#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

#1031 CORGI JUNIORS – CITROEN DYANE, 2CV and 2CV (1975, 1985 and Around 2005)

Each die-cast manufacturer usually focuses on the car brands that are more popular in their own countries, and specifically on those that are manufactured there. It is, after all, a business, so cars that are well known sell better. I say this because Corgi Juniors is based in Wales, United Kingdom, while Citroen is a French car manufacturer, so the models shown here are kind of rarities. Really? Well, yes and no.

The 2CV model appeared (in yellow with a duck stickers) in the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only from 1981, and Corgi always released models from 007´s movies. Besides being an iconic model, appearing in a James Bond film and had been used in several versions and decorations (too many to mention all of them), it is a profitable and popular model by Corgi (many French, Spanish, German, Italian… manufacturers also did it). The red version shown here corresponds to a release from the mid 80s, probably from 1985. This later version should correspond to serial number 53455, although I am not completely sure. The version with flowers on the doors has been spotted in the kind of box shown in entry #497, so it could be slightly older than the one shown above with coloured roof.

The orange version is done out of an alternate and improved casting (but simplified construction), and is already from the 2000s.

The Dyane model represents a much less popular car, and it can be mistaken by the previous one. It was intended as the successor of the 2CV, and came in several versions. I like a lot the fourgon versions by Majorette or Guiloy, but this standard version is also excellent. It has a practicable trunk, which is not so common in the Corgi Juniors line. There are basically three versions: bright yellow, gold yellow and purple. The second one comes with the roof painted black, the first and third ones don´t. This model was released in 1975 with number 89 (89-A1 Yellow gold model, 89-A2 Gold model, 89-A3 metallic purple) and was available until 1982.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: CITROEN DYANE (Nr. 89-A1), 2CV (Nr. 53455) and 2CV (Nr. Unknown)
• Scale: Around 1:64
• Year: 1975, 1985 and Around 2005
• Company: Corgi Juniors (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#1003 AURORA AFX G-PLUS/G+ – FERRARI 312 B3 (1975)

Sometimes you find surprises like this one. I was in a flea market, searching in a big box in which the seller had indicated “1 piece = 1 euro”, and found this nice slot car. I had no idea what it was, but I simply took it, and put it in the bag. It is actually very rare to see toys "Made in Singapore" these days, so I thought it might be something special. I recall that during my visit to the National Museum of Singapore, I found a small display of toys made there, but I don't have any memories of Aurora cars there...

Several days later I had the chance to search a bit on the internet. What was that strange Ferrari I had bought? I found this fascinating history here.

Aurora is the well-known toymaker from New York,  but this Aurora AFX was unknown to me. These small cars were the first to introduce the ground effect magnet to achieve higher speeds withour making the car impossible to drive. That is how the G+ or G-Plus (gravity plus) series was born. This was premiered in January 1975 and became an instant success, although Aurora was actually not doing as well and in 1977, the AFX line would be purchased by Tomy, that used the license in the Tomy AFX toyline.

The car is slightly smaller than the usual 1:64, and it is missing a mirror, but it is otherwise complete, and I would say it is still functional, I didn’t try, I guess if I apply 9 V to the motor, it will start.

The model represents the Ferrari 312 B3, as driven in the 1975 season by Clay Regazzoni and Niki Lauda, but the RN 6 does not represent any of them. I guess this small f1 was among the first produced. The same model was also reproduced by Scalextric in Spain, but in a different scale.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: FERRARI 312 B3  
• Scale: Approx. 1:64
• Year: 1975
• Company: Aurora AFX G-Plus (U.S.A. / Singapore)
• Size: approx. 5 cm

#960 CORGI JUNIORS - AIR BUS HELICOPTER (Nr. 35-B) and ARMY RED CROSS HELICOPTER (Nr. 40-B) (1975 and 1977)



Among the Corgi Juniors, this helicopter model is one of the most fragile ones. The blades are made of plastic and can be broken or bent in some models. It also has 4 very small wheels that are part of the base and that can also be broken.

The helicopter represents an helicopter similar to the Boeing CH-47 Chinook. Despite being named "Airbus" or "Air Bus", I am not aware of any double-engine helicopter by the European aircraft manufacturer. Maybe the name is just referring to an aircraft for transporting people by air, and therefore Air-Bus.

