#70 MATCHBOX – CAR TRANSPORTER K-10 (1976)

The Car Transporters was released in 1976 in the Super Kings series with the reference K-10. It came to replace the previous K-11 reference “DAF Car Transporter”. Maybe it seemed a little old at the time, or the cast was worn out. The first reason seems to be right, since for the new model, Matchbox created a completely invented, futuristic truck that even today looks very good. Specially interesting is the chromed interior with the cast of a huge motor, and the seats of the pilot and co-pilot.

I have never seen this same tractor head in any other Matchbox reference, but I think they might exist, since the chassis of the truck head has no number or name on it. The name and reference number of this model is embossed in the trailer part.

This part is not so futuristic, and it was reused in later references with other (actual) trucks. In 1979-1980, the trailer was made in blue and white and packed as Bedford Transporter (with the same K-10 reference), and years later (1991), as K-120 Leyland Car Transporter in white.

The trailer has capacity for 5 cars. Like it is shown in the pictures, the upper rack can be pulled down to be loaded.

It’s a great toy that I have recently acquired. As a child I had other car transporters in different sizes, and it was fun to load some smaller cars and to play with.

Catalogue image of the Car Transporter

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: CAR TRANSPORTER (Ref. K-10)
• Scale: (estimated) 1:64
• Year: 1976
• Company: Matchbox (G. Britain)
• Size: approx. approx. 30 cm

#69 MATCHBOX – LAMBORGHINI MARZAL and MIURA (1969)

It is very common to find Lamborghini die-cast miniatures. These cars are fast, powerful and look great, ever since the foundation of this brand in 1963. The Miura was produced between 1966 and 1973, and is considered by many to be the first “Supercar”, from the several versions that exist, there were around 800 units built. The Marzal, however was a prototype/ concept car from 1967 designed by Bertone, and there was only one unit made.
 

Despite that fact, the Marzal Lamborghini was reproduced much more often than the miura as a die-cast toy. We have already seen the Marzal once in TFTP (#23): Dinky, Polistil, Playart, Guisval, Matchbox and many more reproduced it as a toy. 

The Miura has also been reproduced massively in this scale, by many different toymakers.

Matchbox included them in its 1969 collection. 

The Miura was originally released with regular wheels in bright gold colour, although later versions came with Superfast wheels in a darker gold colour (the one in the pictures), or even a rare copper colour. There is also this version with "Auto-Steer" feature.

The Marzal was directly released superfast wheels, the dark red version is the first one, although in several releases it was painted pink. Years later, it was also released in the Super G.T. line, although with much lower quality and fewer details. Note that the model in the picture has practicable doors.

Ultra Rare "tow slot" Lamborghini Miura LS-33-A

These are two colour versions of the Lamborghini Marzal:

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: LAMBORGHINI MARZAL and MIURA (Ref. Nrs. 20 and 33)
• Scale: 1:64
• Year: Around 1969
• Company: Matchbox (G. Britain)
• Size: approx. approx. 7 cm

#68 TOP ASS – TOLLE GESPANNE and HEIßE ÖFEN TRUMPFS (Ref. 3051/3 and 3069/3) (1989)

Another very popular game for children in german-speaking countries, apart from the Quartett (#55) is the Trumpf. Aparently, this game is also very popular in other European countries, surely because of it’s reduced price, and because it’s size, that makes it a great toy to take away and to play anywhere. In Spain, however, they are not very spread, and I only got to see a couple of them as a kid.

The game is originally based in an American card game called “War”. The game consists of a deck of cards with a given subject, for example: sport cars, jet planes, or Rainforest animals, there are thousands of subjects to choose from.

In each card, a game-subject matter is depicted, together with a few stats. For example, if we are talking about cars, typical stats would be top speed, HP or weight. The deck is shuffled, and each player receives the same number of cards in a pile. They are only allowed to see the top card in that pile. In his/her turn, a player just needs to read aloud one of the stats in the card, then the rest of players read the value in the same category: the one with the highest attribute wins all the cards in the round, and puts them under his/her own pile.

The winner of the game is the player who gets all cards in the deck in his/her own pile. Players without cards must leave the game.

When a set of cards is played a few times, skilled players usually get familiar with particular cards, and recognise which parameters are more likely to win a round, adding a memory factor the game. Depending on the subject, this can also be an educational game, which is probably another factor that has contributed to increase its popularity.

The decks of cards are usually marked in groups of 4, so they can also used for playing quartets.

The trumpfs I want to present today are made by ASS (Altenburg Stralsunder Spielkartenfabrik) in 1989. The same set was usually released during many consecutive years, changing only the back of the cards and the first card of the set, make it more fashionable. “Heiße Öfen“ (lit. hot oven) is the german term for a very powerful car or motorbike while “Tolle Gespanne” means cool motorbikes with sidecar.

The same sets were released for the first time in 1974 or even sooner, and they continued to sell at least until 1993. By that time, the cars and motorbikes many already look a little old-fashioned, and it was probably replaced by a similar-themed trumpf.

Tolle Gespanne - complete set of cards:

Heiße Öfen - complete set of cards:

Personally, I find old trumpfs very nice, because of the pictures of old cars, that were modern at the time.

UPDATE (Sep/2023): I found and bought another deck with the same title (Heiße Öfen) and almost the same pictures. Families A to C show different newer cars, while the other cards are the same. This one carries reference number 3052/2, instead of 3069/3. I do not understand how does this numbering works.

 

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: TOLLE GESPANNE and HEIßE ÖFEN TOP TRUMPFS (Ref. 3051/3 and 3069/3)
• Year: 1989
• Company: Vereinigte Altenburger und Stralsunder Spielkarten Fabriken A.G. (Also ASS) (West Germany)

#67 ACTION TEAM – UN FRIEDENSTRUPPE SPECIAL-AUSRÜSTUNG (Ref. 6342 73) (1970)

I wanted to continue somehow the previous article, since I finished it with a catalogue image, in which this item is also displayed. The catalogue was printed by Schildkröt to promote the Action Team line in Germany. This set was sold in many different countries and many different versions. Each version is therefore “exclusive” of that land, that's why I'm just talking about the one made by Schilkröt.

The german version bag is obviously printed in German, with the Action Team logo and the words: “Action Team Ausrüstung” (Action Team Equipment). It is no ordinary soldier equipment, but U.N. Blue Helmet (Peace Troops’)­ equipment, because in Germany it is always important to reduce the military component of anything, specially if it’s a toy.

That’s why the helmet, which in other countries is a dark green one has been replaced by the blue in the picture with the UN sticker. Note that the catalogue image does not display the actual item, but some other panoply. This is because that picture was taken for American or British catalogue and Schildkröt probably changed the set after the catalogue was made.

The rest of the contents are very similar from land to land, and includes:

• Bag with strap
• A pair of black boots
• UN blue helmet
• Campstove
• Flask
• Mug
• Radiotelecommmunications set
• Lunchbox (2 parts) with knife, fork and spoon
• Binoculars
• Lebel revolver
• Shovel
• Dagger
• 6 Grenades
• Stirling submachine gun with strap and cartridge

Some of these items are still bagged... I didn't want to remove them from their original plastic bags.
In this picture of the actual set sold in toy stores can be seen that at least one version of this panoply included exactly those accessories. I think I got this image from some Ebay ad.

Especially curious is the radio set:

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: UN Friedenstruppe special-Ausrüstung (ref. 6342 73)
• Toy Line: Action Team
• Year: 1970
• Company: Schildkröt (Germany)
• Size: approx. 12 cm (bag)

#66 G. I. JOE / ACTION MAN / ADVENTURE TEAM – BUNK BED (1964 / 1966 / 1970)

The G. I. Joe line has a great number of accessories. Not all of them are vehicles, outfits or weapons, there are also many accessories for the playsets made. These beds were in production during many years because it was used for G. I. Joe/ Action Man as well as for its peace sequel Adventure Team/ Action Team.
 

The first collection was manufactured in the U.S.A. by Hasbro since 1964. In the United Kingdom, Palitoy made the same type of figures since 1966, although with significant differences. From this country, it was exported to Australia and many other Commonwealth countries.

 

With a few years delay, the figures were also produced in other European countries, most notably in Germany (by Schildkröt) and Spain (by Geyper). At the time, most of their catalogues were Adventure Team sets and figures, but some military uniforms were also still being sold. The bunk bed however fits both collections, as it can be used for soldiers of adventurers.

