Shite in Miniature II

[Dick Longbridge]

44 minutes ago, Amishtat said:

Just trying to help my aunt clear out her mother in law's attic and come across this. Is this a complete set? Excuse the shitty pictures, it's not very well lit up there. 

It's missing several important parts. I can offer £50. 

 

 

*I don't know if it's missing any parts and it's worth more than £50!?

[Bren]

7 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

Two of yesterday's car boot sale finds are these Laser wheeled Matchbox. 

Toyota MR2 and Mercury park lane police car. 

I think the Mercury is quite interesting as it would have been around since the late 60's,and would have begun it's life as a regular wheels version. 

This one dates from 1987.

"Snazzy rimz M8"

The mercury was the only laser I ever bought - from WH Smith in Warrington. I remember this because after purchase I legged it to the odeon to watch the living daylights.

[andrew e]

I think the Chipperfields is Giftset 23 plus some extras, here’s some recent completed listings:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=chipperfields+gift+set&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1

Just like Bunglebus the Metro’s I’ve never seen before! Would they be too late for a M&S/St Micheal gift set? 

[andrew e]

The Metro’s are Mothercare - you learn something every day!

I know Early Learning Centre did Matchbox but never the Mothercare story - anybody have anything they can add? I found the following on the web:

https://www.vectis.co.uk/lot/corgi-mothercare-rally-racing-set_606035

https://www.planetdiecast.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=126&id=18735&limit=15&limitstart=675&Itemid=2455

Some intriguing  juniors  here - pale blue Capri? And check the BHS Corniche out ?

[Amishtat]

31 minutes ago, andrew e said:

I think the Chipperfields is Giftset 23 plus some extras, here’s some recent completed listings:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=chipperfields+gift+set&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1

Just like Bunglebus the Metro’s I’ve never seen before! Would they be too late for a M&S/St Micheal gift set? 

Thanks for that, I did spend some time looking for their boxes but to no avail. Bit of a shame when the models themselves are in nice nick. Also came across this, with a miniature Graham Hill still in the box too. 

[andrew e]

1 hour ago, Amishtat said:

And this. Makes sense on reflection, my cousin Ben was born in 1984

http://toyvan.co.uk/corgi/corgi-escort-vans/wheel-variation.html

[andrew e]

Whilst looking for that Escort!

http://toyvan.co.uk/corgi/corgi-escort-vans/a3-scale.html

[sierraman]

Can’t find any pictures but I had the ELC Matchbox Superkings Landrover LWB in a Vetinary Surgeon livery. 

Matchbox did some Tesco only releases back in the mid 80’s mostly older castings in a multipack, most notably the MB46 Mercedes 300SE fixed door in silver. I have one in the loft somewhere. 

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, Amishtat said:

They're not mint but they're very nice, all the animals seem to be present too. Probably going to advise Auntie to put them on the bay, I don't have enough spare £ to actually give her a reasonable sum. 

eBay is your best bet for those, sometimes nice gently playworn items fetch the best money as they display better, they don’t look restored. 

I picked up a near mint Bedford TK with the giraffe missing a while back for obscenely cheap stuck it on eBay, can’t remember off hand what it realised but it was about £20 on its own. 

[Split_Pin]

Those Mothercare and BHS issues are ace.

I have a Corgi Mini set which was produced for Woolworths but it is Corgi branded.

From my memory of the Collector Club magazine, Corgi produced a fair few items for general retailers such as Kay's catalogue as an example.

[AndyW201]

32 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Those Mothercare and BHS issues are ace.

I have a Corgi Mini set which was produced for Woolworths but it is Corgi branded.

From my memory of the Collector Club magazine, Corgi produced a fair few items for general retailers such as Kay's catalogue as an example.

Indeed. I remember buying a Mini owning mate a Mini gift set, featuring the early '90s Rover era Italian Job limited editions. That was Woolworths branded I think, the Corgi branding wasn't prominent on it.

I also had a Kays catalogue gift set back in the mid '80s with a Volvo artic from the Superhaulers range, the Corgi MK3 Transit, the MK3 Escort van and the Mercedes 207D van, all with a fairly authentic Kays livery. That came in a plain white box with no branding whatsoever.

