#918 UNKNOWN MANUFACTURER – GERMAN PLASTIC FERRARI and LOTUS F1 (Around 1982)

I have three cars of this series bought in the last 10 years or so. I thought they might be promotional items, but in the early 80s these kind of novelty toys were very common in kiosks and small toy shops.

RN 2

Among the probable makers, I discarded Manurba, but I am not familiar with many other German novelty toy makers or importers from these years, I also discard Hans Postler (H.P.) because this company was mostly an importer, and the toy is marked "Made in W. Germany".

The Formula Ones are models from the early 70s, made in bright plastic with black wheels and metal axles. The car usually has three parts: body, chassis and motor. Due to the colour, the casting´s details are difficult to see. The cars come with different racing numbers and they have a nice casting. Note also that the same Ferrari base has been applied to two different cars (yellow an green models)!

RN 5

They are similar to others made by Matchbox or Majorette, but I would say they are own casts.

The cars are marked "Made in W. Germany", plus the car brand, for example "Ferrari".

Has anyone out there some information on these?

RN 6

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: FERRARI, FERRARI and LOTUS F.1
• Scale: Around 1:64
• Year: Around 1982
• Company: Unknown Manufacturer (West Germany)
• Size: approx. 6 cm

#917 UNKNOWN MANUFACTURER - PLASTIC CAVEMEN FROM THE 90s

I found this cheap figures in a flea market. I couldn´t resist! they are so cool and would be perfect to display along with my Ice Age Dino Riders or to make other nice diorama photoshoots.

The person who sold them to me had a lot of toys from the early 2000s, and nothing from the 90s or older. Later I found another figure in a big lot of figures from various decades, being the newer from the mid 90s. I also asked Hugh from Small Scale World about them, and he told me that they came in sets with plastic dinosaurs, so they were probably popular after each Jurassic Park movie in the 90s. That is why I think they were probably made in the early 90s, and reused and resold many times since then. Hugh already informed me, that they are "generic" figures, that is, figures that have been sold under many brands and in very different sets over many years, so it is difficult to trace back those casts to one manufacturer.

No matter what, these four figures may not be the complete set, they represent cavemen in different positions. One is holding a stone over his head, another one is walking with a club in his hand, another is crouching and lighting a fire with two stones, and the last one seems to be collecting something from the ground.

I took several pictures of these figures that I present now.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: UNKNOWN CAVEMEN
• Year: Around 1990?
• Company: Unknown Manufacturer (China)
• Size of the figures: 3 to 5 cm