#970 DINKY TOYS – SINGLE DECKER BUS (283) (1971)

 

I do not have many Dinky models, I have maybe 5 to 10 models, none of them very valuable. Among all, this is the most impressive, as it is big, very well detailed and has cool features, asa it was usual for this and the other contemporary British brands.

The model is the Single Decker Bus, number 283, which was available between 1971 and 1973 (it was first sold in a cardboard box, then in a plastic blister with cardboard base). This is the most common red version, but there seems to be a darker red version with some shiny effect, which is even nicer and a green one, which was sold as unassembled in the DinkyKit series. There are also several variants, with different base or door colours.

It carries “Red Arrow” stickers, which, according to Wikipedia, is the brand name given to several routes used as a high frequency communter services in central London. The service started in 1966 and, at the time, used AEC Merlin buses, which is the model represented in this toy.

The toy came with two very cool features: the first one is the opening doors by sliding a button on the opposite side, and the second one is a bell hidden in the lower part of the vehicle, that can be ringed with the button on the lower side.

Some boxes included a small sticker sheet with three stickers, two of them indicating the route number “503” and “Waterloo Stn & 503 Victoria Stn”. Plus a red one with the text “Red Bus Rovers”. My model has lost the second one which should have been placed on the front over the windshied, but has two of the third on the roof (probably are placed wrongly, I have seen other models that carry this sticker on the rear between the headlights). The license plates and the white side bands were applied at the factory.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: SINGLE DECKER BUS (283)
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: 1971 (to 1973)
• Company: Dinky (Great Britain)
• Size: 16.7 cm

#839 TOYS FROM THE PAST - MUSEUM (II)

See more of these entries here: http://toysfromthepast.blogspot.com/search/label/TFTP

See you next month!

Important notice: The items on display are NOT for sale.

#821 DINKY TOYS – VOLKSWAGEN DE LUXE (1972)

Dinky Toys released the Volkswagen 1300 Sedan in 1965 with reference 129. The car was plenty of detail, had practicable parts, two-part wheels with metallic hubcaps and plastic tyres.

After several years selling it, in 1972, the model was update with plastic “superfast-type” wheels, and it kept selling for a few years more (unitl 1976). There are two versions with plastic wheels, being this one the newer one. That is the model I present here today.

The box in which it was sold was also modified. The original one is the classic yellow base and transparent cover, while the newer model came in the box with black base and transparent stretched cover.

Almost all models I have seen of this are painted blue, but other rarer colour exist.

The model still has all practicable parts, jewel headlights and nice details, like the license plate stickers, but it is not so nice anymore. However, being an iconic model of th history of automotion, it is a nice collectible.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: VOLKSWAGEN 1300 SEDAN/ VOLKSWAGEN DE LUXE (Nr. 32)
• Scale: 1:64
• Year: 1972
• Company: Dinky Toys (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 9 cm

#683 BRITAINS LTD. vs. DINKY TOYS –BATTALION ANTI-TANK GUN and 6 POUNDER ANTI TANK GUN (1973 and 1975)

These are two samples of British military die-cast from the early 70s. Both are very similar, not only the type of cannon (Anti-Tank), colour and year (both WW2), but also their mechanism is similar. Both toys could actually fire projectiles, but, after so many years, the missiles are missing. 

No. 625 by Dinky Toys is the 6 Pounder Anti Tank Gun from 1975. British made, this gun was premiered in the North African campaign, 1942. Later was adopted by the American army. THe Dinky model was made with great detail and realism, as you can see, the towing part is practicable, just like in the real cannons.

The cannon from Britains can be seen in this catalogue image, and the text written for it says:

BAT gun. No. 9720 Anti Tank gun can be mounted on Jeep or such small vehicle or just used as it looks sitting on the ground. Modern Military. 1973 till closing down. Modern Military Series.

BAT stands for Batallion Anti Tank and is also British made. This gun is slightly more modern, since it was designed and made in the early 50s. A very impressive weapon!

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: BATTALION ANTI-TANK GUN and 6 POUNDER ANTI TANK GUN
• Scale: Approx. 1:24
• Year: 1973 and 1975
• Company: Britains Ltd. and Dinky Toys (Great Brtain)
• Size: approx. 14 cm

#642 DINKY - LAMBORGHINI MARZAL (Nr. 189) (1969)

It seems almost unforgivable that in 641 entries, not a single one dealt directly with Dinky Toys. The reason is that Dinky Toys in Spain, where I lived, and Austria, where I live now, these models are quite rare. I didn´t have many models of this brand until a few weeks/months ago.

