Datsuncog

Probably why he's trying to offload that Budgie Leyland as a swopsie, as he's heard Rishi's got an original Mod Quad stashed in his desk back at No.10...

Cracking Mk1 Fiesta parked up by a local Tesco Express, yesterday. Really did look showroom. GL spec means some restrained chrome trim around the windows, a reversing light plus rubber overriders, but not quite the full GHIA. Plenty of giffer trinkets on offer, including padded seat covers, aerofoil wipers, and the all-important tartan blanket over the back seat. Repro tax disc for bonus has-a-timewarp-opened-up? head-scratchery. Great colour too. It could be 1985 all over again...

More of a lorry than a truck, but still... Hiding behind some magnolias at a local garden centre - a Morris LC3, I think. Faded paintwork points to earlier signwriting from a previous life: I'm reading that as 'N.W. Hall, Ripon, North Yorkshire' - dunno if that rings any bells for anyone?

Yesterday. Another dark blue 5-dr E110 'Rolla then arrived into the car park at Cityside - but sadly it didn't bother to come over to make it triplets.

FFS, what is it about world political leaders muscling in on my turf? Why are they suddenly all so mad keen to rock up to Belfast on a Friday morning? We know. We know. As if it's not tricky enough to get parked around The Markets without CIA goons everywhere. Well, if he thinks he's going to be swanning back on to Air Force One with a sense of having cemented international relations and with a pocketful of lightly scuffed Corgi Juniors with early Whizzwheels, he's got another think coming...

No worries - will take a look through them all and make sure there's no dodgy bonnet hinges! I think the AS Diecast Massive has spoken... Heh, I had that set! Now all gone to live with @Bren, if memory serves!

Spooky or what?!

Couldn't see the price on it, but very likely three figures so yeah... probably not cheap! I should be back up in Belfast on Wednesday so will hopefully get the chance to pop back in at some stage of the afternoon - what are we looking for, then? @Noel Tidybeard - MB Superkings Suzuki SJ @bunglebus - Corgi Rockets GP Buggy, orange @flat4alfa - Lintoy Mercedes C111; Majorette BMW (if not ludicrously priced) Ok so far?

If you're keen... arrangements can be made. 😉

It's a plastic-bodied Hot Wheels of uncertain origin and parentage - but yes, I think if you were to sniff it there'd be a faint whiff of Happy Meal still lingering... A bit of Cadillac and a bit of Avanti do seem to be in the mix somewhere! I... didn't actually notice the BMW on the top left until you pointed it out! Haven't a clue what the price was, or even if it's Majorette. Daah. But yes - the Merc C111 has got that exact same weird mechanism underneath, so it probably is the Lintoy - I didn't see any manufacturer name, but then there was a big sticker covering much of it. Made in Hong Kong was visible though - and it was in very good condition. I can't remember the price, annoyingly - but I'm fairly sure it was no more than £5. Hopefully less. The Lesney Maserati Bora one shelf down was £4, I can remember that... Yes, that thought did cross my mind... I'll try cleaning both of them up a little, and see what's what. I do intend to gather together the best versions possible of the late '60s King Size models, so the Regular Wheels Miura forms an important part of that - I just need a Charger and a Mercury Commuter squad car to complete a preliminary collection of moderately good examples. Of course, once better examples arise these will need rehoming, so... Noted. Heh, it was a rant... but probably unfair. His shop, his rules. If it works ok for him - I dunno how it does, but he's been there for like fifteen years now so he must be doing something right - then it's my choice to go in or not. And today, for the first time in nearly three years, I did... I'll have another look next week... 🙃

Heh, you bought a couple off me - including that one - and I think they were 50p a throw! They're not super-common, but they ain't that rare either... You can be sure he doesn't shift all that much!

I think that's why I've made so little progress on a Steve Flowers order I've had in list form for about ten years! Bloody hell, that's annoying.

I managed to get the Dodge Royal police cruiser, as requested. It's well-used, but not a version I was familiar with. I also found myself plucking this one from the box. Dinky 39e Chrysler - made between 1939 and 1952, albeit with a hiatus between 1940 and 1945. So yeah - this'll be over 70 years old then, and possibly nearer 80. For £5. I just couldn't leave it, for some odd reason. Then, twenty-five pence worth of HOT SMOKIN' ROVER 800 ACTION. And the cassette inside is also the right one (which I hadn't checked before). And - you can win a DVD player! Bargains all round, people. @RoadworkUK - it's all yours. So I did buy something from Smithfield: Having been looking for a Regular Wheels Miura for years, last week I settled and bought a Speed Kings version. This week, I find the version I wanted. Not cheap-cheap; but if I'd seen it on the market stall at this price, I would have bought it. Even though it's been touched up with some black paint to cover chips... And now manages to resemble some sort of alternate universe £300 Miura from the pages of Friday-Ad, with a Hammerite tide mark round the sills and arches and the roof hastily covered with vinyl and wob to conceal a bodged sunroof install. Sold as seen, m8. So, that's that for this week... Once back at my desk, I just had time to gobble down some unspecified Indonesian ramen noodles, which turned out to be Pain Flavour... I didn't even get as far as adding the chilli powder. And that was kinda that. Happy Friday, kids - stay safe and stay warm.

