#976 BUDGIE – PANTECHNICON REMOVAL VAN (Nº58) (1960)

Budgie is one of the brands from which, being relatively well known, I never owned any models at all. It was first one year ago that I got my first Budgie from a friend. I guess that at the time they were made, not many were exported, and therefore, they are very difficult to find outside of the United Kingdom.

Budgie history has been extensively covered in books and Internet sites, so I will skip most of it. I’d just like to point out a few facts about the company. Before changing its name to Budgie, the manufacturer operated in London under the name Morestone, or Morris & Stone, the name of its founders. This was as early as the 1940s. Interestingly, some Pre-Budgie models are marked “Modern” or “Modern Products”, as they were produced by a different company by that name.

The brand Budgie was first used in 1959, but not for long. The company was sold in 1961 to S. Guiterman and went out of business in 1966. Modern Products continued the production until 1969, and the casts passed that same 1966 to H. Seener Ltd., who specialized in die-cast cars for the tourist market, either under Seener or Seerol brands. These models were actually casted by Corgi in Swansea, as Seener had no factory or production means. It is difficult to give an exact date of when were these models discontinued, as there was still one more owner for the casts, a company called Starcourt. Recently (since 2017) DG Copy Models is offering Budgie Models based on the original castings. Zebra Toys and Autocraft/DGM also made models based on old Morestone casts.

During the 40s and 50s, Budgie was best known for its horse carriages and stagecoaches, or horse-drawn vehicles in general.
 
Budgie toys are slightly smaller than the classic Matchbox toy and had a poorer paintwork, they also could not adapt very quickly to the quality level of this competitor, or the first Hot Wheels. 

I have only this small truck, which is really beautiful. Reminds of early Lesneys with casted wheels. I think from all the available colours, this shade of green was the latest one used, but it is also the one I like most, ast the beige/cream and light brown colours are too similar to the colour of the decal applied on both sides of the van.

The rear door can be opened, and small items can be kept in the box, so it is quite playable as well. Nice!

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: PANTECHNICOLN REMOVAL VAN (Nº58)
• Scale: 1:100 (approx.)
• Year: 1960
• Company: Budgie Toys (Great Britain)
• Size: Around 5 cm

#975 NOVACAR – NISSAN 300 ZX, FERRARI TESTAROSSA, MERCEDES 500 SL (CABRIO), KENWORTH (T600) (1994)

This is a set of four vehicles I exchanged with a friend around 2 years ago. I think my first Novacar entry is quite complete, and has been quite successful, being even translated in message boards as well as referenced many times, so I won’t make any more references to the history of the brand or the series they produced.

We can take a look at the packaging, as this time, all four models are mint on package. Unfortunately, all cards are the same. They are not very elaborated, colourful and rather small. The card shows a three-lane road with two Lamborghini Countachs. The only difference among all four lies in the bubbles, which are different sizes to fit different models. The back part shows the safety instructions in many languages: Portuguese, English, French, Dutch, German, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Swedish and Greek, so we can figure out it was exported to all these countries and more.

The cars are all from 1994, and, therefore, the first decoration of the two available:

• 102 – Nissan 300 ZX in light blue
• 104 – Ferrari Testarossa in red
• 105 – Mercedes 500 SL (Cabrio) in grey
• 108 – Kenworth (T600) in blue

 

 

 

 

The cars have nice colours and/or tampographies, especially the Nissan and the Kenworth. The Ferrari Testarossa might be confused with the 348 GTB, which is reference 101. Both models are very similar, and exchanged their colours in their first and second decoration. The 348 was yellow in 1994 and red in 1995, and the Testarossa was red (this one in the pictures) in 1994 and yellow in 1995.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: NISSAN 300 ZX, FERRARI TESTAROSSA, MERCEDES 500 SL (CABRIO), KENWORTH (T600) (Ref. 102, 104, 105 and 108)
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: 1994
• Company: Novacar (Portugal) / Majorette (France)
• Size: Around 7 cm