 

[Amishtat]

I was upfront with my Aunt earlier regarding the Chipperfields stuff and the Whizzwheels Cortina, in respect of Ebay being her best bet for them. Much as l liked them, she hasn't been having such a good time since my Uncle passed away just before Christmas and she deserves a better price for them than I could offer. She was kind enough to let me rummage through their records and refused to take a penny for them so in the end I wound up buying some of Uncle Jeremy's childhood stash to try and not feel so guilty. These aren't and won't be for sale but I know you'll appreciate them as much as I do. 

[Amishtat]

Also these. I've given them a gentle wash and they're just in beautiful condition. I also need to clean the top of the microwave it appears. 

[Split_Pin]

2 hours ago, AndyW201 said:

Indeed. I remember buying a Mini owning mate a Mini gift set, featuring the early '90s Rover era Italian Job limited editions. That was Woolworths branded I think, the Corgi branding wasn't prominent on it.

I also had a Kays catalogue gift set back in the mid '80s with a Volvo artic from the Superhaulers range, the Corgi MK3 Transit, the MK3 Escort van and the Mercedes 207D van, all with a fairly authentic Kays livery. That came in a plain white box with no branding whatsoever.

 

I have the Rover Italian Job set too but it was from eBay about 6 years ago and I didn't know it was a Woolworths special. I'll need to check the box!

[bunglebus]

That constructor set is awesome, and the Superfast are really nice too, even better knowing they're from family.

If your aunt doesn't need the money couldn't you look after the Chipperfields stuff for her?

[Amishtat]

I'd love to but I'm probably moving soon and really she could probably do with the £. I could see that lot being fairly expensive ( i.e about 100-150) and at the moment after some Volvo shenanigans I really can't spare it myself. I'd have loved the Graham Hill Cortina but for the same reason, it's better I don't. 

[Sudsprint]

On 8/29/2020 at 12:16 AM, Datsuncog said:

All the new arrivals were indeed Corgi, bar the Dinky Land Rover set and Bburago Escort. No Spot-On today!

What might get overlooked is that Spot-On represented quite a step beyond both Dinky and Corgi's offerings on their launch in 1959 - Corgi had glazed windows as its point of difference on release in 1956 (though still no interiors) but only three years later Spot-On were featuring things like number plates, tax discs, roof racks, dashboard instruments, working lights and plated parts. It forced both Meccano and Mettoy to up their game, which they absolutely did - to the stage that by 1964, Spot-On's point of difference was lost.

With parent company Lines Bros falling into difficulties and the takeover by Meccano, the rival Spot-On range was allowed to effectively wither on the vine from 1965, as the Dinky range took precedence.

The fact that Corgi's Bentley Continental S of 1961 reminded so many of us of Spot-On's version was, I believe, quite intentional - Corgi really went all-out on that one to outshine Spot-On, with the unique jewelled lights, steerable front wheels and the plated grille. Corgi CEO Arthur Katz used to travel with multiple samples of the Bentley to leave with distributors and chain store owners, as his best possible calling card.

I think the mystique of Spot-On comes from the fact that they were relatively expensive compared to other diecast (and so objects of envy and desire to kids at the time) and that meant they never achieved the same volume of sales as their rivals - hence comparative rarity to collectors. The loss of nearly all documentation about the range in the Belfast factory fire of 1967 also added to the collector frenzy, as no-one was even sure what had been produced, or when. I suspect that, like most collectables, the price premium won't last forever - when there are no longer as many oul lads with deep pockets trying to buy back a slice of their youth (and as collections are broken up and come onto the market) values will fall. We've seen it with the pre-war Dinkys that were making astonishing prices at auction in the 1980s - they're only worth a fraction of that now. But that's the way of the nostalgia game...

I reckon you're broadly correct though - fifty or sixty years on, when you're looking at a box of assorted diecast tat, it's hard to see exactly what all the fuss is about. But for a short time Spot-On were just that bit ahead of the competition, producing super-detailed and well-engineered models that pushed the boundaries of what a young customer could expect from a diecast car.

And from that, I think we all benefited...

Another excellent and informative write up.

Growing up in the 1960s I don't remember Spot On being available that much but that could be because I was born in 1962 so Spot On was declining by the time I was going to school.

I do remember getting a boxed set from the CO-OP (Austin 1100/Zephyr/Austin 1800/dingy) in about 1970 and thinking it was great. 

[Frogchod]

It's getting expensive buying fags, every time I go in this fag shop there's shiny things to temp me. 

