Shite in Miniature II

[Lord Sterling]

Talking of lost post. I ordered a 1/18 Lincoln limo from a UK eBayer. Sent by Royal Mail in mid December it never arrived. I approached the post office who took my details but nothing was forthcoming. Now I have to wait for seller/sender to receive a refund so I can get a refund.

[flat4alfa]

Same here.  Of all the hundreds of parcels all year, just one from December 12 to a London flat has gone missing.  Went through the claim system and RM refused (by letter) - despite providing proof of postage and 'bay order details.  All they sent back was stamps to cover postage. Seller wants full refund, so lost the car and the money.  It's tenner, but still

[flat4alfa]

More Welly Coopering.

Seems there is a much older and subtly different casting by Welly.  Anyone have one of these?

More flare to the arches for starters

[sierraman]

45 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

More Welly Coopering.

Seems there is a much older and subtly different casting by Welly.  Anyone have one of these?

More flare to the arches for starters

Had that one. 

[andrew e]

2 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Same here.  Of all the hundreds of parcels all year, just one from December 12 to a London flat has gone missing.  Went through the claim system and RM refused (by letter) - despite providing proof of postage and 'bay order details.  All they sent back was stamps to cover postage. Seller wants full refund, so lost the car and the money.  It's tenner, but still

I have been selling quite a few valuable angling books on eBay, everything has gone signed for 2nd class and no problems. Anything over £40 goes special delivery for much £ ouch - but I’ve had everything delivered.

I include postage so people can’t try and save 50p by arguing for a cheaper rate. I seem to be getting buyers because I offer a better chance of mail delivery however, despite the slightly higher price compared to other listings.

[flat4alfa]

Used to do signed-for as a rule, but because of pandemic interruptions I've trusted the service and it's been superb - some items arrived before due date service.  Just the one upset in over a year now.

I have found the opposite when it comes to printed papers.  The buy-it-now postage-paid items just sit, unsold for weeks.  Convert to auction with postage added and suddenly, there is interest and sold off....

It's a funny old game with niche interest folks

[Sudsprint]

Talking of Innocentis, I had an Innocenti de Tomaso in the early 1980s.

I couldn't get a 1:43 silver model - so ended up with a red one.

[Mr Laurence]

^ That Innocenti must have been a seriously rare bit of kit in the UK - any idea what happened to it?

[flat4alfa]

50 minutes ago, Sudsprint said:

Talking of Innocentis, I had an Innocenti de Tomaso in the early 1980s.

Well there's a thing - I didn't know the Bertone Minis were available in RHD.   Or was it cut about with RHD Mini parts fitted?

And a proper Alfetta 1.8 and 128 3p in there too, no less!  Brought back memories...

Mate's dad had a succession of Alfetta chrome-bumper era and they rotted away dramatically.  Well this was ~1989 when I could just about afford to insure a group-6 (remember the old groupings?) Alfasud ti.  Another fella a Jamaican neighbour who seemed forever around the twist from fumes in his workshop, had an Alfetta 1.8 that absolutely flew and he used to go out winding up the Capri 2.8 lads

Another lad around my way had a 128 3p that was as clean as you wouldn't believe.  It was a 1978 so 12 years old by then and in that metallic blue that usually faded.  Had the swoopy decals on the rear quarters, that I remember clearly.  And brown/yellow tartan seats inserts from factory.

Yet ask me what I did last week and I'll draw a blank.

[flat4alfa]

Think I might have found the answer.  Modena Concessionaires's own mechanics down in Lyndhurst had them converted to RHD and supplied them to London Garages Islington for sale, beating the Metro to market.

[Sudsprint]

1 hour ago, Mr Laurence said:

^ That Innocenti must have been a seriously rare bit of kit in the UK - any idea what happened to it?

Mine was a Belgian car that had been (very well) converted to RHD and sadly, I know exactly what happened to it.  

I traded it in for an equally wonderful Mk 1 Scirocco GLi. Six months later I was rooting around in a car breakers in Sittingbourne and there was the de Tomaso, front end all smashed up (fortunately passenger cell/windscreen all good) - very sad.

Would love another...

 

Plus here are the real versions of the others I owned..

 

[flat4alfa]

Surely that's not the scrappage Alfetta?   Noooooooo  😳

[Sudsprint]

Deceased Circa 2002 I am afraid.

 

[flat4alfa]

Thought I'd do a line-up for the Italoshite we've owned party too.  

