#948 SPEED WHEELS - HINO DUMP TRUCK and NISSAN FAIRLADY Z (TOMICA KO's) (Around 1990)

I got these two cars recently. Normally I am not interested in the die-cast models when I cannot recognise the brand. In this case, I recognised them as Tomica knock-offs and they were in their original blister cards, so I decided to buy them. 1 euro each blister.

Can you recognise which models they are?
The car is a Nissan Fairlady Z, like the one in entry #548.

 The truck is a Hino Dump Truck, although the plastic part is different from the original Tomica one.

This kind of die-cast models are usually unmarked in the base (just "made in China"), so it is difficult to match model with toymaker. With the blister, obviously, I can say it is Speed Wheels. At the cardback there are several models depicted, one of each kind: sport cars, formula racing cars, pick-up trucks, tractor racers and more. I do not know how many of each type were made, but both blisters have the text "SERIES IV" in the front. I don't know either how many series were made, but on Google you can easily find pictures of series V (some Yatming KO's there), series III (look like Matchbox's Super G.T.s), series X (look quite modern and better done than the previous series, some look like Maisto other like Hot Wheels KOs), series XIII, and more.

The upper part of the blister is cutted off because originally it had the price tag on it. It costed 0,69 US$ per unit or 1 US$ if you took two. As I could see on Google, some blisters have this part also cut off.

I have noticed models that were available in two different series, I guess the card was redone everytime they wanted to change the retail price, but most of the times the assortment just remained as it was.

Interestingly, the one who seems to be the earliest blister pack of "Speed Wheels" on Google (does not show any series number) has the Faie brand printed on the card, so does this series relate anyhow to Faie? I think it is more probable that behind Speed Wheels hides a company that bought stock rests or maybe obsolete machinery to get/make very cheap models, so maybe they started buying from Faie, then from Yatming, then from Welly, Maisto... It could even be that the brand is still in use.

Interestingly, the distributor is a company from Illinois, U.S.A.

Other Speed Wheels came in plastic bags, in this case, each model was 0.39 US$ or 1 US$ for three cars. These cheaper models look like Summer's withouh windows.

And for the TFTP record, some unknown models from past entries seem to be Speed Wheels too! The mobile crane in entry #766 has also been seen inside one of these blister packages!

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: HINO DUMP TRUCK and NISSAN FAIRLADY Z (TOMICA KO's)
• Scale: Around 1:61 and 1:100
• Year: Around  1990
• Company: Speed Wheels (U.S.A.) / Unknown Manufacturer, maybe Welly? (China)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#947 POWER COMMANDOS - FIGURES FROM WAVE 1 (1992)

I have known this series for a long time because it is one of the most thoroughly reviewed in the "bootleg" list of yojoe.com. I considered I knew a lot about Hasbro´s G.I.Joe: ARAH bootlegs, but I had not seen these anywhere else.

In ten years I only saw them very few times on eBay, and I got to buy two of them loose without accesories.

Fortunately, around three years ago, many lots of blister packs were sold by a Mexican seller, and I got a complete set for a relatively small amount of money. I didn´t ask him, but it looks like he found old stock somewhere and put all that for sale, either the figures in blister packs or loose (probably because some cards were too damaged for collectors). I recall that the description also stated that some blisters might present damage of some kind, so receiving the blister cards in perfect shape was a nice surprise.

Information about Lucky Bell and the Mexican importer

Copyright Notice

The Power Commandos by Lucky Bell are interesting for a series of reasons. One reason is that some body parts are very similar to others from original G.I.Joe and Cobra characters (for example some arms are just like 1986´s Vipers). Another one is that some characters vaguely remind of other from the Hasbro´s toyline, although the heads are all new, original sculpts, and third, because the weapons are quite imaginative and some are also bootlegged from Hasbro.