Think there was only £2 asked on that one. Bit scratched, but windscreen and rollover bar were still in place. I will return at some point...

Inside were plenty to tempt: Phoar. Shell Supercar Collection. No, not really - but the Superkings Suzuki alongside is a bit of a rarity, and not unreasonable at £15. Rolls Royce is a tenner. (There are three identical Rollers there, one behind the other.) Good selection of Vanguards, at the now-typical £36 price point. Older Corgi, also at £10/15/20. Right at the back were some of those late '90s reissues of older Mettoy Corgis - a Chevrolet ambulance, a Mazda pickup with removable camper unit, and a Mk2 Transit tipper. £20 each on those. And much older stuff up for grabs too, amid recent partworks and what looks like the very last Matchbox Dinky releases, some ex-Vitesse castings which were supplied mail-order only and are quite hard to find. I don't think these small Corgi boxes are quite right, however. They'll display well, but they appear fictitious. The Whizzwheels Ford D-series skip truck atop a Husky Bedford skip truck box is a bit suss. Not sure what's being asked for them. Some of the loose stuff isn't bad, mind... Most of these are a pound or two; three quid at the outside. DS is a late one, badged as a Corgi Whizzwheels underneath. Orange GP buggy is a Rockets version. Pink BMC 1800 Pininfarina a bit bubbly, but also only £1. (Crumbs, I haven't really got time to comment on all of these). Whizzwheels Europa was excellent, and £3. Planet Scout is the rarer Adventure 2000 gift set variant in pale green. Road Blasters Mercury also very good nick, and also £3. Gruesome Twosome boasts both engines. Hot Wheels Buick Riviera is a hi-riders version. Three of those Siku Frosties Jeeps - and an Adventure 2000 hovercraft. Corgi Dyane was clean and all. Willys Hot Rod is an unusual Matchbox over here - a US release which didn't make it over to the UK as a mainline casting, but was included in certain multipacks. There was some other loose stuff up top, but it was definitely a case of a few diamonds hiding in the rough... But - enough of this, I'll cut to the finale!

Make sure you write that number in permanent marker on the back, too!

So there are a lot of cabinets outside the shop, in the covered mall area, and that's where I tend to browse first. Yes, that's £30 for most of an unboxed Superkings Ford Transcontinental. The Volvo race support was a slightly more reasonable £8, but a bit roughed-up. £25 for the Peterbilt box truck perhaps not outrageous, as it seems relatively clean and complete. £10 on the Laing Hercules crane probably an indicator for the rest of the cabinet contents. Assorted unboxed MoYs and Matchbox Dinkys not really appealing to anyone... Though right at the back, the orange Dinky El Camino isn't a bad shout for a tenner. Atlas Dinky repros seem to be about the £15 mark, from what I can decipher... But I dunno if the acrylic-box ones are the same, or more. Now this is nice. But it could be affordable, or a king's ransom. These boxes look original... ...but yes: That's £40 on the unboxed Hot Wheels steering truck and trailer. Yet inside, he has a mint and boxed late '60s Mebetoys Hot Wheels Silhouette, for only £25. Yeah...

So I went across the slippy-slushy road into Winetavern Street, and through to My Old Toy Box. Now, I have some issues with this place, which I've previously expounded on at length - but for the benefit of those at the back, I'll summarise here: **{whiney whingey screed removed as it's probably not fair of me to rag on someone running their own business}** So - that's why I hadn't been back. Until today.

