#336 TINTOYS/ TIN'S TOYS – VARIOUS CONCEPT CARS (Around 1979)

These six cars were sold together in a 6-pack I received around 1990. It was a gift from my father, but I don’t know where he got them. I know why he chose this pack and not any other: the cars are all concept cars, and very nice ones.

They were originally decorated with paper stickers, but with the use, they got dirty, and started to “disintegrate”. I probably removed the rests of them sometime.

The box was rectangular, and had six slots where the cars fitted. Front side contained a window, so you could see the cars inside, and back side contained a list of all available 6-packs (or part of them), listing the models in each one. Although I cannot remember any of these sets, I know the 6 vehiclesin each pack were always similar, for example 6 busses, or 6 trucks, or 6 formula ones…

In this case, the six cars in these pictures are 6 concept cars:

T289 – Gruesome Twosome

T290 – Turbo Fury

T291 – O. S. 1. Silver Fox (Should say O.S.I. not O.S.1)

T292 – Marcos XP

T293 – Mercedes C111

T294 – Ford GT 70

The pictures are not very good (I should have photographed the cars individually), but maybe you can recognise that the first two references (Gruesome Twosome and Turbo Fury) are based on Matchbox casts, the O.S.I. Silver Fox (also known as O.S.I. Bisiluro) could be an unique cast, or at least, I do not know in which other model could it be based, and the other thee references (Marcos XP, Mercedes C111 and Ford GT 70) are based on Corgi Juniors casts.

The most interesting cast is, for the reasons above, the O.S.I. Silver Fox / Bisiluro. Additionally, the car has been set with a simulated motor (casted in plastic) behind the cockpit, that the original model never had. This makes this car quite an oddity.

The Company Tin’s Toys still exists, although it has changed so much, since they manufactured the cars I am presenting today. According to their website, the company was founded in 1965 by Mr. Tin Pok Sin, and from his name derives the name of the company. The official name of the company was Tins’ Metal Manufactory Ltd. Tintoys and Tins’ Toys are brands they use to sell their creations. Sometime during the 80s, the company moved from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, China, where they keep producing die-cast toys.

Today, they make their own casts, and even have some licenses from automobile and motorbike makers, back in the 70s, most of the cars (if not all) were copies from other manufacturers. Their current catalogue covers scales 1:10 to 1:64, all made with great details and they seem to be very well finished.

All cars made by the company during the 70s and the 80s are marked in the base either with a “T” or with a “WT”. Baseplates, by the way are almost always made of plastic.

Many blister carded cars can be seen on eBay. These date mostly from the late 70s, and have “Fast wheels”. Another interesting point, is that the stickers are shared between many different cars, I mean, the same stickers were used in different models. Many cars include chromed parts, while the bodies are usually made of basic, bright colours (red, yellow, blue, green…) with very few exceptions.

The cars were distributed in the United States by E.F.S. or the Imperial Toy Company by the mid 80s. K-Mart sold them, as well as Kingsbury during those years. Some boxes are known to be written in French maybe they were distributed in France and/or Canada

Currently, some of those casts are being used by High Speed.

Some information for this article has been retrieved from the article: Tintoys and Tins' Toys by Kimmo Sahakangas.

UPDATE: I recently found two more models that I already had, but this time in slightly different colours. The Mercedes in gold and the Marcos in pearl blue (the previous one was grey). The first model still has a sticker on the front.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: GRUESOME TWOSOME, TURBO FURY, O. S. 1. SILVER FOX, MARCOS XP, MERCEDES C111, FORD GT 70 (References T289 to T294)
• Scale: 1:64
• Year: Around 1979
• Company: Tin’s Toys (Hong Kong)
• Size: approx. 6 cm

#335 NINJA WARRIORS – NUNCHUKA-SAN, LORD TAKA and DRAGON MASTER (1985 / 1986)

This is the story of a small company, that by the year 1985 acquired the rights to make toys based on a few ninja characters. The company name was Child’s Play, and it was based in New York, although the toys were manufactured in Hong Kong. At the time, ninjas and martial artist in general were extremely popular among children, not only because of movies, but also because of the many toylines with martial artists in them or videogames.

