#771 UNKNOWN MANUFACTURER – UNIDENTIFIED TOY BOAT (Around 1987)

MONTH OF THE UNKNOWN

I have a few interesting toys that I have been collecting over the years from which I know nothing at all. They cannot be identified since they have no manufacture marking. Despite searching the internet, I couldn´t find anything about them, so I changed my mind, and thought it may be better if I publish them now, and people reading this could help me identifying them.

There will be 11 toys (all 11 entries from January 2017), but I warn you: it is not an easy task to identify them. Are you ready for this challenge?

If I get hints and information, I´ll be updating the posts to add information about them. Thanks!

 

If you like the challenge, there are other toys in this blog waiting to be identified, click here to see all unidentified toys.

 

 

To finish this month, I had to look deep into my pictures which have not been published yet to find an unidentified toy. Finally I found this uninteresting boat (I have another one, but it is not complete, so I am not showing it).

 

It was made in Italy, and its logo resembles a “V” letter inside a square/trapezoid. I have been looking for the manufacturer, I even asked plastic toy experts for help, but I guess only somebody from Italy could identify it, since it was probably made by a small company producing novelty toys. Any ideas?

 

The toy is made of two pieces, although the other one I mentioned had more (it is a rowing boat with four holes to fit two rows and maybe a plastic figure or a flag or something else.

Both actually float.

 

Additional information: Bought in bigger lot that included figures from the late 80s. Bought in Austria.

 

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: UNIDENTIFIED PLASTIC BOAT
• Year: Around  1987
• Company: Unknown Manufacturer (Italy)
• Size: approx. 12 cm

#770 UNKNOWN MANUFACTURER - UNIDENTIFIED DICHTER QUARTET (Around 1955)

MONTH OF THE UNKNOWN

I have a few interesting toys that I have been collecting over the years from which I know nothing at all. They cannot be identified since they have no manufacture marking. Despite searching the internet, I couldn´t find anything about them, so I changed my mind, and thought it may be better if I publish them now, and people reading this could help me identifying them.

There will be 11 toys (all 11 entries from January 2017), but I warn you: it is not an easy task to identify them. Are you ready for this challenge?

If I get hints and information, I´ll be updating the posts to add information about them. Thanks!

 

If you like the challenge, there are other toys in this blog waiting to be identified, click here to see all unidentified toys.

 

 

After so many years writing this blog, I think I don´t have to say I love all card decks. I found this for very little money and I think it was a great buy.

 

 

The deck is a classic quartet game with no indications at all, although it is 99% sure made in Austria (there are many Austrian authors in) and also from the mid to late 50s (for the style of the box, the colouring and the cut of the cards.

 

 

 

 

It seems to be a low quality product, typical from the post-war times. I would say it has never been played, since the cars still have nice edges.

 

The beautiful illustrations in each card represent the portrait of the author plus some small scene of one of the four selected works they wrote.

 

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: DICHTER QUARTETT
• Year: Around 1955
• Company: Unknown (Austria)

#769 WAY-FORMED TOYS - UNIDENTIFIED RENAULT 5 TURBO and PORSCHE 928 with FRICTION MOTOR (Around 1986)

MONTH OF THE UNKNOWN

I have a few interesting toys that I have been collecting over the years from which I know nothing at all. They cannot be identified since they have no manufacture marking. Despite searching the internet, I couldn´t find anything about them, so I changed my mind, and thought it may be better if I publish them now, and people reading this could help me identifying them.

There will be 11 toys (all 11 entries from January 2017), but I warn you: it is not an easy task to identify them. Are you ready for this challenge?

If I get hints and information, I´ll be updating the posts to add information about them. Thanks!

 

If you like the challenge, there are other toys in this blog waiting to be identified, click here to see all unidentified toys.

 

NOTE: The manufacturer of the toy has been found. It is Way-Formed Toys from Hong-Kong (see below).

This is another Hong-Kongese toy from the mid to late 80s. It is, of course, a cheap toy, not a detailed scale model. It comes with a friction motor, like many other cheap cars from the 80s.

The base shows a very nice logo with a shark, and reference number 103. We know that the same cars were later made by the brand KY, and we have seen other models with the same wheels and structure (thanks Steve!). Other models from this series are a Renault 5 or a Toyota Celica Racer, although these are not marked, not even with a country of origin, so I assume the KY are newer than these. Which is the company with the shark logo that made the car before KY?

The car is made completely in plastic (except for the friction motor and axles) and has some paper stickers applied.

Additional information: Bought in a flea market in Austria.

