#214 OBERTOYS - GROTES-CAR RENAULT 5 (Ref. 102) (Around 1984)

OBERTOYS

Obertoys was another Spanish toymaker, based in the city of Ibi, Alicante. Unfortunately, the company disappeared in the early 90s (probably 1992), but left behind a great series of toys which are very easy to identify because they have a very peculiar style.

The company was probably founded around 1970 as a Limited Liability Company by a man named Olegario Bernabeu. The name of the company is derived from the name of this person (Olegario BERnabeu TOYS).

In this company there were two people with that name, and that makes me think they were father and son, although I don’t know which is which. I suspect, the father is Olegario Bernabeu Carbonell, and the son is Olegario Bernabeu Bernabeu. Obertoys was probably a family business. These two gentlemen also designed toys, and have several patents with very nice toys. Some are also very innovative. In some other Obertoys patents, a third person appears as inventor: Joaquín Pastor Carbonell, who probably was a cousin of Olegario Bernabeu Carbonell.

Obertoys' Logo

 

As said before the toys made by Obertoys have a very peculiar style, you can recognise them only by looking at them. They made a lot of vehicles with this “toon” or deformed style, all of them very funny. Some include a figure’s head (and upper body) as if it was the driver or the pilot. The materials that Obertoys used the most are tin and plastic, although in later years they will use more plastic and less tin. Obertoys labelled their products in Spanish, English and French, so a part of their production was intended for export.

Most of them are marked on the chassis and wheels, but some other, like this one here, use wheels that are very similar to Guisval’s. There are also vans and trucks in this or in a more realistic style, and in different sizes. 

Nice interior decoration in tin

Plastic Chassis with logo

 

This series is called Grotes-car (a wordplay with the word “grotesque”, meaning “odd” or “eccentric”), and represents a Renault 5, which was a very popular car during the 80s. There are other cars in a similar “deformed” style, but, to my knowledge, they do not belong to the Grotes-car line. Among those: Seat Panda, Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Golf, an undefined Formula 1, Citroën 2CV… undefined trucks and ambulances…

The four references depicted in the box are four Renault 5:

Ref. 100 - Rally

Ref. 101 - Bomberos (Fire Brigade)

Ref. 103 - Police

Ref. 103 - Servicio Grúas (Road Assistance)

Among the few toys that are not cars, trucks, or planes, there’s a great series of small, portable, sport games. These were my only Obertoys’ toys as a kid, and I keep great memories of them. I had a small football game, a billiard game, a mini-golf game and also a basketball game.

The founding date of 1970 is only approximate. By that time, Ibi had its first proto-industrial zone. In the outskirts of the city, 7 toy factories were built together. Those years were very prosper for the Spanish economy, and they would be until the mid-80s. In Ibi some building grounds were declared industrial, what brought new industrial zones. These new industries were not only focused on toys and were not only big toy companies. There were also many smaller companies that worked for the bigger toy companies.

The company had two addresses in Ibi: The registered office was in Roger de Flor, 11 (this street does not exist anymore, probably was renamed sometime) and the factory/warehouse in Virgen de los Desamparados street, no number.

According to somebody from Ibi, in the abandoned factory there were thousands of toys stored (that couldn’t be sold or taken out of the building because of the seize). It seems that the factory was looted little by little until the 5th March 2000, when it caught fire. That fire was probably intentional, since the factory had no electricity, and was seized by a bank. The fire was quite heavy and needed the collaboration of three firemen teams from neighbouring cities.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: GROTES-CAR RENAULT 5 (Ref. 102)
• Year: Around 1984
• Company: OBERTOYS (Spain)
• Size: Around 24 cm.

#213 BBURAGO – FERRARI F40 (DESIGN SERIES 1:87) (1994)

One of the rarest and shortest series made by Bburago was a collection of a few models in 1:87 scale. This is quite uncommon for the Italian brand, since they’re better known for large scales, 1:43 and larger.

For me it is a mystery who took the decision or why was this series ever released: a series of 1:87 scale cars, chromed, and whose wheels do not move. These cars are definitely not for children, they’re more oriented for an adult collector. They are formed by just two parts screwed to each other.