As said before, Child’s Play was a small company (it was founded in 1984), but they managed to start producing and selling their Ninja Warriors around 1986. The first line of toys included 9 figures, 1 horse and one playset:

• Castle Keep – The Master of Strength
• Dragon Mark – The Apprentice
• Jonin – The Ninja Master
• Night-Wing – The Master of Fight
• Scorpia – The Evil Lord of War
• Shadow San – The Master of Invisibility
• Star Caster – The Apprentice Student of the Shadows
• Swift-Strike – The Master of Archery
• Whirl-Wind – The Master of Fright

• Topi Ken (Horse) – The Leaping Blade

• The Dragon Castle – The Ninja Hideaway that transforms into Ninja Fortress

NOTE: There is no evidence that every reference was actually made, because there is no known carded figures by Child’s Play, nor boxed playsets or horses.

The figures are very similar in size to the Masters of the Universe, but slightly better articulated, since they can move their wrists. They’re even made of a similar plastic and included plastic weapons/accessories. Like some masters of the universe, these figures came with a piece of cloth simulating a kimono or some kind other of exotic dress.

The story of the Ninja Warriors, as written in the cardback is:

“On the Island of Japan, over ten centuries ago, long before Columbus discovered America, before the Magna Carta was signed in England, there were an elite group of warriors. These warriors used the martial arts of all the countries of the orient and perfected weapons of silent destruction.

Some served no masters, save greed and evil. Other were bound by honor, loyalty, kindness and dedicated their lives to the preservation of good. Both factions were skilled at the art of Ninjutso. Both factions were known as Ninja.

Today one thousand years later, the art of Ninjutsu still exists, having been handed down through the generations. Now, as then, there are those who serve only evil and those who strive to stop them. They have come to be known as the NINJA WARRIORS”

Back to the story of the figures, Child’s Play thought these figures had so much potential, it would be better to ally with a bigger toy company with more resources and and experience. We don’t know if they contacted Mattel (who might not have been interested, since they already had their Masters of the Universe), or any other toy companies. At the end, they reached an agreement with Hasbro. In 1986, Hasbro had already included some ninjas/martial artists in their “star-“toyline G.I. Joe, and had no line in this size or with this theme, so it was a chance for them.

Up to this point everything was great, Hasbro released the same figures, with a few differences. First one is that the line was shortened to 6 figures, without the horse or the castle. These figures were renamed, maybe they thought they had better (more commercial) names for them, or maybe it was a matter of copyrights…

The third difference, is that the evil ninjas described in Child’s Play’s cardback turned all good guys. Hasbro’s toyline would be: “Ninja Warriors, Enemies of Evil”.

The six characters by Hasbro are:

• Dojo Kan
• Lord Taka
• Dragon Master
• Nunchuka San
• Star Caster
• Scorpia

 

They can be seen at a TV-ad in which actors are disguised as ninjas, and some scenes of a cartoon series are shown. That cartoon series, although planned, was never made. The names used by Hasbro should correspond to the same figures from Child’s Play, but just with the pictures in the backcard above, it is difficult to say which one is which. For example, Jonin could be Lord Taka, while Swift Strike could be Dragon Master.

Some sources say there were a few more characters planned, although I have found no evidence of this anywhere.

The line was cancelled after one a few months. Hasbro argued that the ninja figures were not selling well, because a disinterest of children. Hasbro abandoned its plan to launch a TV advertising campaign that had been anticipated in the agreement between the two companies. After this denial, Child’s Play sued Hasbro, as they thought Hasbro hadn’t done enough to promote the line, or even suspected, that Hasbro just wanted to get rid of a small competitor. The Federal Court failed for Hasbro, as (the contract) “would not have required Hasbro slavishly to devote its efforts to marketing the Line”.

No matter what, these figures were also sold in Europe, where ninjas were still popular. As a matter of fact, there were two more characters released in Spain (we could say some “Spanish Exclusive” or “European Exclusive” Ninja Warriors’ figures):

• Hara Kiri (repainted Dragon Master)
• Kamikaze Kid (repainted Dojo Kan)

The popularity in Spain was probably higher than in other countries, and local toy manufacturers launched bootleg or similar figures. Most notable are the “Guerreros Minyas” by Juyba Toys and from the same company, smaller plastic figures.