Well then! Out into the snow melt, and not a moment too soon - suffering from a chronic lack of customers, Blokey had already packed the stall up and was heaving it away to his van. Luckily, the diecast box was still accessible... ...and I was able to extract what I needed. Ditto, the charity stall was in the process of being cleared - but VHS sales must have been inexplicably slow, as the Tony Pond TT video was still there. Phew. This left me in a minor pickle, as I'd now spent my last 25p and had nothing left in my pockets to procure the laughably poor Prelude from Alan's 50p tray... So rather than stump off to a cash machine in the city centre and then back again, I took an executive decision to leave it for this week. Let's see how the cards fall in future weeks, yeah? And that's a stern reminder to myself to keep a spare 50p stowed in my bag, to prevent this shameful situation from ever happening again. With not much further market action occurring, other than packing away, I set off across town... seemingly on some sort of diecast-inspired quest with no clear goal in mind. I haven't been past Cash Converters for a while. And oh, what was this in the window? Boxed Speed Kings Lightning F1 car's not quite my thing, but seems to represent quite good value at £12. Reproduction French Dinkys were up for a tenner each. Heading inside, there wasn't all that much - a nice but pricy Celica GT4... And this discount store stalwart from another age. Plus Days Gone and Thomas The Tank Engine stuff, of course. But we're not here for that. Nipping round the corner brought me back to The World's Smallest B&M™, and I took a quick peek in there in case I'd overlooked a rack of Hot Wheels Flying Colours or something, but no. Last Friday's bonanza was not to be repeated - about half the mainlines were gone, including the white Porsche Carrera I should have bought instead of the Delorean. Shuffling across the slush into Royal Avenue, and Castle Court had both a branch of The Entertainer and another Poundland... Entertainer, however, didn't have much to tickle me: No Matchbox to be seen anywhere, and more of the same Hot Wheels mainlines (albeit in long card format). Some premiums... And Car Culture stuff, apparently reduced (but still kinda pricey): They're also the only place I know that stocks Siku, but at a fiver for the smallest single models, who's buying them? They are, however, still made in Europe rather than the far east - Poland, the packs say - so maybe their pricing is really a more accurate reflection of how much it actually costs to make and sell a small metal toy while ensuring appropriate environmental and social standards are met for workers and the factory? Hmmm. With this weighing on me, I toddled on to Poundland - which had no Hot Wheels, or indeed any diecast of interest at all. So that was that. Poundstretcher, out the side of Castle Court in Castle Street, surprised me with two pegs stuffed full of Matchbox Working Rigs. But other than the generic garbage truck and the Pierce fire ladder, all the others were just the same two GMCs that the Carrick store had. Which brought me to something of a crossroads... did I dare to go back over to the model shop at Smithfield? I haven't been there for a number of years now, for various reasons... But is a tat sweep really a tat sweep if one of Belfast's premier diecast lairs remains unexplored?

Honestly, MrsDC's Mk1 Yaris is absolutely formidable in the snow. It just goes straight through, no messing. She knows a few horsey people who also rate them; see also Citroen C1/ Pug 107/ Toyota Aygo. I've seen them go places in the snow that Land Rovers can't... Didn't even know they'd made a 4x4 version until now ! Is yours an ex-Japan import?

So, what do I have to show for my epic battle against the wild winter elements? A mildly shonky Jaguar XJ6, as requested by @bunglebus last week: Yup, Alan hadn't sold it. The paintwork really is remarkably lustrous on it. Also for @bunglebus, from the General Tat Stall, is the Hot Wheels Studebaker Champ pickup mentioned last week: Nice illustration on the pack, too. As I ended up in quite a long conversation with Colin on the stall (which provided the interesting nugget that Jim, the fella who was always behind the stall beside Colin when it was in Bangor Market on a Wednesday, never actually worked there - he was just a random punter who turned up every week and stood behind the stall. What is it about diecast and strange men...?), I ended up buying another Matchbox Working Rigs truck to go with my GMC attenuator truck from last weekend: An International Workstar 7500 waste tipper. These are really quite decent for the price. And lastly, for now: this, from the Tat Stall. It's the ERTL Pontiac Bonneville which, I believe, was supplied as part of the licenced Smokey & The Bandit II playset. Sheriff Bufort T. Justice's car, to be exact. Even if the shade isn't very exact. But it's in decent enough nick, and for £2 I thought I may as well. Available if anyone wants it - but I'm equally happy to hold on to it in my own nostalgia toybox. [**EDIT - TAKEN!!**] Oh, and I also bought four packets of past-date chocolate orange mini bites for £1. Because I know MrsDC's quite partial to such chocolatey orangey products - and what better way to show affection than with a joblot of expired white chocolate? More to come, then, in about half an hour! Not much snow left, now...

It's absolutely bloody awful! But - the basic shape looks alright... could be something of a restoration challenge, to improve and detail it to the point of looking the way it was supposed to?

So eventually Alan had everything arranged exactly to his liking... But there wasn't much new to be seen, unfortunately. I did take a poke through the no-name cheapies though - this stab at a Lancia Stratos looks recent-ish. And I think this is trying very hard to be a fourth-gen Honda Prelude: What think you? My crappy pics don't help, but those slabby rear lights are quite distinctive. The pointy bit at the front looks about right too, even if the sludge-brown paint doesn't really improve its kiddy-appeal. Ah well. There was also this LP, on one of the other generally overpriced Tat Stalls: Look how happy they are. Well, who wouldn't be, in their shoes/ boots? I bet they're filing their pockets with H3 and 501 bulbs, the little scallywags. And it seems that was about that... coffee in hand and a (second-tier) scone procured from another baked goods purveyor, it was time to shuffle off out into the crisp cold morning... But - I didn't come away empty-handed...

Many of them were on the wider side, 'tis true... exactly the kinda stuff I would have become a bit overexcited about around 20 years ago!

Will do my best! I sooooo nearly bought it, but was reminded of all the other VHS tapes I'd picked up speculatively and then had to bin last year as not even charity shops would take them - will head over in an hour or so!