#1051 YONEZAWA / DIAPET - HATO BUS (NO.D-159) (1967)

Sometimes you find something exceptional in a flea market. Here is a Japanese made die-cast Hato Bus from 1967. I'd like to know  what is the story behind this bus and how did it arrive in Austria. It probably belonged to somebody born in the late 50s or early 60s until it ended in a box full of die-cast cars and vehicles. It has been already several years in my collection.

I have tried to find some information about it on the Internet, but it is difficult. There are a few for sale, but the text does not reflect any importantt facts or data. It was also available in white and blue. Due to the red logo shown on each side, I thought, this might be a JAL Japan Airlines Bus, but it is not. The text on the sides says HATO BUSU. I don't know what does this mean or which company or city represents.

My bus toy is slightly damaged on the rear part, as if someone had stepped on it and sank its roof. As a result, the windows do not fit very well anymore. I could easily repair it, but I am afraid I could do more harm than good. So I didn´t try yet.  The body of the bus is attached to the base by means of a screw, so it would also be easy to open it, and mount it again. I guess it is not very valuable in this condition, but it is something rare, exotic and curious to have.

Yonezawa STS was one of the most important toy manufacturers of the tin era, and produced many robots and space-themed toys. Their offer also included vehicles in larger scales  (1:18 to 1:24) and die-cast miniatures, although these were mostly marketed under the Diapet brand. The die-cast models represented often the same models, only in a smaller scale, 1:40 or similar). 

The company was founded in the 50s and was involved since its early days in the production of mechanical and battery operated tin toys. During the late 60s or early 70s, they also produced vynil toys (a kaiju helmet) and, in the 80s, they also were involved in radio-controlled toys. In 1991, the company was absorved by Sega to become Sega-Yonezawa, although this brand was dropped in April 1998. 

The logo of the company is a letter “Y” inside a cherry blossom (five-petal flower, known as sakura), which is a motif used by many comtemporary toy manufacturers. 

FACTS AND FIGURES: 

• Name: HATO BUS (D-159)
• Alternate Names: はとバス ヨネザワ ダイヤペット
• Scale: 1:90
• Year: 1967
• Company: Yonezawa / Diapet (Japan)
• Size: approx. 15 cm

#851 LION CAR HOLLAND - DAF DAFFODIL VARIOMATIC (Around 1967)

I enjoy discovering new die-cast makers from the past. A few months ago, I found this car and I bought it for 5 Euro. Maybe a bit expensive considering its condition, but consider I had never seen any of its brand before, I decided to buy it.

Lion Toys is a die-cast manufacturer from Holland. The company started as early as 1946 with tin trains, but soon started producing scale cars too. The "Lion" in the name comes maybe from its founder Arie van Leeuwen, but the Lion is also one of the symbols of the Netherlands, so it could be both.

The company seems to have been very focused on the national market, producing cars that were popular in the country. At some point they stopped producing cars to produce exclusively trucks and busses, again with a great focus on models which were popular in the Netherlands.

 

The firs car produced was a Volkswagen Type 1, but it was followed by many DAFs, a Renault Dauphine, an Opel Rekord or a DKW 3 = 6.

Among the trucks, there are again many DAF models, but also Mercedes, Volvo, Iveco, MAN or Scania, and the busses are Hainje or Berkhof, among others.

Since May 2010, the brand is property of Tekno.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name:  DAF DAFFODIL VARIOMATIC
• Scale: 1:43 (approx.)
• Year: Around 1967
• Company: Lion Toys / Lion Car (Netherlands)
• Size: approx. 8 cm

#823 GUISVAL – MORRIS MG 1100 and SEAT 850 COUPÉ (No. 28 and 32) (1967)

These two are probably the most valuable Guisval cars I have. I do not have many from the very first years with their boxes, just these two and 3 or 4 more. These two casts were in the very first Guisval catalogue including die-cast metal cars from 1967.

