Jon

We joined my Dad in 1987, when he'd been posted to Germany, so that's where my love of Sikus emerged. We left in late '88 but in that short time, Christmas and birthday were Siku orientated for me, which explains the trucks I still have now. It also helped that both sets of grandparents came to visit for Christmas, so '87 must've been an absolute bumper treat year! Sikus also seemed on a par with the cost of a Matchbox Superfast. Plus every last pfennig of pocket money went towards them!

My folks have taken a bit of a road trip, which means I had some time spare to crack open the big box of recently imported diecasts and take a few snaps. Let's start things off with another Cogbox item - a very hefty Siku! I'm reliably informed by my folks that this alone made up 400g of international luggage allowance. The heft relates to the fact that it's an all metal body and chassis, with the tanker body representing much of that weight. There's a ladder at the rear which is thankfully complete. One filler cap is missing up top and there's clips on the side, presumably stowing a hose. Google tells me that the clip on top should house a big Aral hoarding, which frankly I can live without: Thinking about it, I don't think Siku sold a racing car to go with this racing themed tanker, so it's a bit of an oddity. The side hatch reveals a couple of hoses, with knotted ends emulating a nozzle. Assuming the knotted ends related to the hoses being retractable (and the fancy retracting mechanism being the reason for the tanker body weight), I pulled one out to test. Turns out I was wrong! It seems I now have one permanently retracted hose. Fortunately it still stows away but it seems bizarre that there's a single use play element to this. And that it took about a half century for a middle aged man laid on his kitchen floor to activate it... But for all of Siku's misgivings, they left in a couple of play value features. I guessed the cab tilted as it's very much a Siku feature but the canopy tolerances are fine enough for me to have totally overlooked it. Turns out the notches are to pull it out with and not to wrap hose round, as assumed! I do feel a little sad that one of the hoses is now forever pulled out but I think this shows that if it was ever played with, it was done so extremely carefully. Anyway, big thanks to @Datsuncog for sourcing!

And me:

Yes, very lucky! Mrs_Jon totally unaware of the scale of my luckiness. She's had exposure to a veritable smidgeon, as I've swapped out a few castings on the bookshelf with some new wares. But in all honesty, she's probably not even noticed those, yet. There's one or two duplicates but that's not bad going, over months of collecting. Inevitably, I questioned the motivation over a couple of the smaller items but they're far outweighed (literally) by some absolute gems, which I'll try and nab some photos of, at some point.

STOP PRESS: New date of 27th November declared for Christmas, in small New Zealand town: Officials yet to confirm, but early numbers suggest 120 separate items for one particularly spoilt manchild lucky, well adjusted adult. A shiny pound for anyone who can name the lot!

I'm about 70% through, I reckon. Taking a break and heading out for a bit, whilst the weather's nice! Just need time to pack it all up before Mrs_Jon gets home...

My parents arrived on Saturday and my wife's away to work today, so the UK arrivals box sees the light of day: Shit a brick! I'm off in!

I've a feeling @Split_Pin could take an interest in the (Bburago 1/24?) Fiat 124 rallye coupe thing from the scrap bag!

Not much to say right now but I'll update when there's anything of note. And if I remember to take any photos!

I've not been on the forum for years but the members of oldschool.co.nz would likely help, if required. Sounds like you have it sorted but always good to have a backup. Plenty of members in Canterbury, from memory. But at least it's being fixed!

Very happy to acquire on your behalf!

My folks arrive in a couple of days (along with a needless amount of diecasts, hopefully!), so I nipped out to the Kiwi version of Wilkos (barring the closed down bit) and took a look down the toy aisles, since it's perilously close to Black Friday. This retail gimmick seems to be a week-long event in NZ - presumably to avoid all the kerfuffle usually associated with battling shoppers overseas. Anyway, here's what I found: Large sized image left, for those of a Hotwheels bent to oggle at. Standard issue ones were not included in the sale and cost $3.50, so a standard enough price on the global Hotwheels market, I'd imagine (£1.75-ish). All others were though and I actually nabbed a couple for those on here. There was a 'new for 2024' monster Beetle at a quite palatable $7 which I had lined up for @bunglebus, like so: Sadly, it was too cheap to make the most of the offer, so it got put back. These don't seem too scarce, however. There were also a few Matchbox Moving Parts at $8 each, including a single Jeep FC but overall stocks were low. Anyway, here's my selection: I went for a couple of things I'd be happy-ish to hold on to, should no-one's boats be floated. Seeing Chief Brody's Blazer featuring in Jaws was a personal highlight of the film, which although a true classic, I tend to find a bit stale in places. Sadly, the excellent painted steels and pie dish trims aren't replicated here. There's been a stab at some interior detailing here but we're hardly talking 90's Vitesse issues, which accurately portrayed an era of truly jazzy seat materials hitherto unseen in family cars. Can't argue with the modded 142, with a nice set of wheels selected and daubed in an excellent shade of orange, with no pointless decals. Fresh. The back end is equally well executed - perhaps better than the front end, which I think has a grille a smidge too wide and headlights fractionally too small. Anyway, this duo came to $15, which is roughly £7.50, give or take. It's likely I'll start a pile of stuff to return to the UK with my folks in January (including a for sale thread closer to the time), so if anyone's willing to wait until then to bag either of these at £3.75 a throw, do sing out. The sale ends on the 28th and there's a slim chance I'll be passing by again before that, though do note that the nearest of these stores is a 40km round trip. But holler out any requests and I'll see what I can do.

