#991 NACORAL - MERCEDES 1905 and PEUGEOT 1898 (Ref. 1008, 1011) (Around 1963)

I think I have already written about this series of oldtimers in the past, if not in this blog, at least in the magazine Figuras En Acción.

It is a short series of plastic classic cars (from the beginning of the 20th century) in a very large scale, 1:18, 1:24 or 1:37, depending on the model. Originally, they were casted in colours which were more close to reality, but in further runs, we could find some strange red, dark green and other colours (bright blue and yellow) which make the miniature look more like a toy than like a car. The cars shown today are all belonging to some intermediate run. 

They were available since the late 50s to the 80s, together with Matchbox´s Models of Yesteryear popularity, and they were probably a good idea at the time, since the only classic cars available at the time were either in smaller scale of too expensive (brands such as Bburago had 1:24 and 1:18 scales). According to some sources, this particular collection was the most profitable ever for Nacoral. They were advertised in TV and sold in many countries worldwide.

 

These were the first released ever, starting as early as 1958 (some would be re-released with a 4-digit number later). These are rare and difficult to spot (especially in their boxes)

• Ref.365. Ford T 1910 (same as Ref.1102)
• Ref.370. Packard 18 Landaulet 1912
• Ref.375. Morris Comley 1923
• Ref.380. Rolls Royce 1907 (same as Ref.1104)
• Ref.565. Talbot Darracq 1904
• Ref.570. Mercer Racer 1914 (same as Ref.1006)
• Ref.615. Mercedes Simplex 1902
• Ref.620. Ford T Coupé (same as Ref.1103) 
  
• Ref.625. Rolls Royce Coupé 1908  (same as Ref.1105) 
  
• Ref.630. Panhard Levassor 1908
  
• Ref.635. Fiat 1899 (same as Ref.1019) 
  
• Ref.640. Renault 1899 
  
• Ref.645. Renault 1914 Taxi de la Marne 
• Ref.650. Citroën 5 CV
• Ref.655. Renault 1911

 It is interesting to note that at the time of their release, the oldest model was around 60 years old.

We continue with the 24 models made for the regular series, that, in this type of box, was available for many years and generated a lot of business for Nacoral.

• Ref.1001. Peugeot 1905
• Ref.1002. Renault 1903
• Ref.1003. Packard 1913
  
• Ref.1004. Maxwell Roadster 1911
  
• Ref.1005. Mercedes 1910
  
• Ref.1006. Mercer 1914
• Ref.1007. Opel Coupé 1909
  
• Ref.1008. Mercedes 1905 / Mercedes Paddy Wagon 1905
  
• Ref.1009. Peugeot 1892
  
• Ref.1010. Panhard 1898
  
• Ref.1011. Peugeot 1898
  
• Ref.1012. Renault 1907
  
• Ref.1013. Renault 1907-1910
  
• Ref.1014. Camión Renaul Carga 1907-1910
  
• Ref.1015. (not given)
  
• Ref.1016. Fiat 1908
  
• Ref.1017. Fiat Bianchi 1905
  
• Ref.1018. Fiat 24CV
  
• Ref.1019. Fiat 1898
  
• Ref.1101. Mercedes 1901
  
• Ref.1102. Ford T 1910
  
• Ref.1103. Ford T Coupé 1912
  
• Ref.1104. Rolls Royce 1907
  
• Ref.1105. Rolls Royce Coupé/Berlina 1908
• Ref.1106. Rolls Royce Carroza
  

 

 

That was the standard plastic collection, there were additional subseries that exploited the same castings. For example, some models were injected completely in silver grey or copper, and packaged in specific boxes, or in the same boxes than the ordinary series with a "PLATA" or "COBRE" sticker (Silver or Copper, in Spanish). These had a completely different look, they actually looked like a jewel or a trophy, and were probably intended to decorate some room or working desk.

 

Additionally, Nacoral made some models (at least 17) in bright colours (yellow, red, blue, white) for the "hippy" series. These had a 4-digit reference starting with 12xx and were sold in an urn with plastic base, the same base used for the metal-casted models (such as this Rolls Royce here).

And finally, the old cars were made in die-cast metal, although it is not quite clear how many, at least 6. These are much rarer, so I cannot really specify which parts were metallic and which plastic. For them, the reference number is also 4-digited and start with 38xx.

 

 

And this is not all since Inzaplas, the cooperative society formed by the employees after the closing of Nacoral, also released several models with their own boxes and urns. The models are in principle identical, except for the one-piece wheels casted in plastic and deocrated with chromed hubcaps, that does not look as realistic as the wheels made by Nacoral themselves.

