#429 GUILOY – OPEL CORSA, RENAULT 25 and FERRARI GTO (Ref. 66116, 66128 and 66136) (Around 1992)

We have talked about Guiloy a few times already, although I have never mentioned which is the origin of the company.

The company was founded in 1969 by four men from Ibi: Francisco Belda Guillem, Carlos Martínez Guillem, Ramón Mira Verdú y Manuel Mira Verdú. Initially, the company was intended to serve the toy industry, not to make toys itself. They were experts in the manufacture of casts, and also in metal or plastic casting.

Only two years later, the four members of the company decided to start their own toy lines. First part-time, than full-time.

From the very beginning, the company followed a quality differentiation stgrategy, producing great toys with metal castings but also plastic parts.

Their first products were 3 motorbikes in 1:24 scale. The success gained with them was used by Guiloy to broaden their offer. The first trucks were produced in 1977 and the first cars in 1984, in many different scales.

Guiloy's Opel Corsa (Ref. 66116)

The end of the 80s and the 90s were hard times from the company, since the first cars from Eastern Asia arrived, and the prices had to be more competitive than ever. The cars shown in this entry date from that time. The models are very simplified, the metal base has been changed for a plastic one… everything in order to produce cheaper toys.  The problem was that the Chinese toys were not only cheap, they were also better done (see for example this entry). Even the stickers were quite generic to fit any given model

Guiloy's Renault 25 (Ref. 66128)

The line didn’t last long, because Guiloy wisely changed their strategy and their vision. They started producing very high quality toys, most of them in bigger scales like 1:24. Their models were laureate with the “Miniature of the Year” award from the International Toy Fair in Nurnberg three consecutive years (1995, 1996 and 1997). This quality vision allowed the company not only to survive, but to produce many miniatures that were exported to all corners of the world. Unfortunately, the concurrence from the Chinese factories also reached higher scales and quality reproductions in bigger scales, and Guiloy had to close in June 2009.

Guiloy's Ferrari GTO (Ref. 66136)

Not to be mistaken with a previous Ferrari GTO. This one is slightly smaller.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: OPEL CORSA, RENAULT 25 and FERRARI GTO (Ref. 66116, 66128 and 66136)
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: Around 1992
• Company: Guiloy (Spain)
• Size: approx. 6 cm

#428 COMICFIGUREN PREISKATALOG - SCHLÜMPFE 1997/1998 (MICHAEL KOLLER, BERND MAIER, HELMUT STERZ)

This book was edited by the same publisher (Koller-Maier-Sterz Verlag GbR oder KMS) and partly by the same authors than the book presented in entry #401. That book dealt with plastic (PVC) figures based on comics, tv series, films, books... and this book is also based on pvc figures, but all of them from one single TV-series: The Smurfs.

The book is a catalogue and a price guide of all Smurfs made between 1965 (first series) to 1997 or 1998, which is the date in which the catalogue was released. There´re naturally newer guides, but to me, this guide is new enough.

Each page depicts the Smurfs made in a certain year. The upper half of each page is a colour picture of the figures, while the lower half is a list of characters and prices. The guide also includes some figure variations.

The most interesting part is a few pages that explain the history of Peyo and the Smurfs. Other interesting things I learnt are that there are not as many PVC Smurfs as I though, and also that some of them are extremely valuable. There are also several brands that have made this type of plastic figures, although the book talks almost exclusively about Schleich. It would have been great, if there was some information about the Spanish Smurfs like the famous CNT (Comic No Tóxicos).

#427 SMURFS – KING SMURF and WILD SMURFS (1973)

The first plastic Smurfs ever were a give-away from the magazine Spirou that in 1960 decided to produce 3 figures made of latex.

Schleich is a German company founded in 1935 by Friedrich Schleich. During the first years, the company produced security clothes for industrial workers. After the war, the company changed to plastic toys. It was 1951, and the first Smurfs wouldn’t come out until 1965. Those were the first figures intended to be sold on stores.

During the 70s, Schleich shared the production of these pvc figures with Bully. In 1981, after 57 figures, the production is again exclusive to Scheich.

Since 1978, there’s an additional line, the Super-Smurfs, which are articulated, as well as a complete series of accessories like different houses, castles, a mill…

In 1979, the production of the figures is expanded from Germany to some other countries: Sri-Lanka, Hong Kong, Macau, Tunisia and Portugal. The figures were gaining popularity and after the Hanna-Barbera TV series from 1983, Schleich was selling over 1 million figures each month. That same year, the small plastic figures were declared “Toy of the Year” in The Wall Street Journal.