I've been busy doing domestic chores all day but I've time now to devote a bit of time to Day 1's whirlwind auction of a Hollywood director's collection of largely unloved diecast toot. Bidding looked to be slow to start with. But then Big Guns Bidder #930 entered the scene. Can't remember if this was #930's buy but if not, someone else had equally deep pockets and equally asinine taste. Yellow car not as favourable, it seems. Uggers Pierce Arrow passed/not sold at $19. A lot of this stuff actually had a reserve! Another #930 mic drop. 19 US dollars deemed an insufficient amount to bag a dusty, unboxed Rio Bugatti Royale with a broken bumper. This specialist auction house has certainly got its finger on the pulse of diecast values, of that there is no doubt. Then came the whirlwind lots of Yesteryear Model T vans: Van after van failed to attract any bids. Funny, that... But then, lo and behold! A sale! Nah, just kidding. Like you thought a paltry $8 would buy this collectible! Come on man, it's advertising a car collection; this stuff is super desirable! This one documented purely for North Yorkshire content. Incidentally, all these vans that hadn't attracted any pre-bids were being rifled through in about 4-5 seconds, so my screenshot fingers were fast at work! And look at the plummeting viewer numbers... Boomer livery tax just kicked in, yo. There's certainly more than 57 varieties of this worthless dross, eh shiters?!!!!!@ Then came one I had my eye on*. The eponymous Lot 273. Should attract a flurry of bids from cardboard enthusiasts. What?! There's just no accounting for taste. Should anyone really wish to surprise me and contact the auction house to buy the cardboard promotional van and send it to me in NZ, then I'd certainly be likely to make mention of it on here, that's for sure. A bunch of these generic old vans came up and were equally as popular as the Yesteryear Ts. But again, no dice on a van advertising a motor show/car museum/car auction, all of which had higher reserves than their cohorts. Then they started selling racing Ferraris, which is where I zoned out. But the few I saw sell were making $40-60. Some sap bid $25 on this obviously broken one, and they still didn't meet its reserve! Anyway, I don't think I'll be tuning in for days 2 & 3 of the auction but I'll admit, it was quite fun to watch a load of stuff meet nowhere near their crazy estimates. I wonder how the owner(s) who were bequeathed this collection (and held on to it for over 20 years) feel. I'm guessing a little concerned that they won't be realising even a fraction of the $180000-540000 the auction house predicted they'd reel in...

There's been a plethora of unsold Yesteryear Model T vans, already unsold. Seemingly, if they garnered no bids ($5 start), they were rifled through from opening to final call in 4-5 seconds! The Ferraris currently being auctioned are making tens of dollars each. The bidding is actually slowing down the spectacle.

The John Frankenheimer 1:43 auction is live right now and it's pretty fascinating! https://www.liveauctioneers.com/console/307086

Forgive my ignorance but are these collectors Matchboxes anything special, beyond an opening feature? Certainly not my cup of tea but I bear no judgement - life would be boring if we all collected the same stuff etc. That said, I took a cursory glance at the prices and stock of a local MB seller and came across this set: Seemingly all the more common 'car guy' tropes catered for here. Despite the description mentioning several times that this is a set of 5 cars, that's clearly wrong. Working out at a mere* £3.36 per car, I'm guessing this is a veritable bargain? https://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/p/matchbox-70th-anniversary-8-vehicle-premium-collector-bundle/R2890602.html

I was in a model shop in a nearby town a while back and they had one of those Italeri 1/24 Mk2 Transit kits available, at a smidge over the £20 mark, from memory. I was sorely tempted but then remembered my terrible past history of building kits, so didn't buy. If you've not made one, the price sounds right and you could wait until late January to receive it, I'd happily nab it for you, if it's still there!

Episode 2 begins SKIP INTRO (overlaid images of tape recorders spooling round and images of a Peugeot 309) Cut to: drone shot of roads. A ringtone is heard: "Autoshite 999, what's your emergency?" "Yeah, I'd like to report my displeasure at what some bloke's done to a Peugeot. It's not on" Cut to: Uncomfortable chair interview man says some dialogue which totally isn't several takes in and is purposely a bit misleading/could be taken 2 ways. "I mean, I don't know what all the fuss was about. My car, my rules. Those blokes on forums do my head in". 45 minutes of needless speculation later: A reveal: THERE WERE TWO FLIPPING 309 ESTATES! And a logical explanation: THE END. Actually, my Netflix doco comparison falls a little short here, as in this instance, the outcome is solved. And it's at least 2 episodes too short. Anyway, if all the above was too much tosh, here's a build thread from the Blue: https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/203017/1990-peugeot-309-touring-estate

Peugeot 309 estate story, in the format of a Netflix 2 part documentary. Episode 1 (Man interviewed in crumbling old building, sat on uncomfortable chair) "I built a 309 estate": "Using a Polo hatchback rear end": "All was well in the world and the Internet congratulated me": But then an image started circulating on dull car forums frequented by middle-aged men and all hell broke loose: (Cue bassy "BOOM" sound effect over extreme close-up cutaways of uncomfortable chair interview man looking uncomfortable) END OF EPISODE 1....