Might as well write it down at same time to boost the memory cell re-learning, while at it!  In sequence, starting 1988 to present day.  Some colours are matching, some nowhere near :

1976 FIAT Mirafiori 1300, doom blue.  The first making out with a lady car.  1 year

1978 Alfasud 5m, a pea green sight for sore eyes.  But what a hoot to drive.  1 year.

1982 Alfasud Gold Cloverleaf, in silver.  Had electric windows, occasionally.  5 years.

1988 Alfa 33 1.7 Cloverleaf, in red.  FIAT-era so better build.  A bit.   4 years.

1996 Alfa 155 2.0 Twin Spark, in metallic mid blue.  Written-off by red van man.  8 years.

1982 Lancia Beta Berlina, in silver and LHD, now lives with Mr Bickle. 5 years.

1983 Lancia Beta Berlina, in doom blue, still a show car with cream leather seats. 3 years.

1982 Lancia Trevi auto, silver, last one left in UK, lives on with Gamma fondler.  4 months.

1998 Alfa 146 ti.  Red met, wife's daily really.  4 years. 

2001 Alfa 156 2.4 derv saloon, deep red.  Chipped, WLF.  1 year.

1983 Fiat X1/9 1500, red metallic.  For high days and breakdowns.  Owned it twice!  3 years all told.

1984 Alfa 33 Gold Cloverleaf, in silver.  Still got it.  Laid-up on drive for now.

1986 Alfa 33 Green Cloverleaf, in red.  Rot box donor, but what a hoot to punt about before MoT doom. 6 months.

1982 Alfa 6 auto,  last one left in UK, in metallic doom blue.  A save from oblivion, lives on with collector. 3 months.

1984 Alfa 90, in silver.  Also saved from oblivion, never got it to run, now lives on with same collector. 3 days.

2002 Alfa 156 Sportwagon 2.4 derv, mid blue metallic, dependable 190k daily workhorse, 12 years and counting.

1996 Alfa 146 Boxer.  In JRG, to rescratch the boxer itch.  2 months.

2004 FIAT Multipla derv, in metallic blue with twin sunny roofs.  5 years happy and roffled-off on this forum.  Regret.  Should've shuck a Busso in it.

TL;DR:  All shite but fun.  

[flat4alfa]

Found out another Innocenti, forgot all about.  I'm sure they are being bred on eBay and carried to the post box by storks.

Anyhow, this Welly one is missing a rear light and the roof light bar.

But what is that bonkers imposter sitting next to it?  Also around 1/28 and stickered 'Kandytoys Exeter', it's a China no-brand special.  But is that still tampography, or another type of printing method I should read up on?

[AndyW201]

So, if I buy an item from a French seller off eBay, will I end up having to pay duty on it now? I've seen an item come up this week with a French seller, that has only so far been available from South American sellers for $$$$$$$$. I've dealt with this French seller before a couple of times and he really is sound to deal with, and all his listings state that the 20% VAT has been incorporated into the sale price. 

I don't really mind a long wait as like I said, I've been hunting this item for ages. I remember I bought a replacement bonnet for one of my 1/18 Sunstar Escorts during the first lockdown from a Greek eBay seller. It took a good few weeks, but it got here.

[flat4alfa]

Also determine which carrier is being used, as some of them are adding pie in the sky handling charges

[flat4alfa]

Don't do drugs.

[Datsuncog]

Just found myself drawn towards a particular casting again lately, for no particular reason.

Yup, it's the Matchbox Superfast No. 60 Holden Pick-Up.

This was one of my favourite castings back when I was very young, based solely on a truly knackered first release version that somehow made its way into my hot little hands:

Dating from around 1978, I think this might have been one of a number of playworn Superfast which came into my possession c.1983, when a family my parents knew emigrated to South Africa. Their sons had sort of outgrown toy cars, so I lucked out with basically my own personal Tat Box. It lived in my parents' wardrobe, and every few weeks I'd be gifted another handful of 'new' battered Lesneys to run up and down the hall carpet.

Despite their wonky wheels, scratched paint and broken glazing, these toys were a source of great interest and no small amount of confusion, especially the early 70s fantasy-type cars like the Soopa Coopa and Stretcha Fetcha.

The Holden also baffled me somewhat, as it looked fairly ordinary yet - like those bedeviling fantasy models - its name and shape was wholly unknown to me. It would be some years later before I twigged that Holden was the Antipodean arm of General Motors, and longer still before I realised that Lesney had modelled the ute version of the Holden HJ.

It was an unusual choice of model, as these were virtually unknown outside of Australia and NZ, though terming it a 'pick-up' rather than its local designation of 'ute' kinda dialled back its specific cultural importance.

And the 'coupe utility', shortened to 'ute', is primarily an Australian innovation - a car-based body with integrated rear load bed was famously first marketed by Ford Australia in 1934 as "a vehicle to go to church in on a Sunday and which can carry pigs to market on Monday", quickly followed by similar models from other manufacturers in Australia. While Ford Australia weren't the first to build such a vehicle, that's where it took off as a popular (and later cultural) phenomenon. The first Holden Ute came to market in 1951, and many highly unlikely ute variants of passenger cars were also locally designed and built, such as the Mk2 Ford Consul, Austin 1800 and even the Hillman Imp (albeit as an aftermarket conversion). The US didn't really get on board with this body style until the Ford Ranchero of 1957.

