavy. The casting job was quite accurate for that scale, but not perfect. There were more than 100 models of these made. Piccolo models (as well as later replicas of these 50s and 60s cars) are highly valuable toys today.

1:43 scale die-cast models were first introduced in 1960 as the “1000 series”, and so were the first cars in 1:66 scale in 1969, grouped in the new “300 series”. In Germany, these 1:66 models were “nicknamed” “Super Schnell” (Super Fast), just like their competitors from Matchbox. 

In 1971/72, a new 1:43 scale line was introduced, the “600 series”. Those models were much detailed and precisely casted, with many features like opening doors, bonnet and trunk (in the same model), more refined paintwork. Most reproduced models were German-made. These 1:43 series should be mistaken by other similar lines like the “Micro Racers” in 1:45 scale with wind-up mechanisms.

Schuco was producing by the early 70s the best models in Europe together with Solido and Politoys M, but financial problems would arrive by the mid of the 70s.

Since the early 60s, new plastic toys had been deplacing tin toys. During these years many toy German companies disappeared, or went bankruptcy and had to be sold. This was the case of Schuco that, in 1976, was sold to the DCM group from England (Dunbee-Combex-Marx).

In the early 70s, larger scale cars were introduced. There were models made in 1:12 and 1:16 scales with great quality features like a functional steering wheel, or light on head, tail and hazard lamps as well as the cockpit panels, a functional horn, or exchangeable tyres (including a functional “jack”). Some included an electric motor with forward and reverse.

In 1980, this group was declared insolvent and the Schuco brand returned to Germany. The new owner was the Gama-Mangold group, from Fürth, Germany. During these years, Schuco produced many replicas of their tin toys for collectors.

For several years, Schuco toys were sold in Gama boxes without any changes in the cast or the information on chassis. Some Schuco casts were sold to other companies, for example Norev (France) or MIR (Bulgaria).

Text on chassis plate: "Schuco Patent - Licenc Fabricacion Española - 1001"

In 1993, the Gama-Schuco company combined with Trix, a maker of scale trains (previously associated with Märklin), and in 1996, Schuco would became independent again, producing new models from new castings and also replicas or their earlier lines.

In 1999, the Mangold family abandoned the toy bussiness and Schuco was sold to the Simba-Dickie-Group from Fürth, Germany. This concern also has other toy brands like Majorette, Solido, Tamiya (scale model kits), Big (outdoor plastic toys), Smoby (outdoor plastic toys), Noris (boardgames), Zoch (boardgames) and many more. Schuco keeps some independence within this group and in 2009, Schabak was acquired by Schuco.

Today, Schuco is specialized in high quality replicas of cars (also other types of vehicles) in several scales, being 1:18, 1:43, 1:87 the most usual. Since the quality is very high, prices are higher than those from the concurrence, but differentiation is a key issue when Majorette or Solido are also parts of your corporation.

The cast is similar to other toys from these years. Check for example this Chrysler Airflow made by Payá, or compare it with the "Pulga" made by Rico in the following picture.

Schuco 1001 compared with a Spanish "Pulga" made by Rico.

As said in the article Mirako series were launched in 1951, so I date this toy that year. However, it can be that the toy is newer than that, since it was produced during many consecutive years. Apart from that, this is not an Original German Schuco, but a Spanish made, Schuco licensed toy. German units of this same toy are marked "Made in the US Zone Germany".

Additionally, I'd like to remark, that I do not own the original key, although the toy can be operated with keys from other toys or brands. The car is missing two headlights. Maybe I can reproduce them somehow to make the car look complete.



FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MIRAKO 1001
• Scale: Not a real car, but should be around 1:50
• Year: Around 1952
• Company: Schuco (Germany)
• Size: approx. 10 cm

#226 PAYÁ (S.C.V.L.) – SEAT 600D (Reedición) (1990)

 

Short history of the Seat 600 and Payá Coop.

I think I never talked about the Seat 600 in this blog before. It was the most popular car at its time, because it was the first car that was affordable for middle-class families. It was first produced in 1957 and there were several versions made until 1973.

The base, of course, is the Fiat 600. Some units were imported from Italy, but Seat soon started producing them under Fiat license. In 1957, its price was 65000 pesetas, that’s 390 Euros. There’s almost no family in Spain that hasn’t had one of these cars at some point, new or second-hand, a gift from an uncle who bought a new car… they were very common until the mid 80s, and now are have cult-status. There are hundreds of owner’s clubs all over the country, and from the 800.000 units ever made, there’re still around 10.000 out there (Wikipedia).

