#557 DARDA - GO-KART, DKW MUNGA and VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE (1984 and 1987)

Maybe in an attempt to sell their products to a wider range of children (especially to girls and boys who don´t like cars), Darda decided at some point to introduce funny and special models in their assortment. Some were vehicles, like motorbikes, go-karts, planes, but other were directly animals (cat and mouse) or humans (skateboarder and delta-flyer).

I´d like to get some of these "exotic" models, but since they are not a toy car, they are not easy to find on flea markets or similar. However, these three cars could actually be considered "funny", since they are also rare choices for vehicles: a Go-Kart, a Volkswage Beetle with some hippie flowers decoration and a Military Jeep. Very different vehicles, and not the ones we are used to see as scale models.

These three models presented in this entry are somehow rare vehicles or normal vehicles decorated in a funny way.

Go-Kart in dark Green – 1984 – Nr. 1800-122

DKW Munga in Military Green “Police” – 1984 – Nr. 1500-020

Volkswagen Beetle in light blue – 1987 – Nr.1410-001

The Jeep model has been used as a promotional ítem by many companies, so it is a model with many variations.

UPDATE: Thanks Steve for identifying the DKW Munga (wrongly described as "Jeep")

UPDATE 2: I just found a new Go-Kart, this time in silver grey, I like it better than the dark green.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: GO-KART, DKW MUNGA and VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE (Nrs. 1800-122, 1500-020 and 1410-001) (Numbering according to www.dardamania.de)
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: 1984, 1984 and 1987
• Company: Darda (Germany)
• Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm

#556 FX SCHMID - WUNDER DER TECHNIK (Around 1955)

This deck of cards was manufactured by Schmid (today FX Schmid) in the 50s, maybe 1955, although it is quite difficult to give an exact year...

Similarly to the deck by JSJW shown in a previous entry, the box simulates a small book with leather covers, although it is made of cardboard. I bought both decks from the same seller, so I guess that both are have more or less the same age. It belongs to the series "Quartett Bibliothek der Unterhaltung und das Wissen" (Quartett-Library of Entertainment and Knowledge).

The quartet has 9 families, each of them represents one category in the “wonders of technology” or “wonders of engineering”, like: roads, canals, bridges, trains, high buildings, shipbuilding or telecommunications.

 

 

I love the theme of the deck and the pictures are great. Despite being so old, the deck is still quite modern, in most categories, the works shown are still considered very advanced 60 years later… the only category in which the “wonders” have been clearly exceeded are maybe telecommunications.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: WUNDER DER TECHNIK
• Alternate Names: WONDERS OF ENGINEERING (English)
• Year: Around 1955
• Company: FX Schmid (Germany)

#555 JIRAIYA/GIRAYA NINJA - BARON OWL and DOKUSAI (1988)

This series by Bandai was very advertised in 1992 when Bandai arrived to Spain. The Japanese company brought a lot of new toylines, each of it with its own TV ad. Most of them were very small lines (just a few references, like this one) and didn´t have much success. The most successful line was Saint Seiya, while almost all the other toylines are today forgotten (in Spain at least, in Japan most of them are very popular even today). The toys however were manufactured a few years earlier, and introduced earlier as well in other markets, like France in 1989.

I bought two figures the summer of 1992 as some kind of cheap replacement of a real Saint Seiya. The figures are made of a jelly-like sticky plastic, that could be stretched, launched against the wall or the ceiling (where it would stick to), but that is not what caught my attention in the first place... it was the armour, which was, in a way, similar to Saint Seiya´s. The figure also came with some accesories, like swords, bows, knifes, and a figure stand. Even with the armor, it would be difficult to place them in standing position without the stand. The drawback of the armour, is that you cannot really play with the stetch feature... which in the end is the cool thing.

Blistercard Images taken from todocoleccion.net

The collection comprises 5 characters, all of them are actually the same figure with different heads. The main character is Giraya, the hero. Giraya fights together with two other characters: Baron Owl, the "brain" of the organisation and Wild, the young apprentice. On the other side, there is some evil organisation, whose leader is Dokusai. The baddies are only two, being the second one Habrun. As in most good vs. evil stories, the bad guys want to rule the world, and the good guys have a hell of a lot of work stopping them.

Pic: todocoleccion.net

Despite being a nice toy, they are not collectable, because the figures won´t withstand the test of time, and will degradate at some point. So my advice would be not to spend much money on these figures.