 

UPDATE (Dec/2020): I found another model of this series, and it is a Renault 5 Turbo (No. 101)

UPDATE2 (Mar/2024): I found out the brand of these toys. They were made by:

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: RENAULT 5 TURBO (No. 101) and PORSCHE 928 (No. 101)
• Scale: Around 1:43
• Year: Around  1986
• Company: Way-Formed Toys Manufactory Ltd. (Hong Kong)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#768 ZYLMEX – FLIP CARS (Around 1993)

MONTH OF THE UNKNOWN

I have a few interesting toys that I have been collecting over the years from which I know nothing at all. They cannot be identified since they have no manufacture marking. Despite searching the internet, I couldn´t find anything about them, so I changed my mind, and thought it may be better if I publish them now, and people reading this could help me identifying them.

There will be 11 toys (all 11 entries from January 2017), but I warn you: it is not an easy task to identify them. Are you ready for this challenge?

If I get hints and information, I´ll be updating the posts to add information about them. Thanks!

 

If you like the challenge, there are other toys in this blog waiting to be identified, click here to see all unidentified toys.

 

Thanks to a reader of this blog (see below), who has provided the information I was looking for. The toy is made by Zylmex, and was sold under the name "Flip Cars".
 

I recently talked about Flippers, a subseries of Hot Wheels cars that were available in Europe but not in the U.S.

They were advertised on TV, and I guess they sold well during a short period of time. What I didn´t know is that there were bootlegs of them made.

I recently bought this car which is based on the same concept: one car, two sides, bright shiny colours. The wheels are even bigger than in the original Hot Wheels / Lionel Trains Inc. models, and the casting is not so accurate. You can clearly see, it is a more rough design.

Additional information: Bought in a flea market in Austria.

UPDATE (OCT/2022): I got a second model, looks similar on one side to the previous one, but the second side is painted in completely different colours.

Here is a sample picture of the boxed toy:

Taken from eBay

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: FLIP CARS
• Scale: Around 1:64
• Year: Around  1993
• Company: Zylmex (Hong Kong)
  
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#767 UNKNOWN MANUFACTURER – FERRARI F1 (Around 1990)

MONTH OF THE UNKNOWN

I have a few interesting toys that I have been collecting over the years from which I know nothing at all. They cannot be identified since they have no manufacture marking. Despite searching the internet, I couldn´t find anything about them, so I changed my mind, and thought it may be better if I publish them now, and people reading this could help me identifying them.

There will be 11 toys (all 11 entries from January 2017), but I warn you: it is not an easy task to identify them. Are you ready for this challenge?

If I get hints and information, I´ll be updating the posts to add information about them. Thanks!

 

If you like the challenge, there are other toys in this blog waiting to be identified, click here to see all unidentified toys.

 

 

This car is completely unmarked, but my guess is that it was probably made in China.
The cast does not represent any known F1, but the stickers clearly says Ferrari.

 

I first thought it may be a Holly/Rindei/Polistil model, since it has the same size/scale, pull-back motor and similar construction (chromed motor part), but still has some differences. It has lower overall quality, the front wheels are made of har plastic (worst grip) and the stickers are also worse than the ones used by Holly.

 

No matter what, a Ferrari is always a Ferrari, and despite being some kind of unidentified bootleg, it is still charming and looks good.

 

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: FERRARI F1
• Scale: Around 1:43
• Year: Around  1990
• Company: Unknown Manufacturer (Unknown Country of Origin)
• Size: approx. 8 cm

#766 UNKNOWN MANUFACTURER/ SPEED WHEELS – MITSUBISHI CANTER REFUSE TRUCK and MOBILE CRANE (Around 1995)

MONTH OF THE UNKNOWN

I have a few interesting toys that I have been collecting over the years from which I know nothing at all. They cannot be identified since they have no manufacture marking. Despite searching the internet, I couldn´t find anything about them, so I changed my mind, and thought it may be better if I publish them now, and people reading this could help me identifying them.

There will be 11 toys (all 11 entries from January 2017), but I warn you: it is not an easy task to identify them. Are you ready for this challenge?

If I get hints and information, I´ll be updating the posts to add information about them. Thanks!

If you like the challenge, there are other toys in this blog waiting to be identified, click here to see all unidentified toys.

I first thought this truck may probably be a Tomica knock-off, but I couldn’t find any model that matches this particular cast (both the truck and the “load”).  The truck is actually a Tomica knock-off, more accurately, a knock-off of the No.10 Mitsubishi Canter Refuse Truck (see comments below).

