Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

Another WH Smiths, another load of old stock;

 

20190818_145143 by RS, on Flickr

20190818_145252 by RS, on Flickr

20190818_150430 by RS, on Flickr

 

Picked up this Matchbox,

 

20190818_163914 by RS, on Flickr

 

HW Corvette...

 

20190818_164020 by RS, on Flickr

 

...and its error car sibling!

 

20190818_181257 by RS, on Flickr

 

Also picked up this F+F set I hadn't seen before - you can get the individual cars for about £3.00 each so 5 for £7 is a bargain

 

20190818_163836 by RS, on Flickr

[Sudsprint]

next group ...

[eddyramrod]

Corvette is Impy and no16 looks like a Brumm, but the others?  Beats me, as Dirty Harry said.

[Split_Pin]

Ritmo is Bburago.

[quicksilver]

6 hours ago, C1am said:

This one's not a quiz as I haven't a clue. Anyone know who made these (Nissan 280ZX & Mazda RX7)?  No markings on them, approximately 1:64 scale.

I believe these may have been made by Hongwell in their early days, long before the Cararama range. Could be wrong though.

[eddyramrod]

23 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Ritmo is Bburago.

Of course it is.  How did I miss that?

[sierraman]

Quite a few in that Matchbox catalogue in pre pro colours that never ended up being released. By 1981 though they were in a desperate place trying anything I guess before the financial implosion the next year.

[Datsuncog]

5 hours ago, sierraman said:

Quite a few in that Matchbox catalogue in pre pro colours that never ended up being released. By 1981 though they were in a desperate place trying anything I guess before the financial implosion the next year.

Indeed - and it's interesting to note the presence of the Popeye and Walt Disney vehicle lines in the 1981 catalogue, which were made in the Far East having been subcontracted out to Universal Toys by Lesney.

Although a few are based on modified Superfast castings (the Jeeps, as well as the Donald Duck beach buggy and (possibly) the Goofy Beetle), most were designed by Universal - and the catalogue pre-productions don't have Matchbox wheels.

The next year, of course, Lesney crashed and Universal bought the remains from bankruptcy, before shipping most of the tooling over to Macau...

[Datsuncog]

20 hours ago, C1am said:

This one's not a quiz as I haven't a clue. Anyone know who made these (Nissan 280ZX & Mazda RX7)?  No markings on them, approximately 1:64 scale.

No notion, I'm afraid - though I also had that Nissan, found at a jumble sale, no doubt.

Quite a nice casting, though it always looked like the doors were mean to open - and to that end wondered if it might be a pirated version of a Tomica casting. 

But a quick comparison suggests that no, the castings aren't the same at all.

That'd be interesting if it was indeed an early Hongwell, though!

[Datsuncog]

A new acquisition from Friday, which I only got around to photographing this morning:

Yup, it's another cheapo magazine partwork, dragged from the dusty recesses of a dump bin at the model shop in Smithfield.

1966 Oldsmobile Toronado by DelPrado, in a very fetching shade of beige. I mean, it's a questionably designed big lump of a thing, but I kinda like it.

A quick look at the base gives rise to a wry smile, however...

The same perfunctory detailing no doubt appears with little difference to all the models of yank tin in this range. So we have a separate chassis, RWD diff, same old same old...

…only the Toronado was quite an innovative design for a US manfacturer, boasting both FWD engineering and unitary construction (with subframes, just like the Austin Mini).

 

I tried to explain to MrsDC why I was wiping tears of laughter from my rosy cheeks, but she just didn't get the humour, for some reason.

Amateur Hour, hey?

 

[sierraman]

Was reading a really interesting article online a few months ago about the old Lesney Factory at Hackney, it only got demolished a few years back having lain empty since 1982 bar a few small engineering firms being located in there. I’d love to go back to 1982 when they went bust, all the stock and the parts presumably got taken away to be auctioned off, I’m aware a lot of Stickers fell into the hands of collectors. I’m not convinced that manufacturing of Matchbox in the U.K. stopped all together as I’ve some that are post ‘82 but still say ‘Made in England’ on the base. The Super GT basic range came out in ‘85 but the earliest issues all say ‘Made in England’ on the base?

