#1063 SCHMIDT SPIELE - MOTORWELT (8329) and SPEEDWAY (8338) (Around 1989)

These two sets were made by Schmid around 1989, although the interesting part is that one of them includes a title card with the Berliner Spielkarten logo. I don't know what was the relation between the two brands, I think the company Berliner Blatz Group is the owner of both brands, but I'd like to know more about the relation between both companies. 

The first deck is Motorwelt, and includes 32 cards with cars available at the end of the eighties. There are cars in all price categories, from a Renault 5 to a Lamborghini Countach.  The Spitzen-Trumpf (the most powerful card in the deck) is the Porsche 959, which wins all other cards in several categories.

The cover card indicates that there is a Battleships game on the back of the cards, which is something I do not quite understand. I have other sets with this game as well, but If you play this game, you´ll have to write on the back of the cards and, this way, spoil the deck. Or maybe this was intended, so children buy the next quartet game?

The second deck deals with motocross motorbikes. The most remarkable feature of this other deck, is that each card has a piece of information about the machines in the photographs or about the sports in which they are used. Honestly, I am impressed by some of these racing events, like the speed race in snow or the others with sidecar. It must be very impressive to have seen that live. I am not sure if these competitions are still hold or not. Unfortunately, there technical information on each card refers to the motorbike, not to the pilots/drivers, which would have been very interesting too.

Again, the Spitzen Trumpf is a BMW motorbike with Sidecar. Germans are, of course, favouring their own brands against foreign ones. 

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: MOTORWELT (8329) and SPEEDWAY (8338)
• Year: Around 1989
• Company: Berliner or Schmidt Spiele (Germany)

#950 FEBER CARRERA – HONDA MOTORBIKE PLUS RACING APPAREL / MONO DE MOTORISTA (1986)

Feber was the great Spanish toy manufacturer from the late 80s, they had virtually every type of toy, from dolls to board games to battery vehicles.

I had a Honda motorbike in scale 1:2 in red when I was maybe 5 or 6. It was probably the greatest present I ever got for Christmas. The motorbike was very realistic and looked like the real one, even had suspension. Unlike other battery motorbikes that were operated by stepping in a button, this one had throttle twist, making it almost real. According to the promo, it had two motors.



Other technical characteristics:

• Dimensions: 1110x355x705 mm
• Batery: 6V, 8 A?
• Weight: 8.3 kg
• Scale: 1:2

My father manipulated the circuitry to also have blinkers (or turn signals), so I probably had the coolest Feber Honda in the world.

Photo: todocoleccion.net

With the motorbike I got a Feber helmet in grey, similar to the one that the boy in the first picture is carrying and the yellow racing appareil shown in this entry. It is the only part that survived until today and it is completely original except for the Alfa-Romeo patch on the back, which was applied shortly after its purchase. I can even recall where did my parents buy the patch, and how we applied it. It is in great shape, despite being around 35 years old and have been used by a few kids for disguises or riding bikes. It is for a six-year-old child, probably size 110 to 120.

I like the patches that Feber designed for it, and it makes me think that the clothes were actually inteded for a Paris-Dakar battery motorbike also by Feber (That one was a KTM) or maybe for both at the same time (note also the Honda patch). The appareil was also available in red inteded for the Honda I had, as you can see in the promotional page shown above.

The motorbike was stored during many years in a shed, but was not working anymore and at some point it disappeared. The helmet also lost its face shield, and probably got dirty, since its interior could only be partially washed or nothing at all.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: FEBER CARRERA (HONDA 750cc), RACING APPAREIL and HELMET
• Year: 1986
• Company: Feber (Spain)
• Scale: 1:2

#919 SCALE MODEL SPORT MOTORCYCLE - KAWASAKI Z-SERIES? (1983)

This is a plastic motorbike made in Hong-Kong by an unknown manufacturer, but imported to Italy by a company called R.M.G.

With that name, it is kind of difficult to trace back which company is that. It is copyrighted in 1983 and labelled as "Scale Model Sport Motorcycle". At first sight I thought it may be a Mercury knock-off (same scale and detail level, much worse quality), but now I think it is just a motorbike made in the same scale.

Regarding the quality, note the orange part on one side should be over the exhaust pipe, and not below it.

The motorbike seems to be a Kawasaki (that´s what the sticker says) and it definitely looks like some early 80s models from the Z-series, like Z750, Z500, and so on, but the exhaust pipes are kind of strange. I haven´t found any Kawasaki with this kind of seemingly inverted pipes, they all have rather low ones.

Maybe during the production, they run of the proper exhaust pipes and mounted those from another model, or maybe there were only just one model for all motorbikes? I am not sure if many of these motorbikes have survived to this day. I would say any motorbike removed from its package has certainly been damaged or destroyed by play. The plastic parts, like the brake levers, race number holder, mudguards and so on look so fragile, that I cannot imagine that a played motorbike is still 100% complete.