These miniatures were actually released under three different series:

-Keyholders (Ref. 45xx) (11 models)

-Keyholders Special (Ref. 46xx) (10 models)

-Design (Ref. 47xx) (7 models)

All three series are exactly the same cars, the difference lies in that the first two were keyrings with the car attached to it, while the third one is just the car without the keyring. The difference between the first two was only in the type of package. The “Design” series was sold in jewel cases with black bases, but seem to be quite rare. Some websites say they weren’t even for sale.

A list of references is available in http://www.modellautohomepage.de/87.htm. I reproduce that list partly here:

4513 or 4613 or 4713 – Mercedes Benz 300 SL “Gullwing”

4519 or 4619 or 4719 – Ferrari Testarossa

4527 or 4627 – Ferrari GTO

4532 or 4632 or 4732 – Ferrari F40

4535 or 4635 or 4735 – Bugatti EB 110

4536 or 4636 or 4736 – Ferrari 456 GT

4539 or 4639 or 4739 – Ferrari 348 tb

4541 or 4641 – Lamborghini Diablo

4560 or 4660 – Porsche 911 Carrera 993

4563 or 4663 or 4763– Porsche 959

4500IT – Ferrari F40 (Italia’90)

Mebetoys had also made keyrings with die-cast models, more specifically with a formula 1. 

Extracted from Mebetoys' 1968 Catalogue (picture property of Dave from www.doyouremember.co.uk/)

Redondo would also release keyrings with formula 1s a few years later than that.

EDIT: I have found some pictures of keyring cars in their original package, and it is very interesting to see how these boxes imitate tobacco boxes. Certainly an indication that these "toys" or keyrings were for adult collectors.


Pic: todocoleccion.net

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: FERRARI F40 “Design” (Ref. 4732)
• Scale: approx. 1:87
• Year: 1994
• Company: Bburago (Italy)
• Size: approx. 5 cm

#212 DINO RIDERS – PROTOCERATOPS with KANON (1989)

DINO RIDERS WEAPONS AND ACCESSORIES

The Protoceratops is one of the three smallest dinosaurs in the second Dino-Riders’ wave. Another one was the Placerias. Despite having an harness comprised of only 4 parts (harness, 2x gun tips, shield) it is one of the most difficult dinosaurs to find complete, since the shield is not fixed to the harness (it just “lean” on it) and therefore it is often missing. The harness is decorated with two light yellow stickers: one of them in the binoculars, the second one on the “inner” part of the harness. These stickers glow in the dark. To my knowledge, this one might be the only dinosaur that came with extra stickers to apply. If you’re a completist, take care on this!

I was lucky to find this toy complete and with the figure. Kanon is made out of one of the common casts used already during the 1^st wave. If we take a look at the original artwork in the box of this toy, we see, that the figure can ride the dinosaur by leaning on the harness, although this doesn’t work very well in the real toy.

In this entry I’d also like to show the different accessories that were available with Dino-Riders figures. These accessories were only sold together with the figures that came with dinosaurs, not the figures which were sold in two-packs. Commando figures came with some accessories, but these are (almost all) different to the ones shown in this entry.

It is important to mention that the weapons are divided in two groups: grey accessories belong to the Valorians, while red accessories belong to the Rulons. There were two different sets of each colour.

• The first wave dinosaurs came with one set of weapons for each figure. Valorians came with “set 1”, and Rulons came with “set 1”.
• The second wave comprised much more Valorian dinosaurs as Rulon dinosaurs. Some Valorian dinosaurs came with “set 1”, some other with “set 2”. Protoceratops, for instance, came with “set 1”. All Rulon dinosaurs (there were three of them) came with “set 2” accessories.
• The third wave was very short (3 dinosaurs) and they all came with “set 2” accessories, except the Ice Age dinosaurs animals, that came with Valorian set number 1.

All weapons and accessories came attached to a plastic tree, so you had to remove them before you could play with them. As every figure from a faction came with the same accesories, some of these accesories do not attach firmly to the figure wrists, or simply cannot be used. Some cases are not so bad...

