#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

#1037 EFSI – MERCEDES LONG TRAILER “SHELL” TANKER and FLATBED (around 1985)

I have presented in the past several Efsi trucks and trailers, but this is my first “long trailer” made by the Dutch company. I found it in a flea market, and I liked it a lot. It represents a long tanker from Shell, in bright yellow and red.

The truck is identical to the ones we already saw, so I am not going to comment on it. The trailer is, surprisingly, not very well done. The metallic base is reduced to a few long stabs to fit the axles and the wheels in a more or less stable way, and the tank itself is made of plastic. It looks great, but it was probably made to be sold for a rather low price. 

It is, however, a lot of fun to play with, as all die-cast long trailers are, and displays nicely along with other trucks and cars from this brand.

UPDATE (DEC.2024): Shortly after publishing this entry, I got a second "long" Efsi Truck, a flatbed, that I will present as an update. The trailer is based in the same die-cast part, only with a diffeerent part of plastic attached to it, sasving money in bigger casts and replacing zamak by plastic.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MERCEDES LONG TRAILER “SHELL” TANKER and FLATBED
• Scale: 1:87
• Year: Around 1985
• Company: EFSI (Netherlands)
• Size: approx. 15 cm

#1024 TOMICA – TV TRUCK (Nr. 75 or Nr. 29-75) (1974)

I haven´t shown any die-cast made by this brand since a long time. (Almost) All cars I had in my collection have been shown already in this blog, but this one was my last acquisition. I bought it in my city and collected it directly from the seller. It was not very expensive, and since it is my first and only carded or boxed vintage Tomica, I decided to buy it.

I love it, it is a nice TV van, based on an Isuzu van. The cast shows several doors and compartments on both sides of the vehicle and a practicable rear door, but there are no other details (such as antennas) that would help identify the car more properly, except for the stickers on the sides of the vehicle, which, by the way, can be red “NHK COLOR TV” or blue “TV TRUCK”. (NHK is the Japanese national broadcasting company)

My toy was released in the Pocket Cars series, which, as you know, it was intended for foreign markets (these are all marked “TV TRUCK”. They are not so sought-for as the Japanese releases (“NHK COLOR TV”) in the standard black box, and there is a earlier variant with another type of wheels. In particular, this one is partially written in German, and includes a backcatalogue with several Tomica references of the same series.

There are several  alternative decorations in the same colours, but with alternative tampographies on the sides: “Minicar Shop Open” in green, “East Land” in red, or even both at the same time (I have spotted one model carrying both tampographies).

In 1979 the same cast was also used in reference nr. 8, Isuzu Blood Bank Car, in white and green. Many years later, it was reissued in white and blue, but with a darker shade of blue.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: TV TRUCK (Nr. 75)
• Scale: 1:122
• Year: 1974
• Company: Tomica (Japan)
• Size: 6 cms

#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

#998 EKO - SEVERAL MOC VEHICLES (Around 1960-1975)

The history of EKo was already written in entry #551, so this time I would only like to show a series of unused (mint on card) vehicles I bought for no money a couple of years ago. I am afraid there are not so many Eko collectors anymore and so the prices are sinking since a few years already. I still recall some Eko displays in the mid-80s, that were bought by railway and train modellers, 1:87 soldier diorama makers, architects and also children, although, due to their rather weak construction, they were quickly displaced by more sturdy vehicle models pretty soon, remaining these for adults collectors

I like very much the 1:87/H0 scale and the cars from the 60s and the 70s that are being reproduced in scale here. One of them comes with a nice trailer carrying a boat, and a small truck is transportating gas bootles, an usual sight back in the day.

Serie Civil

• No. 2004 Opel Kapitan

 

 

Box Flap for Ref. No. 2004

 

• No. 2054 De Soto con Remolque Canoa

• No. 2088 Microbus Mercedes Benz

 

 

 

• No. 2105 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint

• No. 2122 Sava Butano

 

Serie Militar

No. 4035 Barreiros T-90.22 

 

 

 Nice lot!

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: SEVERAL MOC MODELS
  
• Scale: 1:87 (H0)
• Year: Around 1960
• Company: Eko (Spain)
• Size: approx. 3.5 cm

#992 MATCHBOX – BURNIN’ KEY CARS – DODGE CHARGER DAYTONA and KENWORTH MAGIC TRUCK (1983)

As early as in entry #25, I already wrote an extensive text about Kidco, the company that was producing the Burnin’ Key Cars before Matchbox, so please visit it again to find information about Kidco and the relation between Kidco and Matchbox.

 

This time I will just present this two excellent blisterpacks containing no less than a Dodge Charger Daytona and a Kenworth Magic Truck “Blue Chief”, unopened, but with some wear on the card and the blister. There were several of these cards made, but all of them included, of course, the key to activate the car (in an orange keyring with a sticker that passed to the car decoration). Later reissues of the cars (in new decorations) changed the key design and came without the keyring. In the pictures, behind the key there is a piece of cardboard that could be mistaken for a box for the card, but it is not.

 

 

Interestingly, one of the cardbacks still has an original price tag from Morawa, marking 49 Austrian Schillings, which is around 3,50 Euro…. Extremely expensive for the early-mid 80s, at least in my opinion. Maybe this is the reason why they are rare to find nowadays… they didn’t sold well at the time. The price tag at the front is obviously newer and has no interest for collector.

 

The backcard shows the complete series of cars (14 models) and trucks (8 models), I think these were the first series available, but it would later be expanded with new decorations for this original models, new models and even sub-series such as the Demolition Cars.

 

I guess many collectors despise them because they are not die-cast. The base is metallic, but the body is made of plastic, which is good, since it is a toy that suffers a lot of rough play, and the front part is made of a softer plastic, as if it was an oversized bumper. As a toy it is great, and the mechanism was copied by many other manufacturers inmediatly. Anybody can recognize this kind of toy and surely recalls having or playing with one of them, if not Kidco or Matchbox, from another toymaker.

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: DODGE CHARGER DAYTONA and KENWORTH MAGIC TRUCK (BURNIN’ KEY CARS)
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: 1983
• Company: Matchbox (United Kingdom) / Kidco (Macau)
• Size: Around 7 cm long