[Datsuncog]

No, as far as I can tell production didn't stop altogether at Hackney post-'82 - but Universal quickly realised that if the company was to climb back into the black, production would have to move somewhere with cheaper labour costs. So a fair bit of tooling was shipped overseas and then modified to remove the original 'Made in England' baseplate lettering, though by no means all. I remember being very confused when seeing 'Made in Macau' on the base of my Volvo 760, as I had no idea where Macau was.

I think the Models of Yesteryear stuff continued to be made in Hackney for a while after, with some of the tooling sold off to former Lesney partner Jack Odell, who went on to launch the Lledo range and rival 'Days Gone' series.

Something makes me think that 1987 was the year that the last models were produced in England, with the subsidiary factory in Bulgaria then taking many of the pensioned-off Lesney toolings. I'll check that later!

Super GTs were brilliant in their own weird way; I didn't really understand them as a kid but looking back it was quite a smart way to make a bit of coin from otherwise redundant tooling.

I only ever had a couple of them - often they seemed to be bundled in with other, larger models as a 'free' car.

I can see myself starting a collection before long...

[Split_Pin]

Super GTs were awful cheap looking things with tacky plastic bases, obviously I love them now!

I had a fair few but the only ones I remember were the Saab Sonnet, beige Capri and the Maserati Merak, probably because they were based on real cars. I fitted post 1985 wheels to the rear of the Capri and gave it a not-bad respray in Sunburst Red to give it a rodder look. All long gone now though with the exception of the Sonnett which is at my parents house for my son to use on play tracks. I think I may still have 1 or 2 of the fictional castings from the 1970s. If I do Tim you are more than welcome to them, I recall they were hardly played with.

[sierraman]

In my mind I’ve got this image of the machines once buzzing away making hundreds of castings of Tyre Fryers then going silent in about 1985 and all the parts being left about. Sadly on the website the factory was completely empty, no bits of Lesneys. I’m also assuming that’s how all the preproduction models escaped from the factory. Probably sat for years in a filing cabinet to be rescued from a skip. 

 

I have a fair few Super GTs i’ll Look for then in the loft later...

[C1am]

16 hours ago, quicksilver said:

I believe these may have been made by Hongwell in their early days

Thanks for the info. I've contacted the company, and will share any updates. 

[C1am]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

No notion, I'm afraid - though I also had that Nissan

Looks like the same casting, just different wheels and body coloured bumpers on mine. 

[Datsuncog]

^^^ Heh, the silver bumpers on mine are entirely down to my incessant messing about with a Tamiya silver paint pen c.1990! It was originally all yellow like yours - though your wheels look much better.

Top findings!

[eddyramrod]

On 8/14/2019 at 8:44 PM, bunglebus said:

I have some tatty/broken Corgis and a Vanguards  if anyone wants the lot for £4.00?

 

20190813_161320 by RS, on Flickr

20190813_161355 by RS, on Flickr

20190813_161339 by RS, on Flickr

20190813_161339 by RS, on Flickr

20190813_161418 by RS, on Flickr

20190813_161448 by RS, on Flickr

 

 

My box from this seller arrived today, and precitpitated the expected burst of Cold Shoulder from MrsR.  Wives eh?  Never mind, I've got some nice little projects there, and some remains to flog off in my tat boxes when I take the Cadillac to shows.  She can say what she likes, I'm pleased with what I got.  Thank you Bunglebus :)

[egg]

I think I've mentioned before that one of my wife's great uncles worked at the Lesney factory. I know my mother in law has some old Lesneys. They wouldn't be mine to have - but I just hang on to this crazy idea there's some pre-production models in there...gotta dream a dream.