Let’s start with the Valorians:

Valorian set 1 (6 accesories)

-AMP

-Rifle

-Handgun

-Water Skin

-Bandoleer

-Ladder

Valorian set 2 (5 accesories)

-AMP (different to set 1’s)

-Chest Shield

-Psyche Blade

-Infrared Night Scope

-Double Barrel Rifle with Harness (2 parts)

And now, let’s go with Rulon’s accessories:

Rulon set 1 (6 accesories)

-Bazooka

-Binoculars

-Shield

-Cross Bow

-Electronic Whip

-Ladder (same as for valorians)

Rulon set 2 (6 accesories)

-AMP Detector

-Rifle

-Boomerang

-Neck Clip (can carry the rifle or the boomerang)

-Whip

-Blade Mace

The AMP is the device Valorians carry in their chests that enables telepathic communication between them and dinosaurs or even other creatures. Whenever one of the Valorians wants to use it, they take it in their hand and it shines. It is the most important accessory they have. There are two version of this accesory. The first is clearly larger. It is also more difficult to find, because it falls off the figure if you turn it down. The second version remains attached to the figures neck, and needs considerable effort to remove it.

AMP version 1 (left) and version 2 (right)

Rifles and Hanguns are used very often in the cartoons; they produce a bright red or bright blue beam. In the cartoons, which are oriented for children, never a Valorian or a Rulon got aimed by those lasers. At the most, the laser was aimed to a Rulon brainbox, so they lost control over the dinosaur.

Ladders were probably designed to improve realism. Some dinosaurs were too high and the figures too small, so, hanging a couple of ladders to harnesses and cockpits would be a nice addition to your dinosaurs. This is great in the big dinosaurs, like the Diplodocus or the Triceratops, but in smaller dinosaurs it doesn’t make any sense at all, as it doesn’t in flying dinosaurs either.

Two more pics of the mushroom's diorama:

And a frontal view of the dinosaur with the glow-in-the-dark sticker and the typical eyes used in most dinosaurs in this toy-line.

You can see here the yellow sticker that glows in the dark

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: PROTOCERATOPS with KANON
• Toy Line: Dino-Riders (Wave 2)
• Year: 1989
• Company: Tyco (U.S.A.)
• Scale of the dinosaur 1:24
• Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm

#211 TOMICA - AUSTIN TAXI CAB, MERCEDES 450SEL, FERRARI BB 512, JAGUAR XJ-S and TEREX DUMP TRUCK (Nrs. T12, T19, T23, T24 and F22) (1993)

Tomica produced its die-cast miniatures in Japan until 1993 with just a few exceptions. In 1990, a second production plant was opened in China, although new models were always produced in Japan. The four models I am presenting here were first released in the late 70s, for me the best period in the Tomica history.

Accordign to Wikipedia, around 15 years later, in 1993, the cars in this entry plus some more were re-released as an assignment from Tomy UK to Tomy Japan. This line comprised 36 cars and is usually referred as “the British line”. They were produced in China to save on costs. As you can see in the card catalogue, most cars are European models (Renault, Citroën, Porsche, Ferrari, Lotus, Volkswagen…) with very few exceptions (Chevrolet, Mazda, Fuso Truck). I am not quite sure if these cars belong to that line, but they might..

Then in 1993, Tomy Co. of UK contracted Tomy Co. of Japan to produce a line of 36 Tomica cars (the “British Line”) using existing casts. To save on production costs, these were to be produced in China. Since 1994, Tomy also used the facility in China to produce new models, and in May 1995 the production of existing regular line models also started moving from Japan to China. This was done in phases. By July 1997, all regular line Tomica cars were made in China. Old casts that were not used for mass production of the British line models, regular models, or gift set models during this period remained in Japan. Therefore, special releases that used these old castings were still made in Japan. 

 

The cars you’re watching here were bought in 1994 in Santiago de Compostela. I was so surprised to see Tomicas in a shop, because it was the first time. All the other Tomicas I own were bought by my father in Portugal. They’re priced 204 pesetas, that’s around 1,22 Euros.

 

UPDATE (JULY 2018): I traded this Ferrari BB 512 from the same British line. I also have the original Japanese made, but that one has a different decoration without the Ferrari logo.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: AUSTIN TAXI CAB, MERCEDES 450SEL, FERRARI BB 512, JAGUAR XJ-S and TEREX DUMP TRUCK (Nrs. T12, T19, T23, T24 and F22)
• Scale: 1:67 (Austin, Mercedes, Jaguar) / 1:62 (Ferrari) / 1:119 (Terex Dump Truck)
• Year: Around 1993
• Company: Tomica (Japan)
• Size: approx. 6 cm