 

Dinky is one of the traditional die-cast manufacturers from England, not for nothing is a brand of Meccano Ltd, at the time one of the most powerful toy companies in the world. Dinky was active between 1935 and 1979. The history of the company can be read in the Wikipedia or in any of the many books related to Dinky Toys.

 

 

Because this time I am showing a relatively new car made by Dinky, I will only add a few lines about the later years and what happened to Dinky's brand after 1979. One of the many revolutions in the die-cast world, to which Dinky somehow had to adapt, was the Hot Wheels appearance with low friction wheels. Dinky had to adapt some of its models starting in 1967 to allow a new type of wheels and axles. Meanwhile, Dinky was still competing with Corgi to offer new and interesting features, like 4 practicable doors in the same model, aerials, jewel headlights and so on. All this great details raised the price considerably, and this would later be a problem when trying to compete with cheap Asian manufacturers.

 

In the 70s, there was already a considerable level of competitors coming from Asia, so Dinky started lowering the quality of some of its models. Collectors argue that some cars in this period are really badly casted, while other models still have remarkable accuracy and quality.

 

Dinky Toys finally closed in 1979. As many other die-cast manufacturers in England, and then in other parts of Europe, the competition from the rest of the world lead many traditional brands to disappear in the early 80s. The trademark Dinky, however, was purchased by Matchbox International in the late 80s, and some editions of Matchbox's cars were released under this brand, most of them oriented to adult collectors. Since 2000, the brand has never been used again.

 

 

 

The Lamborghini was available for the first time in 1969, while the real car dates from 1967. It was made in several colours through the years, including yellow/white, green/white, gold/white and blue/white versions, all of them seem to have different wheels. The blue and gold models are clearly the newest ones, with plastic one-part wheels. The yellow version has the oldest type of wheels, and the green one, as you can see in the pictures, has an intermediate type of wheels.

 

The base is marked with the patent number, but there is no scale indication.

 

 

Althugh the real car was made only one time (one unit), it has been made into a toy by many manufacturers, see for example: Guisval #23, Matchbox #69 or Yatming and Zylmex #631. Also Nacoral made a very impressive version with practicable doors.

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: LAMBORGHINI MARZAL (Nr. 189)
• Scale: Around 1:43
• Year: 1969 (available until 1974)
• Company: Dinky Toys (England)
• Size: approx. 9 cm

#141 REPRO BOX DVDs: DINKY, CORGI, MATCHBOX, SIKU (2012 EDITION)

I have recently bought this pack of two data DVDs that are sold through eBay. They are available from a few different sellers in Ebay, listed at different prices. I decided to buy the most expensive one, since it had a better description, more gigabytes and included several catalogues. I will not put the name of the seller here, but with the description (and picture) above, you’ll easily find who he is.
First I want to say is that the DVDs have what they promise: the comprehensive list of boxes that is show in the description corresponds to what it is to find in the DVDs. You can make your own repro-boxes very easily!

There are many catalogues, (mostly German and English editions), as well as price guides from 2004. The instructions for some models and stickers that are promised in the listing are also there. The fact that there are many German catalogues and that the price guides and other few documents have the eBay seller as an author makes me think that this guy could actually be the author of the dvds, and the rest of the sellers could have copied the dvds from the first seller. If not, he took the trouble to improve and expand the collection.
There were, however, some little problems with my DVDs: I found is that from the 8 or 9 gigabytes, around 3 or 4 are just pictures that nothing have to do with boxes: pictures of different die-cast models, pictures of custom and sci-fi cars, plus a whole bunch of software (freeware). Many files are also doubled… for example instructions for different corgi toys, or stickers… it is true that some are better scanned as others, but they could have erased the “bad” files.

The pictures that illustrate this entry are boxes I made for a few models, just to test how good the scans are, and if they are really accurate in size and colours. I am very happy with them, although with laser printer would actually be better than with my inkjet printer.
I hope you found this review useful if you’re thinking about buying one of these sets.I would recommend this same set I have, rather than buying a cheaper one.

Corgi boxes correspond to these two models:
- Chevrolet Corvair
- VW 1500 Karmann Ghia