Other positive points for the line is the quality and durability of the figures and also the nice packaging art, also inspired by Hasbro. I like that some details of the figures are painted gold and also that the accesories come in different colours, but I dislike the colour combinations of these first 6 figures, all trousers are either light brown or blue, all torsos are either blue or red and the details are also blue, red or green, so all six figures look somewhat similar to each other.

This small flaw continued in a second series of figures, which are much rarer, but was corrected in the third wave which is ultra-rare and from which only a few pics have been seen so far. We will come to this later.

Another flaw is that in six figures we find only three different models of each body part: three torsos, three waists, three legs and three arms, all doubled, but six different heads, some of them very cool! This is not rare in G.I.Joe bootlegs, see for example The Corps or Kaido.

The character´s names are quite good, as we will see next, and they came with a filecard each with some bio-facts. Unfortunately they are written in poor English and the texts are rather simple and plain, not to mention the tag "Those guys from another galaxy", that actually reminds more of Masters of the Universe than G.I.Joe. The birthplaces of each character is not a real one (for example: "South of Arenia")

The figures were sold in couples, being one of the characters always a Power hero and the second one an evil villain. Note that the file cards have different colours and one is marked "Power" while the other is marked "Terror". Since these words are placed below the picture (that's where the affiliation of  G.I.Joe characters was indicated in the filecard), I would suggest the the good guys are the Power Commandos, and they fight an evil corporation or entity called Terror. Why not?

There were three blisters available:

1. Condor Strike
2. Red Raven

3. X-Ray Eye
4. Submarine

5. Mummy Mask
6. Metal Hawk

The blisters originally had its own artwork depicting both characters in action.

BLISTER 1: CONDOR STRIKE + RED RAVEN

BLISTER 2: X-RAY EYE + SUBMARINE

BLISTER 3: MUMMY MASK + METAL HAWK

Wave two figures are similar in colours but are made out of different parts/new sculpts, also inspired by G.I.Joe. The blister back showed all 12 figures in action, but the rest of the package is very similar. Of course the artwork was new and represented the new characters.

Wave 3 figures were sold individually and the package had brighter colours, maybe following the trend started by the G.I.Joes from 1992, 1993 and 1994. The text Power Commandos is written in yellow, the card frame is bright pink and the figures themselves are mostly pink, bright green and purple... this time the artwork is recycled from series 2 and the figures are also made out of parts already used in waves 1 and 2. Maybe I get these figures someday so I can take pictures and show them here.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: CONDOR STRIKE, RED RAVEN, X-RAY EYE, SUBMARINE, MUMMY MASK and METAL HAWK
• Toy Line: Power Commandos (Wave 1)
• Year: 1992
• Company: Lucky Bell (Hong-Kong)
• Size of the figures: Around 9.5 cm

#946 PILEN – MONZA G.T. (Ref. M-301) (1973)

This is a great model by Pilen that resembles quite a lot the Joal version of the same car. I presented the Joal version a long time ago in this blog (see #247)

Remember that Joal and Pilen were both based in Ibi, which is a small town, where also Guisval, Mira and other famous die-cast brands were based. The companies had family relations among them and it was not rare that casts went from one factory to the other.

The differences are clear. This model was simplified in order to produce it cheaper and does not have an opening bonnet. Just the cockpit can be opened. I would say, otherwise Pilen and Joal models are identical.

The cast debuted as Pilen in 1971 is a red and white version. The Joal version was two years older. In the 1973 catalogue it is the first time that this model is pictured, although there were another one with chrome finish. This last one does not appear in the catalogues, but the chromed versions are common for many Pilen models, so this one is no exception.

I like the decoration, which is rather simple. It carries race number 69, the words Escudería Pilen and two crossed flags.

