#1005 BLUE BOX – PENNY RACERS and TRAFALGAR – COIN CHARGERS (Around 1989 and 1982, respectively)

The Penny Racers (or, in Japanese, Choro-Q) are best known under the Takara brand, which is also the company that introduced them in 1978. They were based on a previous toyline called Mame Dash which was discontinued in 1980.

They are miniature pull-back cars with superdeformed dimensions (Choro is an abbreviation to the Japanese word for “cute”), in whose rear part there is a slot in which you can insert, if you wish, a small coin (f.e. a penny) and the car will drive on two wheels, making nice acrobacies on its way. There were a lot of tracks to go with and the variety was enourmous, as they encountered great success both in Japan and outside Japan. The license has even make it up to a dozen videogames and some Transformers sub-lines are also Penny Racers, not to forget the licenses awarded to Blue Box, Funrise, Tonka and others. Even it may seem strange, the original Japanese line was aimed to adult collectors, whereas Tonka version (called the Turbo Tricksters) is intended for children. There were all kinds of vehicles made, and they are still being sold in many countries, so it is a line that is still alive and producing many different models per year. 

 

The blue and yellow buggy is my only Penny Racer, I bought is for one euro in a fle market around 4 years ago. It is a nice model with a decoration and colour combination that was usual in the 90s. You can read more about Blue Box Toys here.

Another model which fits into this category of toys, but it is actually a knock-off is this Coin Chargers by the Hong-Kongese company Trafalgar. This one is clearly older (probably from the early 80s) and represents a fire truck. It was a gift from Steven and it is still carded, which is always nice to see. The instructions are in simple English and include some errors. The backcard shows other 5 models, but you can observe that the Coin Chargers were probably sold for very little money, as the quality of the package is rather low, although at the time, most products of its kind had (more or less) this quality.

UPDATE (May/2023): I got this model from my friend Steven, and it is matching exactly the first model shown in this entry. It is also made by Blue Box.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: BUGGY and FIRE TRUCK 
• Scale: Approx. 1:90
• Year: Around 1989 and around 1982, respectively
• Company: Blue Box (Hong-Kong) and Trafalgar Toys (Hong-Kong) based on a license or copied from Takara's Choro-Q
  
• Size: approx. 4 cm

#945 SIKU – OPEL SENATOR and MERCEDES-BENZ 500 SE (Ref. 1040 and 1042) (1981 and 1982)

These two cars are in a rather good condition, but present some scratches and paint losses. Still they are excellent miniatures quite rare to find today, as the approach their 40th anniversary.

Both are made in 1:55 scale as it is usual in Siku’s Super Series. Made in massive metal are bigger and heavier than most Matchbox models or equivalent in the 3 inches size category. The represent large cars, among the largest available back in the day.

Opel Senator was launched in 1981 and discontinued in 1988. My model is metallic red. Other colours include orange, and much rarer light blue, yellow and tourquoise.

Mercedes-Benz 500 SE was release one year later, in 1982 and discontinued in 1990. My car is metallic blue, but it seems to be available also in black and metallic red, but these are much rarer than the blue one here.

Great models!

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: OPEL SENATOR and MERCEDES-BENZ 500 SE (Ref. 1040 and 1042)
• Scale: 1:55
• Year: 1981 and 1982
• Company: Siku (West Germany)
• Size: approx. 8 cm

#918 UNKNOWN MANUFACTURER – GERMAN PLASTIC FERRARI and LOTUS F1 (Around 1982)

I have three cars of this series bought in the last 10 years or so. I thought they might be promotional items, but in the early 80s these kind of novelty toys were very common in kiosks and small toy shops.

RN 2

Among the probable makers, I discarded Manurba, but I am not familiar with many other German novelty toy makers or importers from these years, I also discard Hans Postler (H.P.) because this company was mostly an importer, and the toy is marked "Made in W. Germany".

The Formula Ones are models from the early 70s, made in bright plastic with black wheels and metal axles. The car usually has three parts: body, chassis and motor. Due to the colour, the casting´s details are difficult to see. The cars come with different racing numbers and they have a nice casting. Note also that the same Ferrari base has been applied to two different cars (yellow an green models)!

RN 5

They are similar to others made by Matchbox or Majorette, but I would say they are own casts.

The cars are marked "Made in W. Germany", plus the car brand, for example "Ferrari".

Has anyone out there some information on these?

RN 6

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: FERRARI, FERRARI and LOTUS F.1
• Scale: Around 1:64
• Year: Around 1982
• Company: Unknown Manufacturer (West Germany)
• Size: approx. 6 cm

#886 UNIVERSAL - CADILLAC ELDORATO (Around 1982)

This is one of the cars I bought just because of its rare brand. It is not well casted, it is not in good shape, the name of the car is even falsely casted in the base. I had no idea which brand this could be, but being made in Hong-Kong it was clear that it is at least from the early 80s.

Back at home, my friend Steven identified it in a picture: Universal was the brand. Then I found an old article (written in 2003) by Kimmo Sahakangas on Universal and a second article on Wheeler.

Note the plastic chromed base with a "U" inside a circle, the misspelling of Eldorado and the Made in Hong-Kong. This U is the symbol for Universal, and derives from a "W" inside a circle from Wheeler, that was the previous name of the company. This model in particular, was available in both brands W and U.

Universal cars are simpler and cheaper to produce (for example due to the dark windows) than Wheeler. Some Wheeler were copies of major brands. Please refer to the article link above for all details.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: CADILLAC ELDORATO
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: 1982
• Company: Universal (Hong Kong)
• Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm

#874 NOREV MINI JET - FIAT 131 S and FORD MUSTANG (1982)

Another Fiat 131 S for the collection, this time made by Norev.

The Ford Mustang is also quite nice. Usually a model in which lots of people are interested in.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name:FIAT 131 S and FORD MUSTANG (Nr. 417 and 424)
• Scale: Approx 1:64
• Year: 1982
• Company: Norev (France)
• Size: 6 cms

#868 PLAYART - JAGUAR E-TYPE 2+2, LOTUS ELITE and PORSCHE 928 (Ref. 7123, 7199, 7201) (Around 1982)

Here are a few more Playarts with similar reference numbers. This time, all three vehicles are sport cars.

7123 JAGUAR E-TYPE 2+2 (Corgi Juniors Knock-Off)

7199 LOTUS ELITE (TOMICA Knock-Off)

7201 PORSCHE 928

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: JAGUAR E-TYPE 2+2, LOTUS ELITE and PORSCHE 928 (Ref. 7123, 7199, 7201)
• Scale: Approx. 1:64
• Year: Around 1982
• Company: Playart (Hong-Kong)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#861 PLAYWELL - DOME-0 (Around 1982)

This car was presented a long time ago by mistake. I don´t know why, I presented it together with some Holly models, that, to my knowledge, has no relation to Playwell at all. I was probably confused by the scale, similar bulky construction and pull-back motor.

The car is very interesting, since there are very few reproductions of this car made in small scale. Actually, and to my embarrasement, I had never seen this car before, I didn't know it existed.

There seems to be two different Playwell companies separated in time a few decades. The first one, called Playwell Toy Inc. was based in Hong-Kong and produced all kind of times sometime during the 70s and the 80s. The second Playwell was based somewhere in the Middle East and started its production in 2001. The company we are talking about here is the first one, and this car is probably from the early 80s.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: DOME-0
• Scale: 1:45
• Year: Around 1982
• Company: Playwell (Hong-Kong)
• Size: approx. 9 cm