I'd like to add that these two (and a few others) are a gift of my friend Steven.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name:  MERCEDES 1905 and PEUGEOT 1898 (Ref. 1008, 1011) 
• Scale: 1-18-1:24 (?)
• Year: Around 1963
• Company: Nacoral (Spain)
• Size: Around 15 cm long

#911 DINO RIDERS (ICE AGE) - GIANT GROUND SLOTH with ULK (1990)

 

The last wave of Dino Riders had a subseries called "Ice Age", that included 4 prehistoric animals, but no dinosaurs. For me, this was a complete error, since dinosaurs are so much more attractive! Maybe they thought that dinosaurs were very similar to each other and they were already reusing existing casts too much.

The four animals produced for this subseries in the closing wave by Tyco were:

-Woolly Mammooth with Grom

-Giant Ground Sloth with Ulk

-Killer Warthog with Zar

-Sabre-Tooth Tiger with Hub

Some people consider this subseries as a separate collection and until recently the interest for this series was very low. Now I regret not having bought these boxed a few years ago, when they were sold at very low prices. Currently they are becoming more and more difficult to find and the prices are rising accordingly.

Another news to this wave was a new figure cast, representing a prehistoric human, some are marked as Neanderthals, oder as Cro-magnons, but the cast is always the same.

These characters have rough-sounding, one-syllabed names and all play for the Valorians, not the Rulons. That is, they are nice guys. The figures have the same articulations than any other figure, but with some simian feature, like shorter legs, that have to have slightly bent knies to stand, and different colours ranging from light brown, to dark brown, to grey, to almost black. The characters carry also different paintings in their chests and different designs in their loincloths.

The four Ice Age animals included one figure each, equipped with grey weapons as the dinosaur´s figures from wave one, and four more figures from 2-packs. These came together with some Rulon figure, and the card also had some Ice Age decoration behind. Interestingly, this series 2-packs Rulons (also the two Valorians) were done in quite cold colours, like different blue shades, white, purple.. also giving the impression of an Ice Age, compared to the bright colours of the second series´ figures and the golden/silver of the first series´ figures.

As usual, the boxes in this series came in several sizes, the mammooth is big and has walking feature, the Warthog and the giant ground sloth are kind of medium, and the Sabre-tooth tiger is small. Maybe they thought this could be a bit short, so they also made three dinosaurs: the big Pachyrhinosaurus (also with walking action feature) and the small Quetzalcoatlus and Chasmosaurus. These three were probably decided after the Ice Age animals, since they are repaints of older models with slightly different heads or no changes at all and they do not match the concept of the line originally (although the line was already mixing dinosaurs from different geological eras).

In general, we could say that the dinosaur and animal armours for this wave are also quite simple compared to armours in previous waves. most of them come with a big piece that serves as a base from everyhting else, including the figure/seat. Two new types of pieces are those made of transparent plastic (like some kind of windshield or igloo) and flexible plastic tubes.

The Giant Ground Sloth (a.k.a. Megatherium) is maybe one of the references in series 3 with the most elaborated armour. Or maybe not the armour, because it matches the description above, but for two extra pieces that attach to the armour and that build an igloo with three cannons when assembled (leaving the animal unarmed!). It is the only dinosaur that comes with some detachable stratucture that can be played independently in the whole toyline (the Rulon traps cannot be attached to the dinosaurs) together with the Dimetrodon, that had something similar.

 

The animal itself is quite cool, it can stand on two or four feet and move its head up on down to look good either ways.

Excellent toy! Looking forward to get or complete the other three Ice Age plus all individual figures.

To finish the article, here are the German instructions for this toy.

 

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: GIANT GROUND SLOTH with ULK
• Toy Line: Dino-Riders (Wave 3)
• Year: 1990
• Company: Tyco (U.S.A.)
• Scale of the beast: 1:24
• Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm

#854 DINO RIDERS – DIPLODOCUS with QUESTAR, MIND-ZEI and ARIES (1988)

The Diplodocus is one of the biggest dinosaurs on the first wave. Tyco promoted this toyline saying the dinosaurs were realistically made in the correct scale, but I actually doubt it. The Triceratops or the Torosaurus are (quite) as big as the Diplodocus, and compared with the Deynonichus or the flying sauria, I would say something is not fitting.

No matter what, the Diplodocus was presented as the second biggest dinosaur of wave 1 (only the T-Rex was bigger), and the biggest dinosaur of the Valorians, the one that came with Questar, the heroic leader and Mind-Zei, the elder and wise Valorian. There was a third figure included, named Aries (this character did not have any elaborated background in the cartoons). Besides this dinosaur, only the T-Rex and the Brontosaurus came with 3 figures.

The Diplodocus had walking function and also moved the neck from side to side. It was operated by one battery located at the stomach of the dinosaur.

The armour is one of the most impressive ones, with two huge compartments at the sides, each of them opening with six doors that reveal a big number of cannons and one controller seat where 1 figure can seat or stand. There is a pilot cabin behind the neck, which is articulated, but after some usage, it does not stand anymore in any position you like, and the cabin does not close as it should. There is place for one figure there. Remember that the valorians can communicate telepathically with the dinosaurs by using the AMP, so there is no need for controls other than for the cannons and weaponry.

