#148 PAYVA – JEEPS (Ref. 500) (1981)

This collection of Payva Jeeps was bought during last Christmas in Sevilla. I already said that there were many vintage toys coming out of nowhere, and one of the nicest packs I bought are these four Jeeps. They seem to have been manufactured at the beginning of the eighties, maybe in 1981, and they are a typical toy from this toymaker: a tin Jeep with wheels and other plastic parts, and with different decorations. As you can probably deduce from its construction, these Jeeps are extremely resistant, almost unbreakable. The plastic canopy is however often missing, but the tin part remains mostly in very good shape. The pack I am presenting here is “uncirculated”, all four cars are mint.

They were at the time cheap toys that you could find in press kiosks, but they’re equipped with a friction motor.

The history of the company was already told in this entry. I just have to mention that Payva is often mistaken by Payá; the names and the logos are very similar, and Payá is much more famous than Payvá. It could also be a “trick” to sell the toy for a higher amount of money; Payá toys are extremely expensive collector items, while Payva hasn’t reached that status (yet?).

The four cars are:

• Jeep “Sheriff” (Ref. 501)
• Jeep “Marina” (Ref. 502)
• Jeep “Guardia Forestal” (Ref. 503)
• Jeep “Servicios de Aeropuerto” (Ref. 504)

The packet of the four Jeeps has the reference number 500. In the box it is stated that they are made in Spain, and that they are not suitable for children under 3. The logo of the company can be found both in the tin (back of the car) and on the plastic base (which I forgot to photograph).

As said before, they are all made in the same way, but they look very different. Note that the decoration is in the details completely different. It’s not just the colour, each vehicle is decorated with different logos, and they’re carrying different items in the back of the car: the Sheriff has a gun, the Airport Services a radio…

A nice detail in this last Jeep, is that the logo depicted on it was the logo used by Iberia during the 70s (or a very similar one). Hope you enjoyed this entry!

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: JEEP (Refs. 500, 501, 502, 503 and 504)
• Scale: 1:32 (estimated)
• Year: 1981
• Company: Payva (Spain)
• Size: approx. 8 cm

#147 FILMATION'S GHOSTBUSTERS – HAUNTER (1986)

  

The Real Ghostbusters have already been presented in this blog, and now I will proceed with the story of the Filmation Ghotsbusters, although chronologically, I should have written this first. The Ghost Busters was a CBS live action TV program for children starring Forrest Tucker (Spencer), Larry Storch (Tracy) and Bob Burns in a gorilla suit (Kong). The program was produced by Filmation and consisted of two complete seasons (15 episodes). It was premiered on the 6^th September 1975, and aired Saturday mornings in 1975 and Sundays in 1976. Unfortunately, and despite its popularity, no more chapters were ever recorded.

A few years later (around 1984), it was known that Dan Aykroyd was working on a script to make a film based (or inspired) by “Ghostbreakers” from 1940. Due to legal rights, this name had to be changed to “Ghostbusters”, and at this point the executives at filmation thought that it might be a good idea to turn the old TV series in cartoons, but Columbia (that was producing the film that later became so famous) tried to stop it. They filed a lawsuit against Filmation to avoid the usage of the Ghostbusters name in the cartoons. The court ruled in Filmations favour and for a payoff, they accepted to include slightly change the name to “Filmation’s Ghostbusters”, gave permission to the film to use the name as planned, but for licensing, Columbia was forced to use the name “The Real Ghostbusters” in all their licensed products. Maybe because of the term “real”, many children on my age thought at the time, that the Filmation Ghostbusters were a “copy” of the ones we had seen on the cinema, although it was actually the opposite.

The Filmation’s Ghostbusters cartoons tell the story of the children of the characters in the live action series, to prevent any royalties problem.

The figures were produced by Schaper, since no “big” toy company would risk producing toys that could offend Columbia Pictures. Anyway, although the company was not very well known, they got to produce wonderful and qualitative figures: Beautifully sculpted, well finished, with bright colours, correct articulations and even some accessories. They even published a short comic book that was given away with the figures. Even some vehicles were produced.