This toy has been offered as a give-away by Hardee’s or McDonalds. There are also lots of promotional figures out there, some marked with the logo of some company, other were exclusive to that offer.

The only three figures I own were released in 1973 and are the King Smurf and two Wild Smurfs (or in German, “Schlimps”)

Something that interests me even more than the official Schleich/Bully/Peyo releases are copies, bootlegs and imitations. The most famous for me are the CNT Smurf from Spain (Comic No Toxicos), form which I have heard a couple of times, and that are very rare and difficult to find. These were made by Comics Spain, a company from which we have talked a couple of times before. Probably, because they lost the licences to produce Smurfs, decided to make them without the name of the company. Each figure had only a sticker with the words “comics - no tóxico” (not toxic).

Possible (until now unknown) CNT Smurf? -Sorry for the quality of the picture-

I thought my fourth Smurf might be one of these, but according to some sources, CNT Smurfs are very well finished, and have a similar quality to Schleich. This is not the case. I haven’t seen the Fisherman Smurf anywhere, I think it must be even rarer than a CNT, some kind of bootleg or similar. It was bought in Spain as part of a lot that also included this Torero and some small plastic figures in the “Dunkin” Style (maybe they’re real Dunkin, not sure about that), so I guess it is an old fake from the late 70s, it’s not a modern figure. Any information on this?

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: KING SMURF, WILD SMURF and FISHERMAN SMURF
• Alternate Names: KÖNIG SCHLUMPF, WILD SCHLUMPF or SCHLIMPS, ANGLER (German) / PITUFO REY, PITUFO SALVAJE, PITUFO PESCADOR (Spanish)
• Toy Line: The Smurfs / Fake?
• Year: 1973
• Company: Schleich (West-Germany) / Unknown Company (Spain)
• Size of the figures: approx. 5 cm

#426 MATCHBOX – SEVERAL MODELS OF YESTERYEAR (years ranging from 1979 to 1988)

MODELS OF YESTERYEAR

Matchbox has released many different kinds of cars in many different scales. One of the less popular (in my opinion) is the Models of Yesteryear. These models are ancient vehicles (from Steam Machines to Sport Cars of the 30s, 40s and 50s) made in a bigger scale than 1:64, I would say most cars are around 1:35 scale, although it is difficult to chose a number for all those trucks, machines and cars. All models are around 11 centimetres longs.

All these models are marked with a reference number started with “Y”. The collection was started very early; as early as 1956… Those days, only a few Models of Yesteryear were released per year, for example that year were released models Y-1 to Y-4, then two further models in 1957, 5 morein 1958…

As in the Superfast series, some models were discontinued, leaving a gap in the numbering system. This gap was then taken over by a newer model. There can be up to 5 different models with the same reference number, and for the same reference, there might be many different variations (colour, wheels, casting, decals…)

The best source for this particular Matchbox series is www.matchboxmemories.com. There you’ll find a complete list of all models ordered by number.

According to that website, we might distinguish several “runs” or “époques”:

• Y1 to Y16 from 1956 to 1975
• Y17 was used for the first time in 1975
• References from Y18 on were used starting in 1979.
• The highest reference number is Y-66 (model form 1992), although models Y-48 to Y-60 were never released.
• In 1992, the Models of Yesteryear line was renamed Collectibles, and in 2006, for the 50th anniversary of the line, there were some new issues, but the line didn’t have any continuity after that.

The models I currently own are:

Y-3-3: 1934 Riley MPH (first release 1974 red. 1979 blue) - Scale 1:35

The box for this model is an older version than the rest of the boxes shown in this entry. What it didn't change from one version to the next, is that box included a short history of the car on the bottom or the back of the box in three languages (English, French and German)

Y-5-4: 1927 Talbot Van (Issued 1978, 1985) - Scale 1:47
Y-12-5: 1937 G.M.C. Van (issued 1988) - Scale 1:45

Y-22-1: 1930 Model ‘A’ Ford Van (issued 1982, several years) - Scale 1:40

Y-25-1: 1910 Renault Type AG (issued 1983, blue 1986) - Scale 1:38
Y-26-1: 1918 Crossley “Beer Lorry” (issued 1984) - Scale 1:47

In the last two pictures, note that the cast of the base is actually the same for these two models.

NOTE: Sorry for the quality of the pictures, they were taken very quickly, and were not originally intended to be shown in this blog.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: 1934 Riley MPH (Y3-3), 1927 Talbot Van (Y5-4), 1937 G.M.C. Van (Y12-5), 1930 Model ‘A’ Ford Van (Y22-1), 1910 Renault Type AG (Y25-1), 1918 Crossley “Beer Lorry” (Y26-1)
• Scale: 1:32 (approx.)
• Year: 1979, 1985, 1988, 1982, 1986 and 1984 respectively
• Company: Matchbox (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 10 to 13 cm

#425 TURLY GANG – SNAKER (1991)

 

The “Turly Gang – Fighters for Freedom” is another bootleg line based on Masters of the Universe. Two of the most famous bootlegs lines ever were the Galaxy Fighters (Sewco) and the Galaxy Warriors (Sungold), which were quite similar lines, since they shared the casts for some heads, weapons, plus almost the entire body… the only difference was in the left hand. Even the names of the figures were similar.

The Turly Gang’s figures are made by Sungold, and marked with this name, although in Europe they were distributed by EuroPlay. Without accessories could be easily mistaken by Galaxy Warriors.

The nice thing of these ultra-rare figures is that they intend to be a crossover between MOTU and TMNT… the two main characters are Primus (or Primos) and Sekundos (not very original names… First and Second is a latin-alike language), who are completely green and have Ninja Turtles heads.

This toy line comprised at least 10 figures, 5 good guys and 5 evil-doers. Each of them was equipped with a harness, a shield and a weapon. All accessories were made in black plastic, unlike the Galaxy Warriors or the Galaxy Fighters that only had grey accessories.

There were two different models of harnesses (a “round” one or a trapezoidal one with a sticker), two different models of shield (both with sticker), and then 2 types of sword and two types of axe.

The line is quite a mess… from the 10 available figures; two of them have a slightly different cast, since they have articulated knees. This type of cast actually comes from another bootleg line, called “Lord of Insects” (also by Sungold).

Other collectors claim that there is a second type of blister card available showing even more models of the figures and also some vehicles. The figures might be mostly colour variations. As I could see in www.onlinetoyshow.com, there are two more turtle-alike characters, practically identical to Primos and Sekundos, only with an iguana head instead of a turtle. All other characters might have a second decoration, so we would reach up to 20 different figures.

Backcard by Alfi from actionfiguresca.proboards.com, although the picture was retrieved from blog.toy-sector.de

The figure you can see here is one of the two versions of Snaker. Note that in the blister card, the figure is rather yellowish, while mine is green, with orange details.

The figure is extremely cool, and today it is quite sought-after. They were cheap toys from the early 90s (the trade mark was registered in April 1991), but today each figure might reach up to 50 dollars.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: SNAKER
• Toy Line: Turly Gang Fighters for Freedom
• Year: 1991
• Company: Sungold (Hong Kong)
• Size of the figures: approx. 13 cm

#424 HANS POSTLER – LAUFTIER/ WALKER (Around 1972)

This small and cheap toy is a “Lauftier” (lit. “Walking animal”, although in English this kind of toy is known as "Walker"). I bought it recently from a guy who had a box full of them. There were many different animals available: from dogs and horses to more exotic elephants, tigers and camels.

They are made of bright plastic, and have a string attached to its bodies. The other edge of the string have a very light weight (it’s a plastic ball), that makes the animal actually walk. As you can see in the package, the ball is left over the edge of a table, and the animal will walk in that direction.

They are really nice example of “kiosk” toys, which were available for very little money in other places than toy shops: newsagents, bakeries and so on.

The toy is made in Hong Kong, although the packaging is in German. There is a logo printed on it, that, I guess, belongs to the manufacturer or importer, I cannot read it, but I think  it says something like HEID, HEIP, HEDI, HEPI or a similar combination of letters. I have searched the internet, but I found nothing about this brand.

Thanks to Maverick Collecting, I have found out that  this logo belongs to Hans Postler (it was really a "H" and a "P"), a German importer of cheap toys (mainly from Hong Kong and China).

I think this toy was made by the early 70s, sometime between 1970 and 1976, because of the style of the package and being manufactured in Hong Kong for German speaking markets.

The security warnings are also written in French.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: LAUFTIER (In German: “Walking Animal”)
• Year: Around 1972
• Company: Maybe HEDI, HEPI, HEID or HEIP (Hong-Kong?)
• Size: Around 4 cm.