Efsi Holland made these two vans in several versions each. I am still surprised to find more and more decorations of them. I already have 6 or 7 different ones.
Not only the colours change, but also there are versions with a siren on top, other without, and some with windows other without.
The Fiat 242/Citroën C35 was the result of a cooperation between the two car manufacturers and it is surprising to me that Efsi made two casts which are almost identical, instead of choosing another van which may look “more different” to each other. The only difference is in the front, where the logo of Fiat or Citroë in displayed and on the base, where the name of the car is written.
This van has not been reproduced in this scale by any other die-cast manufacturer I know of, so they are interesting collectables for people interested in the cars and vans from the 70s an the 80s. I think it was quite common in many European countries.
UPDATE1 (Dec/2018): A green Citroën C.35 "Holland", unfortunately not in its best shape.
UPDATE 2 (Nov/2019): Another Citroen C-35 in ambulance decoration, one more for my collection!
UPDATE 3 (Jun/2020) - Fiat 242 with pinkish base (pictures are a bit pale)
FACTS AND FIGURES
- Name: FIAT 242 and CITROËN C35
- Scale: Around 1:64
- Year: Around 1975
- Company: Efsi (Netherlands)
- Size: approx. 7 cm
In the late 60's, the mines were closed in Limburg. DSM (The State Mine) tries to provide the miners with new jobs. Among other things, DAF comes to Born.
ReplyDeleteThe state mines had workshops where invalidly affected miners could carry out work, so as to have a decent day-to-day spending. These "WIM Workshops" were transformed into Social Workplaces after the mining ceremony and housed by the Social Services Fund (FSI), which her social workplaces resumed at the Foundation for Companies of FSI, abbreviated as SFB . One of those activities was the continuation of the model car production of Best-box. Initially still under the name Best box, one goes to Efsi, a phonetic pronunciation of FSI in the seventies.
The company was moved to De Beitel in Heerlen. Initially, it was produced with the available molds. Later the molds were made by a company in Portugal. After making these dies ready-made, an alloy of zinc and aluminum (Zamak) was used to pour cars, lorries and buses. One had separate molds for the plastic parts, where the wheels, interiors, windows, bumpers were cast. The plastic came from DSM in the form of grains in various colors that Efsi mixed himself. The passenger cars were phased out in the late 1970s.
The maintenance of the dies and the machine park was carried out by EFSI engineers.
At the end of her life, Efsi was renamed in Holland-Oto. In 1986, after the closure of the FSI, the Holland-Oto molds were taken over by an entrepreneur from Weert. Efsi models can be found in Holland-Oto packaging. The former Efsi factory is still located on the Sourethweg in Heerlen, at the Beitel industrial site, opposite the former midwifery school (now called Imstenrade). The building is owned by the Employment Office Oostelijk Zuid-Limburg (WOZL).
Wow, thank you so much for your comment!!! I assume your know all this first-hand, I never found so many details about efsi or bestbox in any website anywhere. I will use the information in a next entry about efsi, and I will give you credit for it. Thank you Ron! If you read this, please contact me at toysfromthepast.blogspot@gmail.com.
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