The Seat 850 was already presented in one very early entry I wrote for this blog (#23). The car presented then had slightly different wheels. That white Seat is the same that appears in the new pictures, for comparison purposes.

It is interesting to mention that in the very first boxes, the cars where fixed with some kind of double-sided sellotape, as you can see in this picture below. With the time, that sticky band has degraded and has turned to some kind of dusty stripe. This method was probably not very effective, so it was soon replaced by two pegs that would fit the base of the car. There is another picture above comparing the two Seats 850. The yellow one has no holes in the base, the white one has.

The MG 1100 has a practicable bonnet, which is a bit fragile, and the Seat has practicable doors. At the time is was not so uncommon for 3 inches cars to have this quality features, that later would be disappearing gradually.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: Morris MG 1100 (Nr. 28) and Seat 850 Coupé (Nr. 32)
• Scale: 1:64
• Year: 1967
• Company: Guisval (Spain)
• Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm

#760 CORGI – LOTUS-CLIMAX FORMULA 1 and COOPER MASERATI F/1 (Nr. 155 and 156) (1964 and 1967)

Despite having consecutive numbers and looking very similar, these two formula ones are 3 years from each other. The Lotus Climax was released in 1964, and sold pretty well, probably because it was the car in which Jim Clark won the championships in 1963 with a clear superiority above all other competitors. Almost one million pieces were sold.

The second model, a Cooper Maserati, was released in 1967, but I cannot identify it among the cars that run that year or the previous one. The colour and decoration may point to the Rob Walker Racing Team, but I do not know who drove this car with RN7.

Both models were discontinued in 1969: the Lotus maybe after the death of Jim Clark in 1968. The reason why the Cooper was also discontinued after only two years is also unknown to me... despite being so short for sale, it was sold 726,000 times.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: LOTUS-CLIMAX FORMULA 1 RACING CAR and COOPER MASERATI F/1
• Scale: Around 1:43
• Year: 1964 and 1967
• Company: Corgi Toys (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#657 ASS - FAMILIE FEUERSTEIN QUARTETT und SCHWARZER PETER (Nr. 662) (1967)

The Vereinigte Altenburger und Stralsunder Spielkarten-Fabriken AG (short: ASS) made this beautiful deck of cards around 1967. The copyright from Hanna-Barbera dates from that year, so I guess it was probaby manufactured around that year.

The deck consists of 36 cards (6 families) and one extra card to play Schwarzer Peter. Each familiy tells a story in 4 cartoons with some text in the lower part of the card. These stories deal with different situations like a car race, flying an airplane or hunting a dinosaur.

The most interesting fact about this deck is to observe how the cartoons are not made by the original artist from Hanna-Barbera, and these are not taken from the TV series or anywhere else. They have been remade by another artist, and you can tell that these are not the original Flintstones, but a little bit of a fake. Despite this, ASS apparently got the copyright, so it is a legal "reinterpretation" of the original characters.

The game comes with the cover card and another one with the instructions printed on it. The cover card, on its back side has a monochromatic cartoon depicting all 7 main characters with their names in German. Everything comes in an oversized box, much deeper than it is actuallz needed. A common practice, to make the deck/game look more than it actually is.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: FAMILIE FEUERSTEIN QUARTETT und SCHWARZER PETER (Nr. 662)
• Year: 1967
• Company: Vereinigte Altenburger und Stralsunder Spielkarten-Fabriken AG  (East-Germany)

#374 GUISVAL – MONZA G.T. and PROTOTIPO PANTHER 3 LITROS BERTONE (1967 and 1971)

These two cars are among the oldest Guisval I own, but surprisingly, they’re in mint condition. Perfect, complete, no paint chips… probably two of my most valuable Guisval models.

The first model is the Monza G.T. This car was already included in the first catalogue of the die-cast manufacturer from Ibi. In the catalogue it appeared in white, although it was available in many different colours and also combinations of two different colours. Another Monza G.T. made by Joal was already shown here. The wheels of the car reveal that it is one of the very first models, although there were later reeditions, until 1976. The latest version was orange.

