A passion spanning the globe...intro to my Blog

As for so many other men, die cast toys have been my passion since my childhood.  Having been born in the early 1950's and growing up in Cyprus my first pieces were inevitably made by Dinky and Matchbox, supplemented by the occasional Budgie Toy and later Corgi which developed into my favourites.  Märklin die-cast toy cars were also available but as they were more expensive my dad did not prefer them for me, even though I recall loving the great detailing of them.  Spot-On eventually also arrived, but soon disappeared - they were also not favoured because their scale was slightly larger than Corgi/Dinky and somehow did not 'fit'.  Later Politoys would make an appearance but we never had the pleasure of Norev, French Dinky, Siku, Mebetoys or Mercury in the Cyprus market.

My intention with this blog is to reminisce, report on swap-meets I might visit, show parts of my existing collection and also supplement it with new pieces I acquire as time goes.  It is not intended to be a catalogue in any way, although some of my models can be seen on other blogs I have.

So, here is one of the toys which started it all! This is Dinky No. 29f Observation coach.  These are the original colours which i can't find depicted or described elsewhere.  I loved the sturdiness of these toys.

Dinky No. 29f Observation Coach

As I mentioned my collection is expanding and I do have some areas of specialisation or more of a passion.  These are models of Italian cars (specially Lancia), police cars, taxis and anything else which might catch my fancy!

Here are some of my latest acquisitions:

Politoys No. 531, Alfa Romeo Giulia Carabinieri, Made in Italy ca. 1967

Politoys No. 536, Ferrari Dino Pininfarina, Made in Italy ca. 1967

Politoys No. 539, Lamborghini 350, Made in Italy ca.1968.

One must be aware that such models were produced over several years and were issued in various colours.  Whilst Dinky and Corgi limited the number of colour variations, French, Italian and German contemporary toy makers were a little more liberal in applying different colours over the years. 

The Lamborghini 350 being one of my favourite cars has a niche in my collection...here is a variation by Politoys again.

Coming back to my recent acquisitions, here is a lovely model of a Porsche 904.

Politoys, No. 535, Porsche 904, Made in Italy, ca 1968

This Porsche is quite rare in model form from that period and hence pretty sought after by collectors.  In my opinion its one of the best looking Porsches ever produces and Politoys have captured it very well, albeit giving it more of an Italian look with its red rather than the 'standard' metallic grey...

Another rare model is the Lola Ford GT which served as a base for the later very successful Ford GT40.  Obviously Politoys had an eclectic taste in choosing subjects to model.

Politoys, No. 534, Lola Ford GT, Made in Italy ca 1967.

It is worthwhile mentioning that Politoys also produced many of its earlier toys in a plastic material as well, so one can find the same car made in die-cast metal or plastic.

The Alfa Romeo Giulia SS was one of the most unusual Alfas ever put into series production and it very much impressed my as a child as it looked so outlandish compared to the Giulia sedan or even compared to the elegant Giulia Coupe.  Although it looked much faster than those it actually wasn't and its higher price limited its success.  In terms of models it was also pretty rare, the only other one I know of was the 1/66 scale version by Penny.  Here they are for you to enjoy:

Politoys, No. 506, Alfa Romeo Giulia SS, 1/43 scale, Made in Italy, ca 1965

Penny, Alfa Romeo Giulia SS, 1/66 scale

Penny toys were exquisitely modelled and their themes paralleled those of Politoys at 1/43 scale but at 1/66 scale. Here is another example for my Lancia collection:

Politoys, No. 509, Lancia Flavia Sport Zagato, 1/43 scale, Made in Italy ca 1965

Penny, Lancia Flavia Sport Zagato, 1/66 scale, Made in Italy 

Very few Penny toys have entered my collection as they are pretty difficult to come by.  They were produced in far lower numbers than contemporary Matchbox toys but on the other hand, because they are so little known, they tend to be pretty reasonable in price these days. Coming back to my latest additions now.

What is this you may ask? Who made it? Its a rather prosaic Renault 4TL in Air France livery with opening bonnet, doors and rear hatch and beautifully detailed. One would have expected it to have been made by a French manufacturer but actually its not! Its a Tomica Dandy, at 1/43 scale and Made in Japan! They are so good at the rendition that they even captured the nose down stance of the real cars! Only Tomica would have done that! 