[sierraman]

I’d expect once they were done with the engineers or whoever would take them home or sling them in a drawer. I think working at Lesney in the 1970’s would have been my dream job. 

[paulscavalier]

On 8/15/2019 at 6:37 PM, beko1987 said:

Hi! 

Last weekend, @Slowsilverforcibly made me accept £10 for fixing his MIL's hoover. I'd not spent it yet when I saw a Facebook ad for some toy cars, make an offer. I offered a tenner, and picked them up on the way home

Charlie will be happy! We have the good ones

The bad ones, missing wheels and tyres mainly

And the 2 stand outs for me! 

As usual with these things I know nothing really about them other than there's some proper old and cool ones, if anyone spots something and instantly would like it do holler tonight, I won't see him until tomorrow so some can go if needed to fill a set/hole! 

Otherwise I'll have one happy little boy! Seems apt to buy a shit load of assorted toy car rammel using silver money knowing @quicksilver s die cast hobby! 

Skoda rally car is quite a decent matchbox model. Still got mine. When I got it people did take the pee out of skodas

[sierraman]

Had a bit of a splurge on 1/36 Corgis of late with these ones. I’ve already got the Acclaim but the one I already had was tatty. A Candidate for a restoration perhaps. The new one is an absolute minter. The white and brown Mazda pick up is a bit of an oddity, despite being a Corgi casting its made by Playart of Hong Kong. The stall also had a Incredible Hulk one which in hindsight I should have bought as well. 

[sierraman]

I was obviously quite a fan of the Super GTs...

[flat4alfa]

On 8/15/2019 at 6:37 PM, beko1987 said:

As usual with these things I know nothing really about them other than there's some proper old and cool ones, if anyone spots something and instantly would like it do holler tonight, I won't see him until tomorrow so some can go if needed to fill a set/hole! 

Otherwise I'll have one happy little boy! Seems apt to buy a shit load of assorted toy car rammel using silver money knowing @quicksilver s die cast hobby! 

If Charlie gets fed up with the noisy 007 singalong Aston Martins, over here please!

Of the brokens, the red Golf, Corrado and the bronze Aston 007 could find a place in the restoration workshop

[bunglebus]

50 minutes ago, sierraman said:

 The white and brown Mazda pick up is a bit of an oddity, despite being a Corgi casting its made by Playart of Hong Kong. The stall also had a Incredible Hulk one which in hindsight I should have bought as well. 

 

 

On my want list - had a pair years ago but they vanished in the mists of time/house moves

[warch]

42 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Had a bit of a splurge on 1/36 Corgis of late with these ones. I’ve already got the Acclaim but the one I already had was tatty. A Candidate for a restoration perhaps. The new one is an absolute minter. 

I loved the old 1/36 Corgi range, even though they all had huuuge wide tyres. I had a Taxi and a Ford Escort van in the old blue and white British Gas colours. The only one I have left is the Professionals Ford Capri that was released in the 90s with the metal Bodie and Fred West  Doyle figures. That Metro is superb, forgotten what a sharp looking little car it was originally before Rover started mucking about trying to modernise it for the 100 range.

[bunglebus]

43 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I was obviously quite a fan of the Super GTs...

 

I've been looking at these on eBay - the black windows bug me but I'm temped to build a few using the glass from the "proper" ones, especially the RS2000 and the Mustang van thing

[sierraman]

The castings are slightly different in some cases. The Capri one for example has no interior and the base is different, the axles aren’t interchangeable either.

[RoadworkUK]

I used to pretend that my SuperGTs were sportier versions of the originals. Like, for example, I had the original Superfast Lambo Marzal and the later SuperGT version (which omitted the lower glazed panels), and would treat the latter as my "tuned" Marzal, with its wider wheels, black glazing and lairy paint job. 

[sierraman]

I think from memory they came as a 2 pack