This model is boxed, so we can observe that it came in a jewel box with yellow base, in which a sticker is placed with the reference number and the name of the car. I think I have shown these kind of boxes by Pilen before.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MONZA G.T. (Ref. M-301) 
• Scale: 1:43
• Year: 1973
• Company: Pilen (Spain)
• Size: approx. 9 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

#944 GOBOTS – VAMP amd SCORP (MRD-101, MRD-103) (1984)

The Go-Bot line with vehicles, called Machine-Robo, had more than 50 references, including every type of vehicle. This one is the most famous line that everybody remembers, but the Go-Bots also had an alternative line of “monsters”, called Devil Invader Series, that had references with the letters MRD (RMD in Europe), instead of just MR (or RM), I guess, the “D” comes from Devil.

I have just two robots belonging to this series, one Batmobile-alike vehicle that trasnforms into a vampire robot, and a Robot-Scorpion. Both are very cool and imaginative, they do surprise much more than the vehicles line.

All MRD references seem to be evil characters, unlike the MR references, who belong to one of two factions: “Friendly Robots” or “Enemy Robots”, although this was not always like this… at the beginning, there was no reference to the filiation of the robots, if any at all, but in later catalogues, there are some that show the robots in two separate groups. Maybe this was a consequence of the animated series (1984-85) in which there were good a bad go-bots that fought against each other.

I just discovered a great website with all Go-Bot toys and I think it deserves being promoted so it stays the reference site on the Internet about this Popy/Bandai/Tonka toyline. Pelase visit: http://www.the-liberator.net/

It has been a long time since the last entry dedicated to these nice transforming robots, but I guess we won’t have to wait so much for the next one… I have some more robots awaiting in the line to be presented.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: VAMP amd SCORP (MRD-101, MRD-103)
• Alternate Names: CASMODON, ZARIOS (Machine Robo names/ Japan)
• Toy Line: Go-Bots (Series 2)
• Year: 1984
• Company: Popy/ Bandai (Japan) / Tonka (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: Around 8 cm

#943 LONE STAR - IMPY SERIES – TIMBER TRUCK (Ref.No.60), PETROL TANKER (Ref.No.61) and LONG PETROL TANKER (Ref.No.182) (1976)

Lone Star had a series of rather simply casted trucks sold under the Impy series. I show three in this entry, a long tanker, a short tanker and a short truck with a flat bed platform (that originally carried short sticks of wood).

The models came in boxes with windows that specified a copyright from 1976. The exact text on the boxes were: “Made by Lone Star Products Ltd. Welham Green Herts AL97NT England”, plus “© Lone Star 1976”.

There are two lists on the back of the smaller boxes, the first one is for Trucks and have references 50 to 61. The second one is for cars, with references between 71 and 82.

The long trucks came in long boxes labelled as IMPY MAJORS and are also marked on the base. They seem to have references in the 18x range, but also 128x or 129x.

The line of trucks (both long and short) was also known as COMMERCIALS.

The models are simplified representations of generic trucks: there is a truck with “flat” front and another one with long front (“american style”), each of them combining several kind of loads: tipper, tanker, mixer… The paintwork also seem to be applied randomly, but using always basic bright colours, and all in all, looks like a budget alternative to the “other” Lone Star trucks from the 60s and the 50s. Probably they were intended to compete against the cheap die-cast models from Hong-Kong, which during the mid-70s were already very common in the United Kingdom.

These models are quite rare (at least outside the UK, where they might be more common), but still affordable and easy to find (even boxed or mint), I guess it is just they are not good enough for many collectors: they are objectively not nicely done and they do not represent actual truck models. In comparison with the cars mentioned above, the price difference of used models and their scarcity is remarkable.

UPDATE 1 (Dec/2021) Another truck (this time it is a dumper) courtesy of Steven!

 

UPDATE 2 (NOV/2022)

Here comes another Flatbed truck, but with a different cabin and different colours. I think the colours were applied randomly.

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: TIMBER TRUCK (Ref.No.60), PETROL TANKER (Ref.No.61) and LONG PETROL TANKER (Ref.No.182)
• Scale: Around 1:100
• Year: 1976
• Company: Lone Star (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 7 cm