#480 SCALEXTRIC COCHES MÍTICOS ALTAYA (Part 2)

Since I know many of you would be interested in taking a closer look to the “Coches Míticos” made by Scalextric Spain for Altaya, I have decided to extend my last entry with two more entries, although these were made in 2001 and are (theoretically) out of the scope of this blog.

All cars were made by Tecnitoys. The promotional leafleft indicates that Tecnitoys used the original casts from Exin, although many collectors argue that the casts are new, since they have found small differences in most models.

The models are Made in China instead of Made in Spain, and all of the, have the word "Scalextric" in the windshield (the originals hadn't).

Here are the first 6:

Tyrrell P 34 F-1

Ferrari GT-330

Lancia Stratos

Renault 5 Copa

Cooper Climax

Jaguar E

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: TYRRELL P 34 F-1, FERRARI GT-330, LANCIA STRATOS, JAGUAR E-TYPE, COOPER CLIMAX and RENAULT 5 COPA
• Scale: 1:32
• Year: 2001
• Company: Scalextric Tecnitoys (Spain)
• Size: approx. 15 cm

#479 SCALEXTRIC COCHES MÍTICOS ALTAYA (Part 1)

“Scalextric Coches Míticos” was the second Scalextric collection released by Altaya. Altaya is a publishing house from Spain mostly known for selling their collections in fascicles you can buy at press kiosk weekly. After a few dozens of fascicles you have your complete book plus something else. In this case, it was Scalextric cars… but not any cars, but some of the most mythical cars ever made by Scalextric Spain.

The first collection from Altaya and Scalextric was a complete circuit with 4 cars. The first car was a Ford Focus, the second was a Seat Cordoba, both in rally decorations. Later, this collection was expanded with two Formula ones: a Minardi (at the time driven by Marc Gené) and an Arrow (driven by Pedro de la Rosa). That collection was not so interesting, since most collectors are just interested in cars, and don’t want any more tracks. I guess the people at Altaya noticed that the fascicles with car parts were sold much better than the rest, so the second collection they released comprised exclusively cars.
I will show all the cars in the next two entries, today I want to focus on the books. They are two blue folders with some index tabs. Each fascicle included one page to be separated and placed in the right chapter, for example:

• “Coches de Colección”: Showed many variants of one Scalextric model

• “Coches de Competición”: Told the story of a real car

• “Avences Técnicos”: Told the story of some invention or exploit in the motor world

• “Trucos”: Showed how to build you Scalextric models (they were sold in unassembled parts) and how to customize them for competition.

• “Historia de la Competición”: Nice reviews of competitions from the last decades.

The books are great, but as said before, the main argument for selling this book was to collect 12 reedited car models from the 60s, 70s and 80s, and if you subscribed, you would also get a nice suitcase to carry them. Many of these cars were sought-for collectibles, could only be found for maybe hundred Euros. A few of them had already been re-released as “Vintage” models, and now, they could be bought for around 40 Euros each… Each car came in four parts: body, chassis, wheels and motor, and each fascicle costed 6 Euros, if I am not wrong, or a little less if you subscribed or if you were a member of the Scalextric Club.

Together with the body of the car (first part) you got a card with a printed number of it that was a proof or the number of your model within the limited edition. The problem with the limited edition is that nobody told me how many units of each car were made... I guess many, since collectors bought many “bodies” to restore old damaged cars.

I still have some advertising that was included with the first issue where every detail of the collection is explained. It is very interesting that all models are actual models except the Mercedes Wankel and the Mercedes 250 SL, which are old models taken for the photoshoot only. Final versions would have another colour and different decals.

The collection is great, and the selection of models is also perfect, but the Spanish die-hard collector would have preferred to have a Seat 600 and a Seat 850 in it. These two models would appear in later collections from Scalextric and Altaya… or Scalextric and Planeta.

 

#478 G.I. JOE – ATTACK CRUISER (1991)

This is one of the most recent vehicles I have bought for my collection. I am not very interested anymore in vehicles, since they take so much space, but at the time, I didn’t thought about that so much. Many G.I.Joe collectors do collect only figures, and only look for a few iconic and realistic vehicles like the Tomahawk or the Killer W.H.A.L.E.

Vehicles that are imaginary or fantasy based like this one are only for “completist” collectors, and can usually be found for very little money. I decided to buy it, since this vehicle is from 1991 And I had no vehicles from that year, so buying it would also bring me a new catalogue with new and exciting vehicles and illustrations to look at.

The vehicle itself is quite big, the black part has space for three seated figures, and the launcher is also quite long. The small plane is made of very thin plastic, so it could actually fly, but that made it extremely fragile… I guess if somebody had this vehicle as a child, the small plane (we would call it today a “drone”) has been damaged or lost. Without it, the vehicle doesn’t have much interest; it becomes a lame tank with some guns at the sides.

Another factor that collectors usually hate is bright neon colours (as I explained in entry #4). And this vehicle has a lot of neon green… at the time it might have looked like a good idea, but today most people would say the designers got everything wrong.

No matter what I write, I like the vehicle as it is, since it brings me back to those years when those colours were trendy. Take a look at that cover illustration: the figures that drive or ride it have also nice and colourful outfits.

The European catalogue that was included here featured among others: the Ninja Force, the Talking Battle Commanders, the Super Sonic Fighters plus the European variants of many figures from wave 10 (that included missile launchers instead of “ordinary” plastic weapons). There were always slight differences between American and European assortments, and in those later years, Hasbro's European subsidiaries released only what they though it would be more attractive and would sell better.

Attack Cruiser Blueprints:

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: ATTACK CRUISER
• Toy Line: G.I. JOE (Wave 10)
• Year: 1991
• Company:  Hasbro (U.S.A.)
• Size: Around 25 cm long

#477 FX SCHMID – HEIMISCHE VOGELWELT / BIRDS OF EUROPE (Nr. II/87) (1955)

This is a rather old card deck made by FX Schmid in Munich. In the 50s, most card decks were based on nature or culture topics, and this is a nice example. Note that the back of each card contains a short description of the bird and its environment.

It is interesting to note that the box ("Seifenbox") is the original and has the old FX Schmid logo on the back: "Schmids Münchener Spielkarten Seit 1860" and the slogan: "Die alte deutsche Marken Spielkarte seit über 100 Jahre".

Although the game (according to trustworthy sources) was first released in 1955, the box indicates, that this version might be a re-edition, because 1860+100 makes at least 1960...

Birds of Europe has 9 families. Each family comprises 4 birds which have something in common: Songsters, Woodland Birds, Near Water,… and the name of the bird is written in German, English and French.

The illustrations, as you’ll be able to judge for yourself are great drawings with beautiful backgrounds. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: HEIMISCHE VOGELWELT (Nr. II/87)
• Alternate Names: BIRDS OF EUROPE (English), OISEAUX D’EUROPE (French)
• Year: 1955
• Company: FX Schmid (Germany)