The next pictures shows another model, quite playworn, in two colours. The interesting thing about the second model, is that it has the "newer" type of wheel hubcaps, as commented above.

The second model had at least two versions three versions This is one of the first, but a few years after its release the same model was released with a white spoiler and the plastic headlamps were only two instead of four. additionally, the front practicable pat (the trunk) had disappeared (the cast was modified to avoid those plastic bits and practicable trunk). The third version came without any plastic headlamps (and of course, no practicable trunk) This second and third models came with other type of wheels (the ones you see in the orange Monza GT above), and are quite rare nowadays.

In this entries, there are other very old Guisval models, from the early 70s and even some from the 60s.
Entry #23 - SEAT 850 & LAMBORGHINI MARZAL (1967 and 1970)
Entry #60 - LOTUS 63/2 "Zandvoort" and "Clermont" (1970 and 1976)

UPDATE (Dec/2018): I found several months ago a yellow/black Monza GT in a flea market. It has the newer type of wheels and is in a bad shape, but still wanted to share it with the blog readers. Note that this version comes with two holes in the base, so it already came in a different type of box.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MONZA G.T. (Nr. 25) and PROTOTIPO PANTHER 3 LITROS BERTONE (Nr. 46)
• Scale: Approx 1:64
• Year: 1967 and 1971
• Company: Guisval (Spain)
• Size: Approx. 6 to 7 cm.

#142 SCALEXTRIC – MERCEDES 250 SL (Ref. C-32 or 4032) (1967)

Not so long ago I published two articles about the “vintage” line that Scalextric started in the 90s. I presented the first two vintage cars they made: a Seat 600 and a Mercedes 250 SL Sport. Today I bring the “real” vintage version of the Mercedes: the original one from 1967.

As said in #107, there are two versions of the Mercedes 250 SL, this one (hardtop, ref. C-32) and the “sport” one (cabrio, ref. C-33). They were originally released in 1967 and 1968 respectively, being the second and third models designed and manufactured entirely in Spain (first one was the Seat 600, and before all these three, the Mini Cooper was manufactured in Barcelona, but designed in England). Both Mercedes share the same cast, but the windshield/ roof part. It’s a taste thing which one do you prefer.

The Mercedes were discontinued in 1972. In those five years were released in various colors: black, green, white, brown, and this burgundy red. Black is somehow “rarer” since the C-33 was only manufactured in the other 4 colours.

The hardtop was also manufactured in several colours: black, white, burgundy red and grey. They were applied in a way that the colour of this part was never the same colour of the car. There are very elegant combinations, like this one, but there are also some other combinations that don’t look that good, for example a light brown car with a burgundy red hardtop.

The Grey hardtop is very rare to see. The same car with it is up to 200 Euros more expensive than the same car with other hardtop colour. To my understanding this is a lot of money, since the grey hardtop is very light and it looks pretty similar to the white hardtop.

An interesting fact from this vehicle is that it was the first to have a “mobile” guide blade. The Seat 600 and all the English imported models to-date had a fixed guide. You can better observe this in the following picture. Note also the RX Motor.

Two more facts are the driver, which always had a "jet"-type helmet and the decoration of the car, which consisted of three race numbers, applied over the bonnet and doors. This model is completely original, even the tyres are the original ones (they were never changed). The box is also completely original. As you can observe, the box is tagged three times: the sticker from exin on one side, a second tag from "El Corte Inglés" (also on the same side), plus a third tag on the front of the box which has an uncertain origin. All three tags mark 420 pesetas, that's exactly 2,52 Euros. Compared to the prices that these cars can reach nowadays, it would have been a good investment to buy and keep a few of them over all these years.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: MERCEDES 250 SL (Ref. C-32 or 4032)
• Scale: 1:32
• Year: 1967
• Company: Scalextric Exin (Spain)
• Size: approx. 14 cm