I spotted an SSS languishing unprotected at a public car park in the centre of Dunedin, in March 2022. Tow bar fitted naturally, because New Zealand. I'm glad to say that when I passed it again in March this year (whilst collecting my van for a nice road trip back to the north island), it was in the same spot, equally intact. Great to see it undisturbed - although plying the streets would be better, of course! (Slight apologies for off topic non mini tat chat)

I've done you lot a favour and scoured the entire 3 days of sales, to find the best picks: US director in owning East Yorkshire based small run promotional MOY shocker: I'd say 25% of the lots are Models of Yesteryear! About 70% are racing Porsche, Ferrari and Jaguar, with a smattering of Rolls Royces. Here's a highlight of the rest: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/164119081_vintage-model-car-1-43-black-saab-9000-turbo-16-1985-somerville Presumably the dust comes free. https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/164119080_vintage-model-car-1-43-maroon-aston-martin-lagonda-w Look at this terrible slab! https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/164521279_vintage-model-car-1-43-green-rolls-royce-spirit-western-models https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/164580925_vintage-model-car-1-43-silver-ferrari-pinin-1980-modello-autominia-bbr-italy Nice Ferrari RX-7 https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/164580958_vintage-model-car-1-43-silver-ferrari-400i-meera-s-michelotti-mog-18-130150-m-gourbeyre Looking at the subjects and makers, I'm guessing this was a collection amassed entirely in the 1980's, though I'll need@MiniMinorMk3 to adjudicate this statement. The highest bid I saw was $13 - bizarrely, on a Models of Yesteryear! I've got to admit there's a slight inkling to own a Model T Ford, advertising a Hull-based cardboard manufacturer and previously owned by a Hollywood director, and have it shipped to New Zealand. But I think I'll get over it...

I've just Googled Smyths, as it wasn't a shop I was aware of. Did anyone know you can buy from them online? Free delivery over £20, or click and collect, with stocks of items shown available for each store. I checked with a 10 pack of Hot Wheels (currently £10) and they can't be ordered as a specific set but all the car culture ones mentioned recently can be ordered by model. I'm aware this could dampen the thrill of the chase somewhat - and be borderline dangerous to others! But it could be useful for stuff people really wanted, saving fuel to boot. That said, if anything's proving super elusive, I can keep an eye out over here for stuff. Might save a few quid too, if willing to wait: Pic taken yesterday. Quick snap, hence the blur but often, premium stuff is about a fiver here.

And here's some images of stuff I shot before selling on to others here: I think this Tomica Nissan truck went to @eddyramrod. And if memory serves, these went to @sierraman, for use in his wardrobe-based scrap yard. The '1 of 100' Jago liveried Corgi Escort sent to @andrew e, mentioned the other day on here. He also bagged this Corgi SL, to add to his collection of several others, since he likes the casting so much! It is a lovely colour, in fairness. And a couple that went @Split_Pin's way. Inspiration for the Sintra's exotic backdrop reflects the locations chosen to launch otherwise dull cars, in the hopes of exciting car journos and pepping up their reports. Who knows if that ploy actually works... And finally, the Bburago Mercedes SEL mentioned up-thread: 'Despot disposing of the evidence' spec. ARTY*.

If you're looking for a smaller scale Charger to add to your collection, @FakeConcern, I can recommend this c. 1/64-ish no-name effort: Mine's packed away somewhere at the moment, so I can't remember who's attributed to making it but I'm sure someone on here will know for sure. Hope you don't mind me gratuitously adding some images from previous posts, as I suddenly remembered today that I still have a Flickr Pro account, essentially to house the images from my posts on here, plus my spotted and fleet threads; these latter two, I've let go fallow due to severe disinterest on both mine and others' parts! Might be time to think about knocking Flickr on the head and posting images directly here, to keep more small tat funds in the kitty... As you can see, the casting of this one is not great but one would be ideal for a repaint, perhaps keeping the flashing intact and painting it up as corrosion. I've got a bunch of these excellent backdrops saved for further scene creations but I need to find both the time and more importantly, the enthusiasm to make any more. I still need to find a better solution to the surfaces to place the subject on, as well as light control and loads of other technical aspects. But I won't get better without further practice. One final thing: the dished spoked wheels on this Charger work really well. I'm sure a repainted one of these would look great. But I had one of these as a kid and loved it, so this one will be staying as is.

Looked up that link, out of curiosity and found this: One of which I managed to find 35 years later, in a model shop in New Zealand. Which was repatriated to the south of England last year, to @andrew e!