Finally, there are four more accesories, two of them are placed on the neck of dinosaur and two more on the tail, and in my opinion, these are great add-ons! The dinosaur looks pretty amazing with them.

As usual the figures included one rack of accesories, in this case the grey ones corresponding to the first wave. Three figures, three sets.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: DIPLODOCUS with QUESTAR, MIND-ZEI and ARIES
• Toy Line: Dino-Riders (Wave 1)
• Year: 1988
• Company: Tyco (U.S.A.)
• Scale of the dinosaur: 1:24
• Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm

#627 DANONE – 4 COCHES FUERA DE SERIE (DIE-CAST PROMOTIONAL VEHICLES) (1996)

This is a extremely rare set. I got it in 1996 by collecting yogurt lids, cannot exactly remember how many, but it was not easy. The vehicles were depicted in Yogurt 8-packs and they looked really great. I had to get them at any cost.

So, when I received the packet I was completely disappointed. The box came in this white cardboard box, and inside, there was another cardboard box with windows and the four models inside. The quality of the models is low, or rather low... very badly finished, no interiors, rough edges... and even fragile. The motorbike model breaks easily. At the back of the box, you can read that this is a collectable, but not a toy.

The box is also very fragile: the cardboard is very thin and windows break easily, because they are also really thin. That´s why I guess there are not many sets like mine out there. I always kept it in the protective white cardboard box, and took it out of it maybe 2 times in 20 years: the day I received it and the day I took these pictures.

All in all, extremely rare collectibles, surely appeals many die-cast collectors. The four cars are reproductions of Danone´s delivery cars, trucks or motorbikes from different years/decades.

Ford A 1930

Derbi 1953

 Sava 1962

Trimak 1966

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: 4 COCHES FUERA DE SERIE
• Scale: Several scales: 1:24 1:64, 1:100
• Year: 1996
• Company: Danone (France), Iberpromo Group (Spain)
• Size: approx. 6 cm

#604 RICO / TONKA - HOT ROD (Around 1977)

Tonka is another great toy company from the U.S.A. They were founded in the 40s and, even today, the name is still being used by current toy manufacturers. The original company does not exist anymore, though. As it usually happen, the original company did not manufcature toys at the time of its foundation, but at some point they saw some bussiness there, and changed the production to toys.

Mound Metalcraft was founded in 1946 in Mound, Minnesota, with the intention of making and selling garden appliances. Their first products were two tie-rack models. The founders were: Lynn Everett Baker, Avery F. Crounse, and Alvin F. Tesch. At some point in 1947, they thought it would be a good idea to include a few toys in their portfolio, and manufactured the first Tonka trucks. By then, the company already had a new logo and a new name: Tonka, a variation of the Dakota Sioux word for "big" or "great".

Taken from underconsideration.com

Toys became the main source of incomes for the company, so in 1955 Mound Metalcraft changed its name to Tonka Toys. During that first year, 37,000 metal trucks were manufactured, counting two models: a steam shovel and a crane.

Like every other company those years, they mostly used metal parts, that were later replaced with plastic parts from the late 70s on. The toys are characterized for being very sturdy.

The company Tonka bought Kenner Parker in 1987 and was later acquired by Hasbro in 1991. Currently, the Tonka brand is property of Maisto, that has a line of 1:64 trucks sold under this brand/series.

Information up to this point: mostly Wikipedia

But since I am from Spain, and this blog deals with many Spanish toys, my interest to Tonka is related to the licenses Tonka gave to other toy manufacturers around the world. In the particular case of Spain, it was Rico that manufactured many Tonka-licensed toys for the Spanish market. Toys are recognisable because Tonka always gave to its toys an unique, sturdy, bulky look.

One of the most famous lines back then was the "Sansón" trucks (Engl. Samson, like the Biblical character of enormous strength) That I would like to comment in this blog soon. Other series was "Diablos", and I am sure there were some more series available.

The Hot Rod shown in this entry is not a genuine Tonka, note that the brand TONKA is marked in the rubber tyres and the front grill, but this car is actually a Rico product, manufactured with the original casts by Tonka. It was sold under the line "Autos Locos", which roughly translates as "Crazy Cars". The name is probably not randomly chosen, since the TV series "Wacky Races" was also dubbed to Spanish as "Autos Locos", so maybe this name was appealing to the audience of the TV show.

I must say I have seen this line for the first time today, so now I am thinking that the "Old Cars" by Playtoy might be an attempt to copy this particular Rico series. Note that the reference 503 of the "Old Cars" is very similar to this model presented here.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: HOT ROD ("AUTOS LOCOS")
• Scale: Maybe 1:24
• Year: Around 1977
• Company: Rico (Spain) / Tonka (U.S.A.)
• Size: approx. 12 cm