As castings go, it's quite a neatly done if unshowy model, with panel lines neatly cast but no opening features. The pair of plastic motorbikes which clipped onto the back were intended to provide the irresistible playvalue for young customers, but of course all of these are long gone on my examples.

There are no tiny badges or anything cast in, which might have been expected from Lesney a few years prior, and the tail lights are pretty vague. But I still really liked it, despite the front axle being bent so it wouldn't roll down my playtrack. The unusual colour - kind of like a metallic pinky-puce - meant it was different looking from all my other toy cars, too.

In about 1992, I found a much better (and slightly later) Holden Ute in plain red, in a small model shop in Cheddar Gorge. I think it only cost me a pound or two, though I soon set about it (and my bashed original) with 'detailing' via my silver Tamiya paint pen, to my everlasting annoyance.

A slightly less playworn metallic version also showed up in one of the Friday Market tat boxes earlier last year, and so far I've managed to resist painting it.

This newcomer is also slightly more of a metallic reddish colour than the pinky shade of my near-lifelong example.

One noteworthy point is that the model features three simulated air vents on the front wing, just behind the wheel arch. On real-life HJs, these vents were only featured on the top-of-the-line GTS sedan and coupe models - although interchangable panels were key to the broad 'full size' Holden lineup, and even today basic utes continue to be upgraded using panels for the sportier Monaro, as well as the luxury Premier and Statesman versions - all of which used the same basic chassis and shell across its successive HQ/HJ/HX/HZ/WB models, between 1971 and 1984.

The basic HJ Ute stayed in the Matchbox mainline range until 1983, by now painted cream and with a paper side sticker rather than one on the bonnet.

And yet, after Universal Toys acquired Lesney, the basic casting reappeared as the MB58 Ruff Trek, a reworked off-road style variant with brush and roll bars, jacked rear axle and spare wheel in the back, plus tampo graphics.

The rear load bed casting had been comprehensively reworked, and the base changed to accommodate the higher rear axle and brush bar mountings on the grille, but the body remained otherwise the same.

And even after falling from the main range after 1986, the Holden continued to appear in Convoy/ Team Matchbox racing sets as a support vehicle until 1990, wearing various sponsor liveries including Brut and 7-Up.

The rarest variants include the metallic blue HJ Ute with motorbikes wearing 'Paris-Dakar '81' stickers (only sold in France), the Road Blasters version of the Ruff Trek in navy blue with clip-on guns, and the final outing for this casting in 1989/90, when it appeared in yellow with 'Matchbox Rescue Team Support' decals, as part of a Motor City Racing Pack 5-car gift set.

Needless to say, I keep an eye out for any versions I can of this one - it's still a favourite, all these years later.

[Amishtat]

That's jogged a memory or two, I had the cream one with motorcycles and playing with it and a few other Matchboxes are some of my earliest memories. My cousin four years younger than me had the red and gold Ruff Trek but I never knew that was the same casting. 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Just found myself drawn towards a particular casting again lately, for no particular reason.

Yup, it's the Matchbox Superfast No. 60 Holden Pick-Up.

This was one of my favourite castings back when I was very young, based solely on a truly knackered first release version that somehow made its way into my hot little hands:

Dating from around 1978, I think this might have been one of a number of playworn Superfast which came into my possession c.1983, when a family my parents knew emigrated to South Africa. Their sons had sort of outgrown toy cars, so I lucked out with basically my own personal Tat Box. It lived in my parents' wardrobe, and every few weeks I'd be gifted another handful of 'new' battered Lesneys to run up and down the hall carpet.

Despite their wonky wheels, scratched paint and broken glazing, these toys were a source of great interest and no small amount of confusion, especially the early 70s fantasy-type cars like the Soopa Coopa and Stretcha Fetcha.

The Holden also baffled me somewhat, as it looked fairly ordinary yet - like those bedeviling fantasy models - its name and shape was wholly unknown to me. It would be some years later before I twigged that Holden was the Antipodean arm of General Motors, and longer still before I realised that Lesney had modelled a Holden HJ Ute.

It was an unusual choice of model, as these were virtually unknown outside of Australia and NZ, though terming it a 'pick-up' rather than its universal name of 'ute' kinda dialled back its specific cultural niche.

As castings go, it's quite a neatly done if unshowy model, with panel lines neatly cast but no opening features. The pair of plastic motorbikes which clipped onto the back were intended to provide the irresistible playvalue for young customers, but of course these are all long gone on my examples.

There are no tiny badges or anything cast in, which might have been expected from Lesney a few years prior, and even the tail lights are pretty vague. But I still really liked it, even if the front axle was bent so it wouldn't roll down my playtrack. The unusual colour - kind of like a metallic pinky-puce - meant it was different from all my other toy cars, too.