The truck was probably made by the late 90s. I bought it, because I liked very much the detail level of the cast and the opening gate in the refuse container. This indicates a higher quality level than the rest of “made in China” models from those days.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the manufacturer despite correctly identifying the truck as an Isuzu Elf. Ha ha! Not correctly identified. It is a Mitsubishi Canter, not an Isuzu Elf.

A nice Japanese truck from a car and truckmaker that is quite uncommon in the 3 inches world.

Additional information: Bought in a flea market in Austria.

UPDATE (Dec/2018): I think this model might be made by Welly, same as this other Mobile Crane, also a Tomica Knock-off:

UPDATE (MAR/19): The Mobile Crane has been spotted inside a Speed Wheels blister card (series V). Still could be made by Welly, since Speed Wheels seems to be only a budget reseller of die-cast made by other companies.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MITSUBISHI CANTER REFUSE TRUCK and MOBILE CRANE
• Scale: Around 1:72
• Year: Around  1995
• Company: Unknown Manufacturer, maybe Welly? (China) / Speed Wheels (U.S.A.)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#765 UNKNOWN MANUFACTURER – OLD FASHION LOCOMOTIVE AND THREE CARRIAGES (Around 1970)

MONTH OF THE UNKNOWN

I have a few interesting toys that I have been collecting over the years from which I know nothing at all. They cannot be identified since they have no manufacture marking. Despite searching the internet, I couldn´t find anything about them, so I changed my mind, and thought it may be better if I publish them now, and people reading this could help me identifying them.

There will be 11 toys (all 11 entries from January 2017), but I warn you: it is not an easy task to identify them. Are you ready for this challenge?

If I get hints and information, I´ll be updating the posts to add information about them. Thanks!

 

If you like the challenge, there are other toys in this blog waiting to be identified, click here to see all unidentified toys.

 

 

This toy was acquired very recently. The title on the box ist self-explanatory: a locomotive and three carriages (wagons) with wheels. It is hand painted and made on metal (die-cast, they are hollow).

The box is marked TM – Made in Japan, where the TM is placed inside a diamond shape. I have checked tin toy websites, but couldn’t find the brand.

 

What I have found is that the toy is quite common (so, not a rarity) and that it was used as a cake topper. Or at least somebody recalls having decorated a cake with it.

 

 

Some boxes are also marked with a sticker indicating “Shackman, New York, N.Y. 10003”. Note that the two wagons at the end of the row have different colours in the box than in the toy. This is common to all pics I saw on the internet. The passengers coach is kind of orange, while in the box is yellow and the coal wagon is yellow instead of red.

 

 

So the toy is not rare, nor expensive, but still beautiful, colourful and in a rare scale for vintage toys. A precursor to Micro Machines.

 

Additional info: In the box, there is a date marked with pen but difficult to see. It says: 3.X.1986. That’s 3rd October 1986, I guess, but what does it mean? was it really bought that day? If yes, was it new or second hand?

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: OLD FASHION LOCOMOTIVE AND THREE CARRIAGES (Hand Painted Metal Miniature with Moving Wheels)
• Scale: Unknown
• Year: Around  1970
• Company: Unknown Manufacturer (Japan)
• Size: approx. 7 cm (all 4 pieces in a row).

#764 UNKNOWN MANUFACTURER - UNIDENTIFIED BMW 320 (Around 1992)

MONTH OF THE UNKNOWN

I have a few interesting toys that I have been collecting over the years from which I know nothing at all. They cannot be identified since they have no manufacture marking. Despite searching the internet, I couldn´t find anything about them, so I changed my mind, and thought it may be better if I publish them now, and people reading this could help me identifying them.

There will be 11 toys (all 11 entries from January 2017), but I warn you: it is not an easy task to identify them. Are you ready for this challenge?

If I get hints and information, I´ll be updating the posts to add information about them. Thanks!

 

If you like the challenge, there are other toys in this blog waiting to be identified, click here to see all unidentified toys.

 

 

Today, I present one nice BMW wwith pull-back motor made in Hong-Kong. This model has a logo on the base which is a winged "A". I have discussed this with other collectors, but none seems to know who made this car.

 

 

The cast is good and has nice features like practicable doors, paper stickers, chromed parts, nicely casted interiors, the pull-back motor itself... The scale is very appropriate to put a pull-back motor inside. Many Hong-Kongese manufacturers actually did this in the 80s, and this brand is one more of many.

 

Additional information: Bought in a flea market in Austria.

 

 

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: BMW 320 (8201)
• Scale: Around 1:32
• Year: Around  1992
• Company: Unknown Manufacturer (Hong Kong)
• Size: approx. 8 cm