The car was not cheap at the time, but the 60s are the years of the “SpanishMiracle”. The income of families raised spectacularly as a result of the industrialization of some regions, the development of infrastructures, rural exodus and mass tourism.

The first 600 (named simply “600”) was manufactured between 1957 and 1963, and replaced by the “600D” model, that was manufactured between 1963 and 1970. There are several differences between these two models, mostly in a more powerful motor and a higher top speed. Both models are easily identifiable because of the doors opening in the opposite direction to all cars nowadays. This type of doors are called “suicide doors”.

Note the "suicide doors" typical for models 600 and 600D

Models 600E (1969-1973) and 600L (1972-1973) were already manufactured with the doors opening in the “normal” direction and with many technical improvements.

The only Seat 600 I have ever known belonged to my aunt, although my grandfather bought one back in 1960. He always told, they had to wait around one year until they received the car, because the demand was so great, that the factories could not satisfy it. In some cases, that waiting time, could go over two years. That car later belonged to my father, until it was sold by the mid 70s.

In “normal” conditions, the car was paid in two instalments. Half of the price when the order was placed, the other half 6 months later, and 6 months afterwards, you could go and get the car.

  

There have been many Seat 600s toys, and even today, there are many collectors or nostalgic people that look for reproductions of that car that they once had, knew or drove. In most collections, a Seat 600 is always the “star”. It is the most searched car between the whole Scalextric collection or the model made by Pilen are much more difficult and expensive to find than the other models in the same size and characteristics, just to name two examples.

This toy was made by Payá Coop. around 1984 (some sources say 1985). Payá history was already told here, let’s just remember, that when the company had to close, it didn’t disappear, because Payá Coop. continued making reproductions of old Payá toys, in a traditional style and producing in Ibi. This company doesn’t have any relation with the new Payá reproductions made for some newspapers or kiosk collectibles, these new ones are made in China.

The original Seat 600 in 1:20 scale was made by Payá in 1959, it already included a friction motor. It had a tin chassis with plastic body, and didn’t have windshields. The wheels were made of metal too and had rubber tyres. Shortly afterwards appeared the 600D version, with a less detailed body and plastic wheels.

The second version was reproduced in 1990. The model shown in the pictures is the "reproduced" model, not the original. It was available in 12 different colours. The box is original, and the price in the year 1990, was around 2000 pesetas (12 Euros). The production was so big, that it was common to find it under that price during the following years. Now it is gaining value, because of the difficulty of finding the original toy from 1959.

In second hand, played toys, the hubcaps are sometimes missing.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: SEAT 600D (Ref. 1600)
• Year: 1990
• Company: PAYÁ S.C.V.L. (also PAYÁ COOP.) (Spain)
• Size: Around 15 cm.
• Scale: 1:20

#214 OBERTOYS - GROTES-CAR RENAULT 5 (Ref. 102) (Around 1984)

OBERTOYS

Obertoys was another Spanish toymaker, based in the city of Ibi, Alicante. Unfortunately, the company disappeared in the early 90s (probably 1992), but left behind a great series of toys which are very easy to identify because they have a very peculiar style.

The company was probably founded around 1970 as a Limited Liability Company by a man named Olegario Bernabeu. The name of the company is derived from the name of this person (Olegario BERnabeu TOYS).

In this company there were two people with that name, and that makes me think they were father and son, although I don’t know which is which. I suspect, the father is Olegario Bernabeu Carbonell, and the son is Olegario Bernabeu Bernabeu. Obertoys was probably a family business. These two gentlemen also designed toys, and have several patents with very nice toys. Some are also very innovative. In some other Obertoys patents, a third person appears as inventor: Joaquín Pastor Carbonell, who probably was a cousin of Olegario Bernabeu Carbonell.

Obertoys' Logo

 

As said before the toys made by Obertoys have a very peculiar style, you can recognise them only by looking at them. They made a lot of vehicles with this “toon” or deformed style, all of them very funny. Some include a figure’s head (and upper body) as if it was the driver or the pilot. The materials that Obertoys used the most are tin and plastic, although in later years they will use more plastic and less tin. Obertoys labelled their products in Spanish, English and French, so a part of their production was intended for export.

