#1060 PINMARK - VOLVO 760 (Nr. 001) (Around 1985)

This is another extreme die-cast rarity made by the company Pinmark in Poland. I found it in a flea market in Austria and I have seen it also on the Internet, although there seems to be only a few units remaining worldwide. 

I have seen pictures of this model in red or pink "Straz", green "Police" or white "Red Cross", but all of them with holes in the roof for a couple of sirens. This other toy that I have does not present the holes and comes with two stickers (one on the roof, another one in the bonnet) which are a racing number (RN34) and Pirelli logos, a bit in the style of rally cars. It is the only one of its kind that I have seen so far. The packaging (an important source of information) is unknown so far, so I cannot provide any remarks about Pinmark, the company that made them. The car is marked with number 001 in the base. Were there other models available? Was the numbering system (001 to, hypothetically, 999) a bit too ambitious?

The paintwork seems to be of very low quality, all cars I saw on the internet (except one) are playworn, and the interior is hidden by dark green windows. At the same time, the opening trunk is a sign of quality and the metallic base gives it some weight, which makes it looks like a more qualitative product in your hands. It is also noteworth that the base is painted black, when it would have been cheaper to leave it unpainted.

When it was new, I guess it looked great. We have to consider that, when it was made, Poland was still under a communist regime with limited access to foreign goods and raw materials, everything was done inland for the national market, which was closed to every other foreign toymaker, except maybe those of other socialist regimes. 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: VOLVO 760 (Nr. 001)
• Scale: 1:64
• Year: Around 1985
• Company: Pinmark (Poland)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#638 CAREX - PORSCHE CARRERA (Nr 100) (1983)

Carex is a misterious manufacturer from the early 80s to the early 90s with very few models available. I found this in a flea market and bought it inmediatly, it was the first I had seen by this brand. Now in Google, I have found some others. The company was based in Warsaw and its complete name was: Carex Przedsiebiorstwo Zagraniczne w Polsce ul

Another source of information for this brand and this model is diecast.blog3.fc2.com from Japan. Using machine translation I have read that the suspension used in this model is rare for an european model of that age, and they leave open the answer to the question if this model was really manufactured in Hong-Kong to be packaged and sold in Poland, or if it is really a Polish made model. Difficult question, since there is almost nothing about this brand on the internet.

Currently there are 7 known models, all of them made between 1981 and 1993 (according to the dutch wikipedia).

• Jaguar XJ6
• Jaguar XJ6 Racing
• Porsche 911
• Porsche Carrera
• Ferrari 365 GTB / 4
• Volvo 760 244 GL (see comment below)
• Lancia Gama

Note that the years between 1981 and 1993 are the last years of the communist People´s Republic of Poland and the first years of the modern Republic of Poland, so theoreticaly, this brand would still be active after the old regime had fallen (in 1989).

The model itself is not very well detailed/casted but has windshields and interiors. It is decorated with stickers and was available in other colours, for what I have seen on the internet. You can see the package and a Volvo model HERE. The Volvo is also badly casted, but still has practicable doors.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: PORSCHE CARRERA (Nr 100)
• Scale: 1:64
• Year: 1983
• Company: Carex (Poland)
• Size: approx. 6 cm