Sze Toy or Szetoy is another Hong-Kong die-cast manufacturer from the early 80s, although when did it start and when did they disappear is unclear. It is sometimes confused with other brands such as Corgi or Yatming as they seems to use some common casts. Sze Toy sold their products under very different names, as they offered their products to retailers that packaged them under their own brands.
They have cars in different scales, other series of tanks and other sub-series of pullback-powered motors. My car is one of this latest group, and represents a toonified BMW M3 E30.
It belongs to the Mini Sprint Racers line, which were sold in bister cards and decorated with nice stickers (mostly a race number and some racing line or pattern on the roof). This seems to be one of the most modern models, as the others include a Honda Civic Ford Pinto Wagon from 1978, a Chevrolet from 1957 or a Volkswagen T1 Type.
Here are some blister examples of this series, they are all different.
pic: wallapop.com
pic: wallapop.com
pics: picclick.com
UPDATE (JUNE/2022): I got two more models of the same style and wheels, although the pull-back motor seems older and they are not marked. One of them is precisely the red car shown in that last picture above, so the logo would be in the cardback, not on the toy directly.
The white car represents a BMW M3 and has reference number No. 901. The orange one, I am not sure about (maybe a Japanese model?), but it is No. 903. They are both marked Made in Hong Kong.
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FACTS AND FIGURES:
- Name: BMW Turbo Group 5 E21 (Mini Sprinter Car series)
- Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
- Year:
1985Around 1979 - Company: Sze Toys (Hong-Kong)
- Size: Around 5 cm
This Model is older then you think: it is actually based on the BMW Turbo Group 5 (E21) around 1977.
ReplyDeleteThe "Civic" you mention is actually a Ford Pinto Wagon from 1978. Most of these models represent cars of the late 70's, exeptions being the Camaro, The Beetle and the 57 Chevy.
As you say, these models were sold under many different labels, so they are quite difficult to find online. But they are cute in their own way!
Wow, thank you for the comment! It is indeed difficult to recognise the car in this deformed shape, so I will correct the entry as soon as possible. I just own this one with the Sze Toy brand but I have a couple of others in which I doubt which model it could be. I like them, just as I like the supereformed line by Polistil (entry #294) or micro machines!
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