Corgi, like all the other die-cast manufacturers, released several versions of each model, and in this case, the Airbus came in a military and a civil version.

The civil model is painted orange and has "Airbus" stickers. The "A" logo is slightly similar to the real Airbus (the company) logo, but it is not related. It was available from 1975 to 1979. There is a colour variant in blue with the same stickers as the orange model, but this one is way rarer than the two showed in this entry, and I do not have it.

The military model was made in dark green and had stickers with the word "Army" and the Red Cross. It was available in 1977.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: AIR BUS HELICOPTER (Nr. 35-B) and ARMY RED CROSS HELICOPTER (Nr. 40-B)
• Scale: Unknown
• Year: 1975 and 1977
• Company: Corgi Juniors (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#906 TK (maybe CK) - YARDLEY MCLAREN F1 (No. 168) (Around 1975)

This is one of these Hong Kong mistery toys, from which there is no information at all on the internet. I couldn´t find any car like this anywhere else so far, and I have also problems decyphering what is the name of the company that made it.

The base of the car contains just the brand logo, that looks something like TK, maybe CK, then "No.168" and "Hong Kong".

The model represented is the Yardley McLaren M19C from 1972 or 1973, but in orange colour (which was used in previous years, and is still one of the most iconic colours for this British Racing Team). His most famous driver was Denny Hulme from Australia, although other drivers were Peter Revson (USA), Jody Scheckter (RSA) and Brian Redman (GB).

None of these drivers ever had RN33, so I guess, the decals were made after the model was produced, and it included RN33, that in 1974 belonged to the McLaren M23 driven by Mike Hailwood (GB), David Hoobs (GB) or Jochen Maas (GER) (depending on which Grand Prix of the year).

So we have the classic mixture of car, colour, decals that make no sense, but still looks good. The car is made completely in plastic, except from the axles and my guess is that it should be a cheap novelty toy sold in kiosks, or as part of a bigger toy, maybe a F1 Racing Truck?

As a kid, I had a car that looked similar to this one, but it was made by Gozán in Spain. It was intended to be the load of a car transporter truck. The feeling is very similar, but the car is different. The one made by Gozán is really a Shadow Ford, not a McLaren. And now that I refresh my mind with these pictures below, I see the Gozán model was better finished and had better quality (it was also newer, maybe 5 to 8 years newer).

 Pics: Todocoleccion.net

After the writing of this text but before publishing it, I found a seller from Holland who was selling the same model in blue with RN66. Everything above would also apply to this model, although RN66 does not correspond to any known McLaren. In 1974, the number was used by Mark Donohue´s Ford-Penske. This driver ran only 3 GPs that year.

There might be other Yardleys with more colours and race numbers out there!

pic: speurders.nl

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: YARDLEY MCLAREN F1 (No. 168)
• Scale: Approx. 1:43
• Year: Around 1975
• Company: TK or CK (Hong-Kong)
• Size: approx. 9 cm

#903 TOOTSIETOY - SEVERAL MODELS IN 3 INCHES AND OTHER SIZES (1971, 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1976)

Despite having collected thousands of die-cast models in over 30 years, I keep discovering new toys made by brands from which I have never heard of before, or by brands I know, but I never had in my hands before.

One of the brands in this second case is Tootsietoy. It is a great American toymaker I of course was aware of, but I never had any toys made by them until very recently. They were to my knowledge never sold in the countries I lived in, so I guess the ones I found were transported from Germany.

It is nice to have a couple of them, but I am not sure if I will buy more of them, given I can find more at reasonable prices.

The company has a very long history behind them, since it can be tracked back to the 1890s. The history starts in Chicago, where two companies merged in 1926. The first of them was a trade paper called the National Laundry, founded by the Dowst Brothers. They also had a linotype machine to make metal buttons, cuff links and other items related to their main bussiness. The second company was Cosmo company, owned by the Shure Brothers. They produced small cars also as cuff links, pins and so.