Most of them are marked on the chassis and wheels, but some other, like this one here, use wheels that are very similar to Guisval’s. There are also vans and trucks in this or in a more realistic style, and in different sizes. 

Nice interior decoration in tin

Plastic Chassis with logo

 

This series is called Grotes-car (a wordplay with the word “grotesque”, meaning “odd” or “eccentric”), and represents a Renault 5, which was a very popular car during the 80s. There are other cars in a similar “deformed” style, but, to my knowledge, they do not belong to the Grotes-car line. Among those: Seat Panda, Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Golf, an undefined Formula 1, Citroën 2CV… undefined trucks and ambulances…

The four references depicted in the box are four Renault 5:

Ref. 100 - Rally

Ref. 101 - Bomberos (Fire Brigade)

Ref. 103 - Police

Ref. 103 - Servicio Grúas (Road Assistance)

Among the few toys that are not cars, trucks, or planes, there’s a great series of small, portable, sport games. These were my only Obertoys’ toys as a kid, and I keep great memories of them. I had a small football game, a billiard game, a mini-golf game and also a basketball game.

The founding date of 1970 is only approximate. By that time, Ibi had its first proto-industrial zone. In the outskirts of the city, 7 toy factories were built together. Those years were very prosper for the Spanish economy, and they would be until the mid-80s. In Ibi some building grounds were declared industrial, what brought new industrial zones. These new industries were not only focused on toys and were not only big toy companies. There were also many smaller companies that worked for the bigger toy companies.

The company had two addresses in Ibi: The registered office was in Roger de Flor, 11 (this street does not exist anymore, probably was renamed sometime) and the factory/warehouse in Virgen de los Desamparados street, no number.

According to somebody from Ibi, in the abandoned factory there were thousands of toys stored (that couldn’t be sold or taken out of the building because of the seize). It seems that the factory was looted little by little until the 5th March 2000, when it caught fire. That fire was probably intentional, since the factory had no electricity, and was seized by a bank. The fire was quite heavy and needed the collaboration of three firemen teams from neighbouring cities.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: GROTES-CAR RENAULT 5 (Ref. 102)
• Year: Around 1984
• Company: OBERTOYS (Spain)
• Size: Around 24 cm.

#210 LEMEZÁRUGYÁR BUDAPEST – LENDÜLET MOTORKERÉKPÁR (Around 1960)

Maybe you find the title of this entry strange… well it was also for me before I wrote this article. My father bought this great tin motorbike a few years ago in a flea market. It has been ever since in a drawer because it was to tall to fit in our showcases, I think he bought it because it goes well with other similar toys we have.

After thoroughly inspecting the body of the toy, we found no information about where was it made, or which was the brand of the toy. The only “hint” was a big L logo with the word “foreign” below it. I decided to search information about it today, and found some things and pieces of information I’d like to share with you.

The "L Foreign" Logo

The logo belongs to a company named Lemezárugyár Budapest, that was founded at the beginning of the 50s in the Hungarian capital, Budapest. It remained active until the 90s, although it probably lost importance during the last years.

The history of this company is very difficult to follow, since the only references I have found are written in Hungarian, which is such a complicated language that online translators cannot translate it to an “understandable” level. Impossible. 

Wheels are marked: Ballon Cordatic 325x19

These wheels are also market "Ballon Cordatic"

Bottom view - friction motor

This time you’ll forgive me if I cannot give much information about the toy company. I am myself very curious about it, it has surely an amazing story behind it. If you are Hungarian and you are reading this, maybe you can make a summary of the History of Lemezárugyár Budapest to be published here, or in any other place.

Here’s the story of the company (in Hungarian) written by its president László Kotan in 1972 for the 100 anniversary of the company. The company founded in 1872 is not exactly the same (this one was founded in Györ, anothercity), but it is considered to be it’s parent company. Maybe both companies were merged later.... In the eastern communist industry it was common that factories produce more than one type of good. A metal and tin plate works had easy to produce for example kitchenware, tools… this seems to be the case as well. If we only focus on toys, the history from 1972 to 1993 is here.

Another nice website with many pictures of toys made by this company.

Hope you enjoyed this entry!

After this 1961 catalogue image tha motorbike can be dated around 1960 (taken from szerencsijatekbolt.hu)

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: LENDÜLET MOTORKERÉKPÁR
• Year: Around 1960 (Probably sold during many years)
• Company: LEMEZÁRUGYÁR BUDAPEST (Hungary)
• Size: 24 cm