Schaper was a toy company based in Minneapolis and founded in 1949. It is known for being one of the first toymakers that extensively used plastic in its toys. In 1986, Schaper was acquired by Tyco. This explains why the American blisters are marked with the Schaper brand, while the Europeans are sold under Tyco license, but manufactured by local toymakers like Comansi in Spain or GIG in Italy. Curiously, these same license holders also had in their catalogues the Dinoriders line, also Tyco toy released at the same time than these Filmation Ghostbusters.

The figure I bring today, is, unfortunately, one of the less important figures in this line. The Hunter was one of the evil characters in this series, and the only one I own today 100% complete (it came without any accs.). Due to its scarcity, it is very difficult to find loose figures complete with accs. The three main characters include guns and backpacks that are extremely rare to find. 

Information for this article was mostly taken from: Tomart’s Action Figure Digest Nr. 92.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: Haunter
• Alternative Names: Viscid (Italy), Cazador (Spain)
• Toy Line: Filmation Ghostbusters
• Year: 1986
• Company: Schaper, Tyco (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figure: 15 cm.

#146 NACORAL – ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER CLOUD III (Ref. M 3509) (1973)

We can tell between three “ages” in Nacoral miniatures depending on which kind of tyres they have. In the earlier models, the hubs were made of metal, and the tyres of gum/plastic, like those in the Mercedes in the previous entry. In the second age the metallic hubs were replaced by plastic ones, that surely were cheaper to produce, and that was a great error: the plastic compound of the hubs together with the tyres reacts in some chemical way and, as a result, the hubs are in most models deformed. It is almost impossible to find model today without this problem. This same problem also happens to the oldest miniatures made by Guisval.

After a couple of years using these two-part plastic tyres, Nacoral decided to change again the wheels of its cars and started making one-piece wheels in plastic. This was probably because the new ones were cheaper to produce, although it could also be that Nacoral had also noticed the problem in their toys.

Among the older toys, it is not rare to find toys whose zamak is very fragile and already broken or about to break. This problem is known as “metal fatigue” or “zamak pest”, and it a not-so-rare problem for die-cast miniatures.

 My car has the base plate broken, but I am not sure if this is because of the zamak pest, 

or somebody simply turn the screws too much.

  

Back to the main topic today, Nacoral launched a series in 1:24 scale, similar to the ones by Polistil. This was the first series in this scale in Spain, and are also very appreciated today among die-cast collectors.

The catalogue in this scale includes 20 references 3500M to 3520M, plus 8 references (3550M to 3558M) which are models of the 35xx series, but with rally decoration (most of them with simulated mud marks). They were all sold in that black plastic base with a red label, and a transparent cover. From some models there were more than one decoration made (different colours, different stickers…).

 This Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III is very similar to another one produced by the die-cast maker Polistil, which released this model in the same (1:30) scale, but differently to the Italian model, this one was sold in a jewel case.

Observe the many details in the next few pictures:

And finally, the base of the case with the name of Nacoral and "made in Spain". As you can see, it is not very well finished.

As a curiosity, the price of this toy for a toyshop in 1973 was 160 pesetas (0,94 Eur). A later version was released with different hubcaps and mirrors (the later hubcaps were the same for all car models).

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER CLOUD III (Nr. M 3509)
• Scale: 1:29
• Year: 1973
• Company: Nacoral (Spain)
• Size: approx. 25 cm

#145 NACORAL/ CHIQUI-CARS – MERCEDES 250 SL (Ref. 2012) (1965)

Nacoral was an unjustly forgotten Spanish company that made plastic an die-cast toy models. It was based in Zaragoza (traditionally in English: Saragossa) a big city in North Spain. This company was the vision of Adolfo Olloqui Arnedo, a young businessman who started a plastic factory by the early 1960s. He was the son of a businessman (Jacinto Olloqui), and started working for him in several import/export companies. 