Pictures: www.todocoleccion.net

Apart from these, other Chinese companies also bootlegged Ninja Warriors. I have one of these, I hope I can show it some time in the future.

Picture: www.todocoleccion.net 

One last curiosity, is that there are two types of blister cards: the first one has a nice backcard with some illustrations and texts, while the second one has nothing on it. My cards are the second type, that’s why I am not showing the backcard. To see the first type, visit my next article on "Ninja Warriors": #386 NINJA WARRIORS – KAMIKAZE KID and HARA-KIRI (1986)

This article will be continued sometime… stay tuned.

Information for this article was retrieved from the very curious blog: Ninja Law: “Ninja inthe Federal Courts.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: NUNCHUKA-SAN, LORD TAKA and DRAGON MASTER
• Toy Line: Ninja Warriors (English, Int’l) / Ninja I Guerrieri delle Arti Marziali (Italian) / Guerreros Yakse (Spanish)
• Year: 1985 (Child's Play) / 1986 (Hasbro)
• Company: Child’s Play (U.S.A.) / Hasbro (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figure: 12 cm

#334 TOMICA – CHEVROLET CORVETTE, CITROËN 2CV, BUGATTI COUPÉ DE VILLE, PORSCHE 928 and PORSCHE 936 TURBO (No. T1, T3, T8, T9 and T22) (1993)

Thenext 5 cars are further examples of the “British Line” Tomicas, from which I made an introduction in this entry.

All of them can be seen in the catalogue pictures, because they were sold in the same blister card as those. 

They are all repainted models from the 70s and 80s. It’s easy to identify these releases, because they’re made in China, instead of Japan. Nevertheless, they’re nice collectables and rare to find in Europe. As a reminder, the date casted in the base refers to the year in which the car was manufactured. All these models date from 1993.

 

CHEVROLET CORVETTE “STINGRAY” – No. T1 – 1:64 – 1977 - Unfortunately in very bad shape

CITROËN 2CV – No. T3 – 1:57 – No Date

PORSCHE 936 TURBO – No. T22 – 1:59 – 1978

This next two cars were bought and photographed later:

PORSCHE 928 – No. T8 – 1:63 – 1978

BUGATTI COUPE DE VILLE – No. T9 – 1:80 – 1978  

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: VEGA, FORD MK CHEVROLET CORVETTE, CITROËN 2CV, BUGATTI COUPÉ DE VILLE, PORSCHE 928 and PORSCHE 936 TURBO (No. T1, T3, T8, T9 and T22)
• Scale: 1:64, 1:57, 1:63, 1:80 and 1:59 respectively
• Year: 1993
• Company: Tomica (Japan)
• Size: approx. 6 cm

#333 AIRGAM COMICS – SUPERDIABOLICS SUB-AQUATIC with PIRANHA (1985)

HISTORY OF AIRGAM and AIRGAM BOYS

This vehicle belongs to the first Airgam Comics series, you can tell the first and second series, because the figures in the second series have swivel arm and articulated knees, while those figures from the first series don’t.

It is important to mention that Airgam is a company with a long history. These figures belonged to the last toyline they produced, since the company declared bankruptcy in 1987 and disappeared. The following text is a summarized history of the company, taken from the great article appeared in rosaspage.com.

The company was founded by two brothers, José and Jorge Magriá Deulofeu. Although the company existed since 1945, the first two years they only produced pieces of wood to make necklaces and armbands.

Those wood pieces were provided by a small family workshop in the town of Torelló (famous for their woodworks), that was property of Pere Vila Soldevilla.

In 1947, the Magriás moved to a bigger workshop (also in Barcelona). The “catalogue” of the company was expanded by producing cloth dolls, leather balls, and small wood toys, although these wooden toys were not produced by themselves, but bought from Mr. Vila from Torelló.

The company kept growing during the next few years, and they were capable of producing more and more toys, even with increasing complexity, like toy guns. Around 1953, the company started casting plastic toys, which, at the time, wasn’t still a very popular material for toys.

In 1954, the Airgam company is officially founded. The name comes from the family name (surname) spelled backwards: Magriá – Airgam.

In 1965 the company moved to Hospitalet de Llobregat, which would be the base of the company until its end in 1987. The new building was much bigger than the previous one, and was equipped with all types of machines.

