barrett

Looks to be about 5mm

No, it's a clear plastic lens

A little while ago I dusted all my cars, grouped them by maker, photographed them and made an ebay listingfor the whole lot. I put a very optimistic price on, thinking that there would be a very small chance anybody would buy them but, if they did, I'd be rewarded with a decent chunk of cash (which frankly would be much more helpful to me at the moment than a load of old toys). Still, I pressed 'save for later' and just haven't had the guts to go live with the listing. Why is that? I have the collector gene for sure, but I don't have any emotional attachment to these things and I don't feel they particularly enrich my life in the way some of my other collections (records and books) do. Perhaps it's because I feel I haven't 'completed' it yet - maybe if I got hold of one of every single Politoys M-series cars I could relax and flog the whole lot on, but as it stands it annoys me that I have such an imcomplete selection. Anyway, I bought some more instead of selling them all. Yes, it's the Politoys M no.587, Lamborghini Espada and Politoys Export no.562 Ferrari 330GTC! The Lambo is lovely. Quite a late casting but with all the high-quality goodies you'd expect from an M-series car. These are particularly difficult to find in this condition, as the rear opening hatch is incredibly delicate and is almost always missing. Great colour for a 70s supercar, too. The Ferrari is also not an easy one to find in any condition. This one is very nice apart from the missing eye - anyone have a donor which might fit? I suspect something from a Matchbox Dinky 1:43 might work? As with other Export range cars this has an unpainted metal base, which makes this silver version the best one to have I reckon as the unpainted valances aren't so jarring. Otherwise it's pretty nice, although definitely not as crisp as earlier Politoys with a few casting lines and flash, etc, but the shape is accurate and it retains things like the tiny cast-in badge on the boot. Very nice, but these have literally pushed me to breaking point on display space so they're just rolling round my desk at the moment. ho hum.

I saw a bloke on his morning commute in a scruffy-ish two-door Amazon this morning and it really made me ashamed, having decided to take the modern to work instead of spending 40 minutes scraping ice off the Rover. Feel like a fraud. Anyway, it made me think of this car and how fucking great it is. Keep at it!

didn't recognise the lady or the motor car but thought they needed some investigation https://www.motorcities.org/story-of-the-week/2019/a-look-back-at-eleanor-blevins-an-early-auto-racer

Definitely 'one of those' but I think the narrow grille and badge on the prow of the bonnet makes it a '49

A package has arrived from across the sea, meaning I can now admire the Fiat 850 range in full What a truly lovely little thing. Thanks @Datsuncog

Those 2nd gen Corvair saloons are probably in the top ten best-lloking four-door saloons ever built. Absoutely lovely. I had a chance to buy one a few years ago and didn't. Ended up selling for absolute peanuts (£3k iirc). One of my biggest car-buying regrets.

wow! I had no idea the Spot On Lambretta even existed. Turns out, that's because it's incredibly rare. This one is a bit nicer than yours, but check out the sale price...

I'll give him a fiver for the Spot On DB3

Amazing to see this heap moving under its own steam, great work man! But, you gotta bite the bullet and pull the tank out and try and flush as much of that crap as possible otherwise you'll be chasing that shit forever man. It's a pretty horrid job but well worth it. I spent the best part of a day removing and then (repeatedly) 'sloshing' the tnak on our old Ford V8 but the payoff was well worth it. 80-odd years of crap flushed out, and the chronic fuel blockage problems that had haunted it for years were gone in a single stroke.

Well yes, there's literally no way I'm going to turn that 850 down is there?? I can't believe weeks of half-assed joking about finding rare Italian diecast at the tat market has finally paid off! In fact, ym last missive form Mr Cog:

Is this any use to anyone as a donor/resto project for the price of postage (likely a couple of quid)?

Blimey, that looks good for the money. I love these. Shame the interior has been got at, but i love the 'Alpine' body colour. Is there anybody on here in Leeds who would actually go and poke that on my behalf?

Gosh, I really hate Panthers. I hate all 'neo classic' type cars but these have always seemed to be particularly bad. I can just about fathom a Deville as a guilty pleasure, because at least nobody can see who's driving. HOWEVER. I always thought the Rio was such a great 'almost, but not quite' effort at modernising the stodgy old Dolly. I think the styling is genuinely sharp, streets ahead of the donor car and equal to what any other junior exec/sporting saloon of the time looked like. It's such a shame they put that stupid grille on it, which ruins the whole thing. If I won the lottery, I'd buy a Rio and restyle the front end to make it less characterful but more in keeping with smart mid-70s saloon design. I have been inspired to do a quick sketch of the sort of thing I mean - imagine a black plastic honeycomb grille and some Hella spots under the bumper. Much better, no? If Triumph had built this it would have really freshened up the look of this platform I reckon.

EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING IMMEDIATELY https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/176009956571

Thanks to the wonder of Autoshite, having spotted a toy car for sale in Nottingham (collection only) last week, it is now in my grubby little hands Thanks too @FakeConcern for facilitating the collection/drop-off Looks familiar, because However, it's a slightly earlier issue so I can compare box variations. How sexy is that? It's a Flavia party over here right now Anyway, I won't apologise for that. The Flavia Zagato model is what first intrigued me about Italian diecast from the '60s, and it took me years to actually get one, so adding a second feels like a totally normal thing to do. Particularly at such a bargain price.

What happened to the law that came in saying insurance companies can't just put your premiums up for no reason? That was a massive thing last year or whenever it was - did they just quietly drop it, or is it simply unenforcable (because if you ring up and plead with them they'll put the price back down?). Seems like it made zero difference considering how much it was in the news at the time.

Anyone on here anywhere near Norwich? https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1256604148348889/ Not sure how old this ad is, but he's asking £25 collection only for this which is a BARG. Please can somebody help me get it??!?!?

Two from Sussex: I don't, as a rule, like 1930s BMWs but this looked really great I can't remember if we've had this one before. One of the few 1950s street-parked cars left in Brighton I think, which is quite sad All the rest from London, variously: Nothing too special, all typical London cars with the exception of the Metro. Last two notable for being photographed just off Felsham Road in Putney, which is where my Palladium was built 100 years ago

I quite like the look of those Rapides from the outside. I like big super-saloons built in small numbers, and by the standards of modern cars its a pretty clean, unfussy design (if a little bland), but then I looked inside one and it really put me off. The transmission tunnel is almost wider than the seats, it's like a 90s TVR or something in there, plus it goes all the way through and disects the rear seats. Not only is it all hideous, it looks deeply uncomfortable. There were two normal-sized people in the one I was looking at and honestly it looked like they'd be more confortable in an MG Midget

Nice to see this updated. The street-parked Ami Super is such a welcome sight!

Blimey, that's a rare one!

A slightly convoluted history to this one, as far as I understand it. The original Dinky Toys France Renault 6 was produced in the 1960s. By the time they came to facelift the model, production had moved to Pilen in Spain so this is one of the Spanish Dinkies. It was produced under the Pilen name from 1974, apparantly. I'm pretty sure the casting is identical to the French-built car except for the restyled grille/headlamps, which is why this perhaps looks a bit basic for a mid-70s model I like the doors which open with their frames, which isn't something you see too often on period toys Oh look, a collection of ex-Dinky Spain Pilen Renaults. Don't all rush at once, ladies

Have we had this yet? A flippin Cordia Turbot for £2k!! Obviously it'd be better if it was the basic 1.6 on steels, but at least it's a prefacelift. Everything exempt next year, too, so no tape on the headlamps for an MoT nonsense to worry about to get it registered.