#237 FUNDIPLASTIC/ EL GUERRER S.L. – RENAULT 5 (Around 1984)

This will be a short article about a cheap toy I found around one year ago. It is a plastic Renault 5 with a friction motor, more or less in 1:20 scale, that’s around 13 cms long. I found it in a flea market and the seller still had the original package. In each box there were 6 Renault 5s in 6 different colours. Some had already been sold.

Original Package with all six models. Pic taken from todocoleccion.net.

All six models were decorated with nice stickers. The white model, for example, is a driving school car; the blue one is a road service car, the green one is tv repair service and the orange a rally car. The red one has ICONA stickers. ICONA was the old name of the Spanish administrative entity that took care of the natural environment. The yellow model is especially curious because it has a Superman sticker on the bonnet.

As a nice detail, the cars are casted with plates “MO-586-A”. This number is fictitious, because there is no province in Spain with MO, but MO are the initials of the town name: Mogente.

This cars were produced by a toy company that is completely unknown. The name of the company is “El Guerrer” (Valencian for “the warrior”), and seems to be a subsidiary of Fundiplastic, a plastic manufacturer in Mogente/Moixent (Spanish/Valencian). In this little town was found a bronze warrior from the 5th or 4th century B.C. that soon became the symbol of the town. This warrior gave name to this small toy company.  

    

Although I don’t know any other products from “El Guerrer”, Fundiplastic produced many plastic toys in the 70s and the 80s. A famous series were different plastic cars in this same scale (14 cm) and also with friction motor, for example a Seat Ritmo, a Ford Fiesta, and also the Renault 5 (only in different colours).

There were also cars in a bigger scale (28 cms) made, with practicable doors. From these, there were at least a Chrysler 150, a Renault 18, and a Talbot Horizon made. And in an even bigger scale than that, there were several models of trucks. In one catalogue there's even a cable controlled truck.

The following pictures show some products by Fundiplastic. Note that the figure of the warrior appears in the catalogue images below. These are also taken from todocoleccion.net. The catalogue is for sale here.

 

Fundiplastic's cars in 1:20 scale: Seat Ritmo and Renault 5

Fundiplastic's Talbot Horizon

Trucks by Fundiplastic. Note that the truck in the upper picture is carrying three bricks.
It had to be huge!

The difference between both companies are unknown to me. Anyhow, Fundiplastic quality standards are higher than they were at El Guerrer. The motor of my Renault 5 is not correctly fixed to the chassis, so it’s not suitable for “rough” play. 

If you have information on Fundiplastic/El Guerrer, and you’d like to share it with us, please write me.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: RENAULT 5
• Year: 1984
• Company: FUNDIPLAST / EL GUERRER (Spain)
• Size: Around 13 cm.
• Scale: Around 1:20