#910 BEST BOX and EFSI - FORD TAUNUS 17M and OPEL REKORD (2511/401 and 405) (Around 1969 and 1972)

There is something I haven´t shown yet in this blog: a real Best-Box car model. So far I had only models marked Efsi on their base, but thanks to Pablo from coleccionismo80-90.blogspot.com I got my first Best-Box. It is not in its best shape, but still it is intereting to have it in my collection, mostly since I am capable of comparing it with the same toy car marked Efsi.

The model is the Ford Taunus 17M. The Best-Box reference number is 2511, while Efsi´s is 401. Beside the obvious differences (color and markings in the base) both models are identical.

In previous entries about Efsi, I wrote the story of the company using several sources, but since the last entry, I received a comment from Ron Kolk, I responded, but he didn´t write back. I wonder if he is an ex-employee of the company, if he is the writter of the dutch wikipedia entry for me or if he just translated it for me, because he corrects the information displayed in entry #175. In any case, thank you so much Ron!

Ron Kolk November 3, 2017 at 4:09 PM

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.

The 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).

Ron gives some interesting key that may explain why are there in proportion many more truck and van models than car modesl by Efsi. The passenger cars were phased out in the late 70s, and no new casts were produced. Trucks and vans usually take longer to be replaced in the market for new models... Also interesting that mention to a portuguese company... which company is it? There are not many die-cast manufacturers in Portugal.

The exact address to which Ron refers is Sourethweg 2, Heerlen. I captured some pictures from Google Maps.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: FORD TAUNUS 17M and OPEL REKORD (2511/401 and 405)
• Scale: Around 1:64
• Year: Around 1969 and 1972
• Company: Best Box / Efsi (Netherlands)
• Size: approx. 7 cm