The Shure Borthers purchased the Dowst Brothers bussiness, but the name of the merged companies remained Dowst Manufacturing Co. The first die-cast cars were produced sometime between 1909 and 1911. The name Tootsietoy was registered in 1924 by the Dowst Brothers, supposedly after the name of a granddaughter of one of them, whose name was Toots. In the first years, the produced several promotional die-cast stuff or even figures for the Monopoly game and dollhouse furniture.

The 20s decade, the company produced many car toys, vehicles, hand guns and so on. Some of the first model were promotional, like a series of vehicles for the Graham Company in 1932 and for General Motors in 1935. During WW2, the production was reset for war effort, reducing the toy production to almost zero.

After WW2, the production continued offering mostly American models for the American market.

In 1961 Tootsietoy purchased Strombecker, who would became famous for their slot cars, and since then, some toys were marked Tootsietoy-Strombecker.

By the end of the decade, part of the production was reallocated to Hong-Kong, but henceforth the production plants in the U.S.A. (Chicago or Rockford, both Illionis) and Hong-Kong would close and new ones would open in China. The headquarters is still based in Chicago, but now the brand Tootsietoy is owned by J. Lloyd International, Inc.

Focusing on the toys now, the vehicles made by Tootsietoys were always quite simple in construction. The body of the car holds the axles from the inside and they rarely come with interiors, which were added already for the first time in the late 70s. A good example of this can be noticed in the next pictures of a buggy from the tough series.

1971 - 1249 - TOUGHS (Buggy, Trailer with Boat):

1974 - 2405 - MIDGET SPORT SETS (Jeep, Sport Proto, trailer with boat, missing car)

The selection of Tootsie references in this entry ranges from 1971 to 1976, and mixes cars in 3 inches (or slightly smaller, maybe 2.5 inches) and bigger models, and different types of vehicles. The nice part is that all of them are still in their original package, alhough not all cards are in great shape (some even cut or partially opened).

197? - 14127 - NO NAME (Car Transporter, Race Car)

This transporter, that has a considerable size, is built in metal with plastic base to give it a tougher construction. Unfortunately, the trailer is made of plastic, so I guess many ended up stepped-on and broken. It includes a nice unidentified race car.

1975 - 1250 - TINY TOUGHS (Pick-Up Truck)

What I like most from this reference is the Honda Civic from the 70s drawn in the card! Very cool hatchback!

1972 - 2400 - HOP'D RODS (Hot Rod)

The seller had several models from this series, but I bought only one, the one that had the card in best condition. I love that illustration of a custom dragster car. Unfortunately, the toy model is not very well detailed.

1974 - 2435 - FARM TRACTOR

I don't like this model especially, but again, the illustration is wonderful. They should have placed that sticker in the bubble or somwhere else! Interestingly, the toy is made in U.S.A., but the wheels were assemble in Hong-Kong.

1975 - 2552 - RESCUE (Helicopter)

Amazing packaging! I wonder who painted all that stuff.

1976 - ? - TOUGHS HITCH-UPS (Pick-Up Van and Buggy)

This is my only Tootsie in some kind of "jewel-case" with cardboard base and bubble on top. The buggy seems to be based in a Matchbox Super King model, or not?

 

1976 - 2200 - VANTASTIC California Sports Van

Another cool packaging. The seller had it in this colour and also in pink, a clear exploitation of Charlie's Angel's Van. I picked this one don't know why. Maybe it had a better card, because in pink it is also extremely cool. That mid-west country landscape (Monument Valley?) is not bad either. The Van comes without back door, because, after all, it was some kind of budget model.

All cards and boxes include some text referring to the safety regulations at the time of the release, and some also came with a nice promotional offer in which you could buy a Tootsietoys t-shirt. The offer has expired long ago, but I would love to have one of those t-shirts now. How cool would that be?

UPDATE1 (Nov/2019): Roadster in green, perfect to complete the blisterpack shown above that is missing one piece! Also interesting to have a piece out of the blister, so I am able to show the bottom part of the cast. No base, but still some markings. Note also the axles and the wheels that remind of Matchbox´s Regular Wheels.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: SEVERAL MODELS IN 3 INCHES AND OTHER SIZES
• Scale: Approx. 1:64 and 1:43
• Year: 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1976
• Company: Tootsietoy (U.S.A.)
• Size: approx. 6 cm to 10 cm