In Spain they were sold in blíster cards, like those in the pictures, but in other countries, they were sold boxed.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: DOKUSAI and BARON OWL
• Toy Line: Jiraiya/Giraya Ninja
• Year: 1988
• Company: Bandai (Japan)
• Size of the figure: Around 15 cm

#554 VALTOY – COCHE ACROBÁTICO SUPER FRICCIÓN (Around 1978)

Valtoy is the brand used by the Sociedad Valenciana del Juguete S.A., a company founded in Alicante around 1975. It was another toy company which reached a rather high number of workers by the end of the 70s (over 120), but later declined and disappeared sometime during the 80.

Unfortunately there is no information available on the internet, except a couple of patents registered in the mid 70s, and a lot of products for sale in sites like todocoleccion.net. If you have information about this company, and want to share it, please leave a comment below.

The car presented in this entry is made of tin with a plastic base. I found it a few Christmas ago, and bought it really cheap new and boxed as you see it right now in the pictures. I think it is a quite interesting toy, an acrobatic car with a very powerful friction motor and a plastic cone to expand the play possibilities. It is probably a copy or a license from another company. It reminds me a bit of the Japanese toys from Tonka, but this is just my impression.If this were true, the car might be slightly newer as indicated, probably from the early to mid 80s.

The same model was available in two decorations: rally (white/red/blue) and police (green/white).
I must say, that I have never tested this toy or removed it from the box, but it must be really fun to play with.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: COCHE ACROBÁTICO SUPER-FRICCIÓN
• Scale: Unknown
• Year: Around 1978
• Company: Valtoy (Spain)
• Size: approx. 20 cm

#553 CON-NEC-TORS – SKATEBOARDER and WRESTLER (1990)

Matchbox has rarely produced other toys than die-cast cars and vehicles. This is one of the exceptions. After the success of the Connectables Line (see entries #471, #472 and #473), Matchbox launched another line with a similar approach, only instead of creating vehicles by combining parts, you could form different action figures by combining torso, head and limbs.

Because each figure is composed of 6 parts, there are multiple combinations to generate new figures, even if you only own a couple of figures. A sticker in a 2-pack blister bubble said: “Over 3.5 Million Combinations!”, which should be if you own the whole collection

The characters chosen are popular characters of the 90s and before: there are several monsters and creatures, but also a policeman, a cyborg (in the Terminator style), an american football player, a soldier... all easily identifiable characters.


To my knowledge, there were 16 figures made for this collection, which could be purchased individually, in two-packs or in bigger gift sets. In English, the characters had pretty dull names, see list:

• Monster Fly
• Football Player
• Dinosaur
• Rock Star
• Vampire
• Swamp Monster
• Skateboarder
• Pterodactyl
• Sheriff
• Robot
• Mummy
• Cyclops
• Wrestler
• Mutant
• Soldier
• Indian

In Italian, curiously, the names were a Little bit more inventive.

By the way, this toyline was not only a Matchbox line, it was also produced by Giochi Preziosi. Maybe for this reason, the country in which this toyline had the biggest success was in Italy.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: SKATEBOARDER and WRESTLER
• Toy Line: Con-nec-tors / Connectors
• Year: 1990
• Company: Matchbox (Great Britain) / Giochi Preziosi (Italy)
• Size of the figures: Around 10 cm

#552 YATMING - HONDA F1 (1301), FERRARI F1 (1302) and BRABHAM BT 44 F1 (1309) (Around 1970 and 1975)

Yatming made not only cars, but also F1, public works machines, and many other vehicles in several scales. The 13xx Series included 12 Formula Ones (1301 to 1312) from the 60s and 70s. The first references seem to be older, like end of the 60s, while the higher references are cars from the mid-70s. Were they all made at the same time or in two or more different years? Probably the line was launched at the beginning of the 70s and extended by the mid-70s.

The first two references are the Honda and the Ferrari. The first in marked on the base "Honda", the second one is not marked "Ferrari". Both models are marked Yatming and the reference number, but the Honda is Made in Hong-Kong, and the Ferrari is Made in China, so I would bet the Ferrari is some kind of later re-issue.

The third (and later) model is a Brabham BT 44, which is also unmarked "Brabham" on the base, and is a copy of a Polistil cast, already presented in this blog (entry #170), but repictured here for comparing purposes.

This last model is Made in Thailand.

Yatming casts are based on ral models, but colours applied and decorations are quite different from the real racing models. Maybe for this reason, Yatming formula ones are not among the most sought-after models.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: HONDA F1 (1301), FERRARI F1 (1302) and BRABHAM BT 44 F1 (1309)
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: Approx. 1970 and 1975
• Company: Yatming/ Yat Ming (Hong-Kong)
• Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm