#429 GUILOY – OPEL CORSA, RENAULT 25 and FERRARI GTO (Ref. 66116, 66128 and 66136) (Around 1992)

We have talked about Guiloy a few times already, although I have never mentioned which is the origin of the company.

The company was founded in 1969 by four men from Ibi: Francisco Belda Guillem, Carlos Martínez Guillem, Ramón Mira Verdú y Manuel Mira Verdú. Initially, the company was intended to serve the toy industry, not to make toys itself. They were experts in the manufacture of casts, and also in metal or plastic casting.

Only two years later, the four members of the company decided to start their own toy lines. First part-time, than full-time.

From the very beginning, the company followed a quality differentiation stgrategy, producing great toys with metal castings but also plastic parts.

Their first products were 3 motorbikes in 1:24 scale. The success gained with them was used by Guiloy to broaden their offer. The first trucks were produced in 1977 and the first cars in 1984, in many different scales.

Guiloy's Opel Corsa (Ref. 66116)

The end of the 80s and the 90s were hard times from the company, since the first cars from Eastern Asia arrived, and the prices had to be more competitive than ever. The cars shown in this entry date from that time. The models are very simplified, the metal base has been changed for a plastic one… everything in order to produce cheaper toys.  The problem was that the Chinese toys were not only cheap, they were also better done (see for example this entry). Even the stickers were quite generic to fit any given model

Guiloy's Renault 25 (Ref. 66128)

The line didn’t last long, because Guiloy wisely changed their strategy and their vision. They started producing very high quality toys, most of them in bigger scales like 1:24. Their models were laureate with the “Miniature of the Year” award from the International Toy Fair in Nurnberg three consecutive years (1995, 1996 and 1997). This quality vision allowed the company not only to survive, but to produce many miniatures that were exported to all corners of the world. Unfortunately, the concurrence from the Chinese factories also reached higher scales and quality reproductions in bigger scales, and Guiloy had to close in June 2009.

Guiloy's Ferrari GTO (Ref. 66136)

Not to be mistaken with a previous Ferrari GTO. This one is slightly smaller.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: OPEL CORSA, RENAULT 25 and FERRARI GTO (Ref. 66116, 66128 and 66136)
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: Around 1992
• Company: Guiloy (Spain)
• Size: approx. 6 cm