Anyone has one of these new and in a box? How many models were made?
Which is this R.M.G. misterious company? Too many questions. In any case, the motorbike is a curious toy, looks nice in it box and deserves being in this blog.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: SCALE MODEL SPORT MOTORCYCLE (KAWASAKI Z-SERIES)
• Scale: Around 1:32
• Year: 1983
• Company: R.M.G. (Italy) / Unknown Manufacturer (Hong-Kong)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#858 FX SCHMID - SUPER TRUMPF (MINIS) - FEUERSTÜHLE, ALLRAD, HEIßE ÖFEN (1988 and 1990)

And continuing the previous entry, here are three more mini quartetts from the same series, year and similar themes.

FEUERSTÜHLE (Motorbikes)

ALLRAD (4x4)

HEIßE ÖFEN (Motorbikes)

This set of cards seems to be an update of Feuerstühle, since most of the cards are the same. Probably this one was released a couple of years, later, maybe around 1990.

The instructions are printed at the back of the cover card.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: SUPER TRUMPF (MINIS) - FEUERSTÜHLE (No. 56513.1), ALLRAD (No. 56513.1), HEIßE ÖFEN (No. 56511.7)
• Year: 1988
• Company: FX Schmid (Germany)

#779 TOYPA – VESPA PENCIL SHARPENER (Year of Manufacture Unknown)

I found this Vespa in a flea market, and I don´t know how old it is. It could be as old as 1983 or as new as 2016, since I have discovered that Toypa is still active producing small marketing goods like pencil sharpeners, rubber, magnets, different stationery kits and other school and desktop items.

I have a special interest in pencil sharpeners. From the great variety of Redondo, the cool designs of Play-Me, the die-cast cars by Gisima or the plastic Seat 600 by Puntax, now I found Toypa. This Vespa is one of the coolest pencil sharpeners made by Toypa I could see, although they have pencil sharpeners in many forms and styles. In the past they also made cute figures that were rubbers including a pencil sharpener at the bottom.

I could find on the internet that the company was founded in 1983. And it is based in Mislata (right near the city of Valencia). Still today produces lots of promotional articles for drugs/pharmacy, or other products and companies.

I love discovering old toy companies that are still active today, and, although now focusing in a slightly different market, Toypa S.L. (http://toypa.es/) was quite a discovery. If they ever find this entry in this humble blog, I wish them all the best, and that they continue for many more years.

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: VESPA (PENCIL SHARPENER)
• Scale: Around 1:36
• Year: Unknown
• Company: Toypa (Spain)
• Size: approx. 6 cm

#688 MICRO MACHINES – ULTRAFAST COLLECTIONS FROM 1988 (1988)

The Ultrafast series, as explained several times already, is the “standard” series from Micro Machines, that is, the cars that did not have any specific feature. In general, these collections comprise 5 cars (or other vehicles) each, except in case these are bigger vehicles (for example the limousines).
I decided to open a new entry for the collections from 1988. Entry #128 dealt with collections from 1989. In several consecutive years, some collections were repeated (same cars), but using different colours. The same model could also be part of more than one collection, so, normally, each car was available in several colours and several collections.

#5 European Collection

The models in this collection are (left to right):

• MG TF
• Porsche 911 Carrera
• Lamborghini Countach
• Jaguar XJS
• Mercedes

#21 Hot Bikes

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: Micromachines Ultrafast Collection #5 and #21
• Scale of the cars: 1:150 aprox.
• Year: 1988
• Company: Galoob (U.S.A.)
• Size: approx. 3 cm

#606 MATCHBOX CHOPPERS - STINGEROO, CHOP SUEY and JUMBO JET (Nr. 38d, 49c and 71d) (1972)

This three "chopper" motorbikes are a bit different from the other superfast models, which are mostly cars and trucks. By the early 70s, this kind of custom motorbikes were in trend and Matchbox decided to include these models in its 1-75 series. The three models belong somehow together because they are similar and each has the head of an animal: either a horse, an elephant or a cow/buffalo.

They were initially intended to be 6 models, but only 3 were released. They also came originally with chromed handlebars, but the paint chipped off very easily, and common versions came without that part chromed. However, motor, exhaust pipes, and other parts are chromed and degrade easily. Handlebars are also fragile and need to be observed to check the condition of the model.
Models with chromed handlebars are real rarities today.

All are dated in 1972 (see bases). All were discontinued in 1976.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: STINGEROO, CHOP SUEY and JUMBO JET (Nr. 38d, 49c and 71d)
• Scale: Around 1:36
• Year: 1972
• Company: Matchbox (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 7 cm