Like this 1/24 Citroen GS 

 

[bunglebus]

It's been a very busy day for tat hoarding - so much so I'm going to split this into several posts. Visited my favourite charity shop and someone had donated some really nice Matchbox cars

This one's a modern version of one of the oldest Matchbox 

There were also some Hot Wheels, nearly pooed myself when I saw the Twin Mill but it's  modern one

There were also a couple of larger castings which I'm happy to pass on. As everyone's been banging on about Corgi Minis I grabbed this for 50p

Busses were £1 each - one of the Routemasters is a Corgi, the other is an identical no-name.

Corgi Plaxtons Paramount 3500, bent axles but really heavy and all the opening bits are intact and working. Also a squid

[bunglebus]

Next up some postal happenings. Big (1:28) Kidco Corvette is amazing, I'd been looking at one on eBay that was missing the rear bumper, then someone listed this for a similar price. Lever inside is not for handbrake turns, it pops the headlights up. Rear suspension is a bit low but it screws together so will be investigated 

 

Bought a job lot. Most are utter crap and broken but there are a couple of salvageable ones

And an engine cover donor

 But mostly I wanted this rare orange version of the Matchbox Flying Bug - base says Flying Beetle on this one. Still tatty and missing a few bits but I have a donor (not this one)

Then there's this - I've mentioned before having the Sun Burner as a kid, been hunting this down for a long time

[bunglebus]

Lastly a very kind forum member obviously remembered me going on about Majorette HiLux pickups and mini Hot Wheels and sent me a care package! Thank you

[Remspoor]

@Amishtat it must be hard for you and the family to sort all of those items out. Not only the toy vehicles but there must be loads of other items.

He must have been around the same age as me as I too have or had a load of those vehicles you have take the time to share with us.

My collection, I never kept boxes. My sister wrote with a ball point on a few. I lost some, played car he (it) in the school play ground thus damaged beyond repair.  Others were played with so none of mine are like the good condition of those you have shown us.

Thank you or taking the time to post.

[BL Bloke]

I finished this Revell 1999 Mustang SVT Cobra yesterday.

 

DSCF1631 by timothy jones, on Flickr

DSCF1628 by timothy jones, on Flickr

DSCF1629 by timothy jones, on Flickr

DSCF1630 by timothy jones, on Flickr

[Amishtat]

Nice job! 

[Amishtat]

1 hour ago, Remspoor said:

@Amishtat it must be hard for you and the family to sort all of those items out. Not only the toy vehicles but there must be loads of other items.

He must have been around the same age as me as I too have or had a load of those vehicles you have take the time to share with us.

My collection, I never kept boxes. My sister wrote with a ball point on a few. I lost some, played car he (it) in the school play ground thus damaged beyond repair.  Others were played with so none of mine are like the good condition of those you have shown us.

Thank you or taking the time to post.

Thank you for your post, I really appreciate it. You're right, it's been a family home for the last sixty years so there is just an overwhelming amount of life's detritus and an ever-diminishing amount of time. I was there six hours yesterday and we honestly didn't even make a dent in it. I'd never been in the loft before and was surprised just how full it was, although I did get to save a massive pile of early Seventies Custom Car magazines from getting skipped. There was a lot of diecast up there but not very much else I could find in the condition of the Chipperfields stuff or the other things pictured. 

 

 

 

[bunglebus]

I really like 70s Custom Car mags, got myself a complete collection in near mint condition, along with Street Machine and various others. Sold the lot last year as they just ended up stored in my garage, but they do sell on Ebay individually or as lots if you've got the inclination to list them. 

[Split_Pin]

9 hours ago, Frogchod said:

It's getting expensive buying fags, every time I go in this fag shop there's shiny things to temp me. 

Like this 1/24 Citroen GS 

 

That's a lovely model, I wish there was a shop that sold these near me!

[Amishtat]

29 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I really like 70s Custom Car mags, got myself a complete collection in near mint condition, along with Street Machine and various others. Sold the lot last year as they just ended up stored in my garage, but they do sell on Ebay individually or as lots if you've got the inclination to list them. 

They're not mint but I couldn't just let them get chucked. Probably will try to sell them on but the couple of issues I've had the time to look at are fascinating. 

[bunglebus]

Just the cars, or the young ladies adorning them? Sobering thought that most of them are pensioners now!

[Christine]

We can fantasize...?  That orange corvette is great!