#1043 YATMING – WRECK TRUCK and HEAVY DUTY TIPPER TRUCK (Around 1975 and 1990)

Yatming has a series of trucks with different loads attached to it. Some people say, they are based on the Ford F600 Cab, while other people think it resembles more an Isuzu cab from the late 70s. Honestly, I think it is the second one, as the two rectangles on the front of the cab are typical of the Japanese company, but I am not an expert in trucks and even less in Japanese trucks. Maybe the next picture helps with the identification...

These models were released in the mid-80s and carried reference numbers ranging from 1351 to 1359. There were, of course, other truck models but these were the oldest. As it is usual in this die-cast manufacturer, the models were available during a long period of time, many years, in fact, so you can find them Made in Hong Kong or Made in China, with metal or plastic bases and also with different colour variants.

I only have these two:
 
1352 Wreck Truck (Made in Hong-Kong) still has its hook and is in a very good shape. With metallic base. The hook oscillates back and forth, but the black base is firmly attached to the cab. It can carry one car, but not every car, as the hook is too high for most models and, as a results, the truck drags whatever load it is.

1358 Heavy Duty Tipper Truck (Made in China), with plastic base. Interestingly, both share the same wheels, even though there are, at least, 10 years between one and the other. The bed is practicable.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: WRECK TRUCK and HEAVY DUTY TIPPER TRUCK (No. 1352 and 1358)
• Scale: Around 1:100
• Year: Around 1975 and 1990
• Company: YatMing (Hong-Kong/China)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#1020 GUISVAL - CENTURION MK.III TANK + KNOCK-OFF (1977 and Around 1993)

MONTH OF THE BOOTLEG AT TOYS FROM THE PAST

Today I want to show two small toy tanks.

The first one is made by Guisval and is a Centurion MK.III model, which appeared for the first time in the catalogue from 1977. There were several versions of it made those first years: in green (with british or Spanish roundels on one side), in light brown (with Spanish roundels) on and also in light brown with dark brown stripes (with a green flag and a crescent moon, which, to my knowledge, does not represent any real country).

Later reissues would also use new decals, like a British flag, and the last known issue is a completely white version from the United Nations, which I find quite original and I would like to own.

All of them have turning turret and the cannon moves up and down.

The second toy tank shown in the pictures is a low quality knock-off of the Guisval model made by an unknown company much later. The model is unmarked, except for “No. 462”, and it is almost identical to the Guisval model. The cannon is slightly longer, the plastic base and wheels and different). The metal and paintwork used are of lower quality, the paint scheme shows a green/yellow camouflage pattern and the stickers on the side say "U.S. Army".

Does anybody know about it? In any case, it is a very curious one, although the quality is very low.

 FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: CENTURION MK.III and KNOCK-OFF
  
• Scale: Approx. 1:100
• Year: 1977 and Around 1993 (respectively)
  
• Company: Guisval and Unknown Toymaker (Spain and China)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#992 MATCHBOX – BURNIN’ KEY CARS – DODGE CHARGER DAYTONA and KENWORTH MAGIC TRUCK (1983)

As early as in entry #25, I already wrote an extensive text about Kidco, the company that was producing the Burnin’ Key Cars before Matchbox, so please visit it again to find information about Kidco and the relation between Kidco and Matchbox.

 

This time I will just present this two excellent blisterpacks containing no less than a Dodge Charger Daytona and a Kenworth Magic Truck “Blue Chief”, unopened, but with some wear on the card and the blister. There were several of these cards made, but all of them included, of course, the key to activate the car (in an orange keyring with a sticker that passed to the car decoration). Later reissues of the cars (in new decorations) changed the key design and came without the keyring. In the pictures, behind the key there is a piece of cardboard that could be mistaken for a box for the card, but it is not.

 

 

Interestingly, one of the cardbacks still has an original price tag from Morawa, marking 49 Austrian Schillings, which is around 3,50 Euro…. Extremely expensive for the early-mid 80s, at least in my opinion. Maybe this is the reason why they are rare to find nowadays… they didn’t sold well at the time. The price tag at the front is obviously newer and has no interest for collector.

 

The backcard shows the complete series of cars (14 models) and trucks (8 models), I think these were the first series available, but it would later be expanded with new decorations for this original models, new models and even sub-series such as the Demolition Cars.

 

I guess many collectors despise them because they are not die-cast. The base is metallic, but the body is made of plastic, which is good, since it is a toy that suffers a lot of rough play, and the front part is made of a softer plastic, as if it was an oversized bumper. As a toy it is great, and the mechanism was copied by many other manufacturers inmediatly. Anybody can recognize this kind of toy and surely recalls having or playing with one of them, if not Kidco or Matchbox, from another toymaker.

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: DODGE CHARGER DAYTONA and KENWORTH MAGIC TRUCK (BURNIN’ KEY CARS)
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: 1983
• Company: Matchbox (United Kingdom) / Kidco (Macau)
• Size: Around 7 cm long

#989 BRUDER-MINI – RENNWAGEN (1987)

These toys are among the most recognizable novelty toys of all times, as they have been manufactured more or less continuously since at least 40  years by many companies around the globe and sold per unit or as a premium for chocolate eggs or similar snacks.

These are, however, the original ones, made by Bruder in what, at the time, was Western- Germany. Bruder is one of the most important toy manufacturers in Germany today, and its main product line today is a series of 1:16 scale vehicles and figures called bworld, which has an excellent quality. We have a couple of these at home. They started in 1926 by manually making finger buttons for trumpets, and expanded into plastic toys in the right moment, with the purchase of a plastic injection machine in 1958. 

But today we are going to talk about the Bruder-Mini toyline that debutted in 1981, although the company made other small and unexpensive plastic toys before, such as trumpets, whistles, guns… They were all immensely popular due to its low price and their variety.

The innovative idea was to make vehicles that could share parts among them, reducing the costs for tooling and manufacturing. That is, if you make a series of trucks, all will have the same base, and cabin, but the load will vary from one to the other, or if you have spaceships, you’ll design them in a way that the cabin will fit in several bodies, or the antennas can be attached to several different bodies. This was the main idea of the Bruder-Mini toylines, together with roughness and keeping the prices very low.

The very first series was the truck’s, later extended with other construction machines, but many other followed, such as, old cars, planes, trains boats, space toys, these sport cars, standard cars in H0 scale… and even more. Some are larger than others, the trucks, for example, are maybe the smallest ones, being slightly larger than a Micro Machine, while the sports cars or boats are closer to a 3 inches car than to a Micro Machine.

Among all different Bruder Mini series, this one is the only I can claim to have completed. There are 4 different models in total, although the colour combinations probably make a few dozens. They are not very easy to spot, but sometimes you find them mixed up with other types of toys. Originally, they were sold loose out of big buckets (see pictue below), or in smaller blisterpacks or bags

I am not sure which cars do they represent. I would say the red one in the big picture is a Ferrari, the yellow one in the same picture could be a brabham (looks a lot like the Majorette model) and the third F1 could be really any other (has a large spoiler). The sport prototype is also generic, I could not identify it.

I wrote extensively about Mini Bruder in the 24th issue of Figuras En Acción, maybe you want to take a look at the article you'll find HERE.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: RENNWAGEN
• Scale: 1:100 (approx.)
• Year: 1987
• Company: Bruder Mini (West Germany)
• Size: Around 4 cm long