In 1976, the Airgam Boys toyline is put on sale for the first time. The figures were probably inspired by Geobra’s Playmobil, only a bit larger and more points of articulation. They look more like Play-BIG.

There were a lot of different themes within the Airgam Boys toyline. The most important were: Romans, Cowboys and Indians, Football Players, Soldiers, Astronauts and Aliens, and Circus artists. There was even a female version of this figure for girls called “Miss Airgam”, and many many accessories.

And precisely this same Airgam Boys line evolved into the Airgam Comics that I have shown in this entry (and some previous entries too). The first wave from this figures were simply repainted Airgam Boys to look like superheroes, while for the second wave some new parts were made.

Some of these figures were released as Coman Boys, since the stocks they had when the company shut down, were sold to Comansi. Comansi’s Coman Boys were much smaller figures originally, but I guess to spare the costs of creating new packages for these few figures, they simply packaged them as Coman Boys.

This figure is Piranha, and is based in one of the aliens in the Airgam Boys’ space series, only repainted to look like “Swamp Thing”. The original alien may have been designed after Greedo, the Star Wars character, or at least, the sculpt of Pirahna’s head is similar to Greedo’s head in Kenner’s 3 3/4’’ figure.

As other Airgam Boys, the figure has ball joint in the neck, practicable arms and legs (each leg moves independently, unlike Playmobil’s), and also practicable ankles and wrists.

The figure sold with the vehicle has a significant difference with the figure sold in blister cards, and is that it doesn’t have the piece of black plastic behind its head and without the accessory. I took the pictures with the other figure, since it looks better, but I have both.

The vehicle is also “recycled” from Airgam Boys, and it is some kind of boat/submarine. It has capacity for one figure (driver) which is placed lying down on the cockpit and “fixed” with two small hinges.
Some details which are worth mentioning are the chromed parts, the antenna, the very detailed cockpit and the nice stickers, plus two killer-features: the two spring loaded cannons and the motor to use the toy in water, which was also included in the pack. If not used in water, the vehicle comes with three plastic wheels.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: SUPERDIABOLICS SUB-AQUATIC with PIRANHA
• Toy Line: Airgamcomics (Wave 1)
• Year: 1985
• Company: Airgam (Spain)
• Size of the vehicle: 18 cm
• Size of the figure:  10 cm

#332 ZYLMEX – SOME “D” SERIES SAMPLES (Around 1977)

The history of the company, as well as the history of the “D” series, was summarized some time ago in another entry. This time, I’ll just show a few models from my collection I have recently photographed. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

All models are references between D41 and D72, which are models introduced by the mid to late 70s, except the Datsun 260Z (D75) which (some sources say) it might have been introduced by the mid 80s. All are die-cast with plastic bases. Most of them are made in black plastic, although that in the Vega model (D46) is made of chromed plastic.

These models are in used condition and some are more worn than others, but all of them are very rare to find in Europe and therefore nice collectables.

CHEVROLET VEGA (D46) and FORD MK IV (D53)

PORSCHE 910 (D54) and PORSCHE 936 (D62)

FERRARI 365 GT (D70) and DATSUN 260Z (D75)

The Datsun (last picture) is the only model which is not made in Hong Kong. For some reason the cast has been modified and the words: Hong Kong removed.

Some interesting that I have found nowhere in the internet, but that I recall from my chilhood days (maybe other people remember this too) is that the yellow Ferrari and the black Porsche (together with a few other models) were available as a cereal premium sometime by the latest 80s. I got these two in cereal packets, and I even got a second Ferrari 365 GT. The cereals were, if I recall correctly CHEX by Purina. At that time they were new to the Spanish market and there were at least 4 different varieties: Sugar Chex, Double Chex, Choco Chex and another one, maybe a variety with honey flavour? This brand was only available very shortly, and disappeared soon.

Read more about cereal premiums in this entry.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: VEGA, FORD MK IV, PORSCHE 910, PORSCHE 936, FERRARI 365 GT, DATSUN 260Z (References D46, D53, D54, D62, D70, D75)
• Scale: 1:64
• Year: Around 1977
• Company: Zylmex (Hong Kong)
• Size: approx. 6 cm