#242 GUISVAL – SPORT PROTOTYPES (Around 1990)

I wanted to bring a few Guisvals from more recent times, and now, after a series of relatively old toys, is my chance to show these 4 models of sports-prototype cars made by Guisval in the early 90s, probably 1990 or 1991. They were purchased by myself, probably some of the last cars I ever purchased in a toy-store.

If you pay attention, you’ll notice all cars are doubled except the silver one. The ones I purchased, and therefore, the “first editions” of these cars are the ones with stickers. Later version were already decorated with tampographies, although these tampographies were, in some cases, very similar to the first version stickers, so I am almost sure the tampographied models are a “2^nd issue”. In this later models, we can observe very nice details that were “hidden” in the first issues by the stickers. See for example the sides of the Aston Martin AMR1!

And I talk about “issues”, because I have seen on the internet these same four models in a series of alternate decorations (for example a golden Mercedes Sauber C9, a yellow Jaguar XJR9, and more), which are to me later versions of these. After all, the recolouring and reuse of casts is something common to Guisval and many other die-cast manufacturers.

We may note that these “later” guisval have plastic bases, and include “racing” wheels, similar to some used by Majorette. At this time, Guisval already had to compete with toy cars from China with very low prices, and therefore, the models are relatively simple in their casts, plastic bases and simple interiors. The chosen models are also simpler than other models to reproduce, which also happened with a series of Formula 1 released at the same time than these sport prototypes, and that I will show some other time. Despite their simplicity, they still have windshields and plastic headlights (it’s the same piece).

The reproduced models are:

ASTON MARTIN AMR-1:

 

 

Rare tampographied version with yellow bits instead of black

 

JAGUAR XJR-9:

MERCEDES SAUBER C9 (in the base SAUBER is misspelled SANBER):

PORSCHE 962C:

Even more interesting is that these models are decorated like actual cars that took place in competitions in 1989 and 1990 (World Sports-Prototype Championships, Group C), and the stickers are still relatively accurate, and include names of real companies, like Castrol, Michelin, Silk Cut or Mobil.

These four models (especially the Porsche and the Aston Martin) are very rare in this (1:64) scale. I never saw the same model by other die-cast manufacturer. Mercedes Sauber was also done by Matchbox or Darda, although Guisval made it better in proportions, colour and details. The Jaguar XJ9 is also rare in this scale, but it has been released by Scalextric in 1:32 scale, as well as by other toy companies in 1:43 scale die-cast.

 

UPDATE 1 (Nov/2020):Third Aston Martin pictures added. 

UPDATE 2 (Dec/2021): These two were bought for Steven, so they are not in my collection. They are very late decorations of these same models. Rare!

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: ASTON MARTIN AMR-1, JAGUAR XJR-9, MERCEDES SAUBER C9 and PORSCHE 962C
• Scale: Around 1:64
• Year: Around 1990
• Company: Guisval (Spain)
• Size: approx. 6 cm