Tomica DANDY, No F15, Renault 4TL, Air France, 1/43 scale, Made in Japan

I love the packaging with the national flag of the F series cars - F for foreign. Another recent Tomica DANDY acquisition is the following VW Transporter.

Tomica DANDY, No. F23, VW Delivery Van, 1/43 scale, Made in Japan

The detailing is stunning and the decals really cute; there are sliding doors on both sides.  A model that one would expect from a Japanese manufacturer would be a Toyota and here is my latest from Tomica DANDY again.

Tomica DANDY, No. DJ-005, Toyota Crown 1986, Made in Japan ca 1986

These models are quite heavy duty with beautiful treaded rubber tires and with all opening doors etc (apart from read doors).  I also have a blue metallic version of this which I had bought in Singapore in May 1986.  I am not sure if this version in white was issued at the same time.  Tomica have been a little inconsistent in their numbering system and its difficult to get the chronology of production.  If any reader has a source I would appreciate being advised.  

Keeping to the theme of Tomica, I also recently acquired a small scale toy by them.

Tomica, No 11, Hino Semi Trailer, Transport Tank, ca 1/100 scale

The writing on the truck indicates that its Japan Oil.

I discovered Tomica on a trip to Manila in 1981 and have been collecting them on and off since then.  I wish I had bought more of them in the early 80s...As they were only intermittently available in Europe getting hold of them meant travelling to Asia or busing them off the internet, which can be expensive.  Tomica have just recently relaunched some of their toys in various markets in Europe but these are limited to play sets or packages of multiple models rather than for individual models...there is still hope! Give us all please TOMY!

Recently I was lucky to find this at a swap meet in Bern, Switzerland. Lovely!

Tomica DANDY, No. 25, Honda City (Jazz in Europe), 1/43 scale, Made in Japan

Coming back to Europe, one of the most sough after series of toys is the so called 8000 of Märklin.  These were made in Western Germany from the mid 50's to the early 60's.  Each model was issued in several colours and the challenge for serious collectors is to find all of them, but the prices that mint and boxed examples command makes it a bit of a challenge.  I have in recent months added two models to my collection, one acquired at an auction in Australia and the other in New Zealand! ONe hardly sees these at swap-meets in Switzerland where I live. 

Märklin, No. 8026, Tempo - Hochlader, 1/43 scale, Made in W. Germany ca 1960

Here is a brown version recently acquired in New Zealand.  The detailing is impressive.  To illustrate the profusion of colours that Märklin issued their toys in here is an image of some of my Porsche 356 models by them - there are more colour variations plus a Polizei version in the typical post war German dark green and white.

Märklin, No. 8004, Porsche 356, 1/43 scale, Made in W. Germany

Märklin, No. 8024, Porsche 356 Polizei, 1/43 scale, Made in W. Germany

These Märklins are my favourite.  They have a special feel to them.  Delicate, with great detail, beautiful finish and special accents not found on contemporary Dinkys or Corgis e.g. painted repeater lights, fine wire antenna, very smooth paint finish...attributes one comes across full-sized German cars these days... :-)

I shall devote another chapter to my full Märklin collection in due course.

On a recent trip to Moscow I added one piece to my collection.  As Taxis is one of the themes I collect I chose one of those.  There are yellow taxis in Moscow but the majority come in any colour in which a particular car came out of the factory with and the model I chose is a Lada VAZ-2105.  The packaging states that its been made by NIKOTEX Holding in Russia but the base plate still shows Made in USSR on it - I guess they have not bothered to update the dies even though the USSR's demise goes back 20 years now.

No. 12 VAZ-2105 Lada Moscow Taxi variation, NIKOTEX Holding, Russian Car Series

 Impressive opening parts; one has to open the front door before the rear will open...

 Very detailed engine

 Solid packaging

 The range of models available.  This one cost about USD 9.00

I will be devoting a section on 1/43 scale Taxis in due course.

Below are a few photos of some of the rich selection of models at the little shop in the underpass opposite the old KGB Head-quartes at Lubyanka.  If any of you are in Moscow it should be easy to find.  He also had many 'western' models available.

 This was a 1/18 scale Lada in some sort of 'security' livery.

And some more Russian models.

This closes my introduction into my Blog and latest acquisitions.  I will subsequently be positing items by subject.