 

These bunk beds are perfect for the tent I presented several articles ago (#36). Although in the first picture are four of them, they were sold individually (that’s no bunk, but just a stackable bed). Depending of the manufacturer and the year, it could be bought bagged, boxed or carded.

 

Parts of 1 bed

As you can see in the pictures, it’s a very simple set, and it looks great with figures in. The poles seem to be very fragile, as most of the beds currently sold in Ebay have repro parts. From my 4 beds only 2 or 3 of these poles are broken and carefully repaired by the previous owner, the rest are like new. The figures I used in the pictures do not belong to any of the collections mentioned above, but to Mattel’s Big Jim. Each set included, the frames for the bed (2 parts), two poles (2 parts each) plus a piece of cloth. The frames have a peculiar form that allows them to be stacked.

 

Schildkröt catalogue image found on the internet

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: Bunk bed / Feldbett (Ref. 6342-72) / Litera de campaña (ref. 7305)
• Toy Line: G. I. Joe / Action Man / Adventure Team / Action Team / Geyperman
• Year: 1964 / 1966/ 1970
• Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.) / Palitoy (G. Britain) / Schildkröt (Germany) / Geyper (Spain)
• Size: approx. 25 cm

#65 MICRO MACHINES – MICROCARDS SERIES 2

I found this small book on eBay and thought it might be a good idea to have it. I though it would be more of a catalogue, with all released models in series 2, but it is actually something completely different.

The book itself is just a collection of 96 pictures with a short description of the vehicle, plus a table of technical data. The interesting part is that you get a better idea of which car, motorbike or truck each MM model represents (sometimes is really difficult).

The other part of the book is a collection of 100 cards each of them with a Micro Machine picture on it and the technical data on the back.

The book was published by “Publications International” from Lincolnwood, Illinois in 1989, and they’re not affiliated anyhow with Galoob or any automobile industries.

These pictures show some sample pages, that may allow you to get a better idea of what it is to find in this book.

The cards are still in their sealed bags, since I have enough with the pictures and the technical data in the book.
 

This book is since a very long time out of print, and therefore, very difficult to find.

#64 DINO RIDERS – ANKYLOSAURUS with STING (1988)

The smallest of all dinosaurs in the first wave (together with the Quetzalcoatlus) is the Ankylosaurus. Since the first wave is far more common and easy to find that any other, this dinosaur is the easiest to find and the cheaper one too. The Quetzalcoatlus is slightly more expensive since it is more difficult to find complete due to a couple of small parts. The Ankylosaurus armour consists only of the harness and a giant bow. The brainbox, that all Rulons’ dinosaurs have, is a part (not removable) from the harness. 

This box, unlike the others middle-sized Rulon’s dinosaurs doesn’t include any trap. It seems that Tyco wanted to make a toy that could be affordable for everybody, and that may introduce the line to children. Many of those children would become other (bigger) dinosaurs in some other occasion like Christmas or Birthdays.

Sting is an Antman. The Antmen is a group of Rulons led by Antor (rider of the Deinonychus), and include this type of creatures and the Mantismen (first available in the second wave), similarly to how occurred with the Sharkmen and the Raymen. Antmen are workers, but also warriors. The figure came with the usual set of weapons from the first wave, including everything depicted in the photograph, plus the shield (I didn’t have any as I took it), the comic book and the instructions. In this case, the rope ladder doesn't make any sense, but it was still included.

This diorama pictures at the beginning of this article you can make yourself an idea of the size and beauty of the dinosaur. The four legs are articulated, but not the head or the tail. In case you don’t know, this small herbivore, defends itself with a thick bone at the end of its short tail. The Ankylosaurus uses its tail as a kind of hammer that can break other dinosaur’s legs. Note that the eyes are painted, while in all the other dinosaurs (except the Quetzalcoatlus), the eyes are done much better, with some kind of shiny plastic balls, that look like real ones. 

BONUS Spanish instructions sheet:

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: ANKYLOSAURUS with STING
• Toy Line: Dino-Riders (Wave 1)
• Year: 1988
• Company: Tyco (U.S.A.)
• Scale of the dinosaur 1:24
• Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm

PS. Click on label "Dino Riders" to see more dinosaurs of this toy series!