Nacoral was the first company Adolfo started but he would later found other successful companies in many different business: construction, telecommunications, environment… and in many different countries: Spain, U.S.A., Colombia, Panama,… Since the 50s was the right time to start a plastic factory, the business did very well, and the company was between the most important in its sector. They built small plastic toys and gift articles, since gift and promotion articles were a good way to promote the company. He was the person who brought 1:24 miniatures to Spain. Quality car reproductions in that scale are relatively new because the techniques to inject and cast metals like Zamak are also recent.

Precisely that 1:24 series was the one that brought fame to Nacoral. They were extremely rare at the time, and they were built with a very high quality (the same quality than Bburago or Polistil). The models that change hands these days, do it for a high amount of money, and there are collectors all over Europe, because Nacoral also sold their products abroad. The same happens with these 1:43 plastic models. Last one it was offered to me, it was priced 40 Euros...

This model is unfortunately missing the Mercedes emblem

Unlike other Nacoral models, that have plates from Zaragoza (Z), this model has plates from Madrid (M)

Nacoral started the production of plastic models around 1965 under the Chiqui-Cars brand. These models are very scarce nowadays. In the following years, casts from other companies, like Norev (France), Politoys (Italy) or Corgi (G. Britain) were used (copied?) in their collections. The company also made its own casts and gave licenses to use these to third companies (like Sablon from Belgium, Diapet from Japan or the New Zealand branch of Tonka).

In 1970, some of the Chiqui-Car models were re-released as die-cast, with the same reference number as the plastic model, but with a M, for example, this Mercedes is reference 2012 (Plastic), and 2012M (Metal). All of them were sold in cardboard boxes, and included a catalogue/poster with all references. The boxes and catalogues can be seen here.

Cars were available in several colours. By the way, I don’t know exactly which plastic compound it is used in the cars, but I guess it’s some kind of butirate. The material is practically indistinguishable from the Rhodialite models by Norev.

Information sources:

• Interview with Adolfo Olloqui in the magazine “Actualidad Económica” February 2006
• www.artecar24.com
• nacoral.jimdo.com

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MERCEDES 250 SL (Ref. 2012)
• Scale: 1:43
• Year: 1965
• Company: Nacoral (Spain)
• Size: 10-11 cm

#144 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE – ROKKON and STONEDAR (1986)

These two figures were part of the fifth MOTU wave (1986), and are therefore very easy to find and very cheap to buy. Their names are:

• Rokkon- Young heroic comet warrior
• Stonedar- Heroic leader of the rock people

According to the story in their mini-comic, they are two warriors from another planet that fall in Eternia as meteorites. As they meet He-Man, they say they have come to help fighting evil.

Their feature is that they can turn into rocks to hit the enemy, of to repel laser attacks. This transformation is somehow new in the MOTU line, maybe Mattel took this idea from the Transforming robots by Takara, and introduced various figures that could change their aspect in a considerable way: apart from these two; King Hiss, Extendar, Rio Blast or even Dragstor.

Both figures are very very similar, they could even be easily mistaken, but if we pay attention to their casts, we’ll notice that there is not a single shared part. This speaks of the quality that this line got to achieve in this wave, in which all figures had different bodies, limbs and heads.

Rokkon, the young heroic comet warrior, is painted in silver colours, and was equipped with a strange weapon, a mixture of a radar and a gun in purple and silver colours. Rokkon seems to be a metallic rock (in blue and silver), with sharp crevices all over its body.

Stonedar, the heroic leader of the rock people is decorated in gold colours, and included the same weapon as Rokkon, just in red and gold. Stonedar has the appearance of a meteorite, a grey and blue rock with small craters.

Here are the pictures I took last winter before I sent these two figures to Romain (from en-broc), since I had them doubled. I hope he is enjoying them in his MOTU collection!

As a bonus, I put here the story “Rock People to the Rescue”, that was included in every pack of one of these two figures.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: ROKKON and STONEDAR (Ref. 9863 and 9862)
• Toy Line: Masters of the Universe (wave 5)
• Year: 1986
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 14 cm.