In about 1992, I found a much better (and slightly later) Holden Ute in plain red, in a small model shop in Cheddar Gorge. I think it only cost me a pound or two, though I soon set about it (and my bashed original) with 'detailing' via my silver Tamiya paint pen, to my everlasting annoyance.

A slightly less playworn metallic version also showed up in one of the Friday Market tat boxes earlier last year, and so far I've managed to resist painting it.

This newcomer is also slightly more of a metallic reddish colour than the pinky shade of my near-lifelong example.

One noteworthy point is that the model features three simulated air vents on the front wing, just behind the wheel arch. On real-life HJs, these vents were only featured on the top-of-the-line GTS model - although interchangable panels were key to the broad Holden lineup, and even today basic utes continue to be 'upgraded' using panels for the sportier Monaro, as well as the luxury Premier and Statesman versions - all of which used the same basic chassis and shell across its successive HQ/HJ/HX/HZ/WB models, between 1971 and 1984.

The basic HJ Ute stayed in the Matchbox mainline range until 1983, by now painted cream and with a paper side sticker rather than one on the bonnet.

And yet, after Universal Toys acquired Lesney, the basic casting reappeared as the MB58 Ruff Trek, a reworked off-road style variant with brush and roll bars, jacked rear axle and spare wheel in the back, plus tampo graphics.

The rear load bed casting had been comprehensively reworked, and the base changed to accommodate the higher rear axle and brush bar mountings on the grille, but the body remained otherwise the same.

And even after falling from the main range after 1986, the Holden continued to appear in Convoy/ Team Matchbox racing sets as a support vehicle until 1990, wearing various sponsor liveries including Brut and 7-Up.

The rarest variants include the metallic blue HJ Ute with motorbikes wearing 'Paris-Dakar '81' stickers (only sold in France), the Road Blasters version of the Ruff Trek in navy blue with clip-on guns, and the final outing for this casting in 1989/90, when it appeared in yellow with 'Matchbox Rescue Team Support' decals, as part of a Motor City Racing Pack 5-car gift set.

Needless to say, I keep an eye out for any versions I can of this one - it's still a favourite, all these years later.

My brother had a Ruff Trek- love it!

[Sudsprint]

These are the models of my Italian car ownership since 1980 (getting old).

All the right colours except the blue 128 3P should be metallic blue and Zebra striped, the 130 Coupe and the Innocenti should be silver.

The Fiat van should be a camper and the Alfa Spider a box of bits 😁

[flat4alfa]

Crikey.  You owned a proper Flavia

[flat4alfa]

Is that a gen-5 Quattroporte up there at the back?

[bunglebus]

@Datsuncog I never had the Holden as a nipper, but I did have the Ruff Trek as part of the Brut set with the Corvette and flatbed transporter. For reasons unknown it ended up with a mate who I think still has it, and it took me a good while to find all three again in good condition.  Not as good as I remember my originals being though. I'll see if he can dig it out for a side by side comparison 

[flat4alfa]

Christmas 1981.  This came into my life.

Considering it’s been loose all that time, it’s kept well.  Leon the Legionnaire popped over to take a look earlier 

[RoadworkUK]

I had reason to visit the attic again last night,

I still have things up there that have been undisturbed for the nine years we've lived here, and which were securely boxed up for some time before that. Among which is a box of miscellanea: forgotten power adaptors, cables with strange proprietary connectors, old mobile phones (one of which, a Motorola RAZR, was actually the objective of my attic visit, and has now been pressed into service). 

And this:

Upon finding this it was all I could do to avoid myself toppling over in a shock of giddiness and plunging through the ceiling. 

It is mint, boxed, never opened MB-1 Jaguar XJ6.

I've been racking my brain to try and remember how it came into my possession.

Here goes.

In 1991 I went on a family holiday to Cornwall. We stayed in East Looe, in a rented cottage named Trevellis. It was lovely. One day we took a trip to Polperro, which is lovely in that whimsical, saccharine way, but ten year-old me was quite frankly bored rigid. Happily, the village gift shop / post office / chemist had a small and pleasingly eclectic line of toys, including 1:87 scale Monogram Exactos. I immediately spent every coin I had with me and secured a yellow Camaro and a blue Ford Thunderbird. I was, therefore, happy to be dragged around looking at the pretty buildings for the rest of the day. Although a mint choc chip ice cream may also have been involved.

Wind the clock forwards eighteen years or so and I visited Polperro again, this time with my wife. Now I was able to enjoy the village's chocolate-box tweeness from a grown-up's perspective. Until I saw the gift shop / post office / chemist.  Figuring that time stands still there (everything did indeed look exactly the same as it had in 1991), could there be a rack of unsold 1:87 delights patiently waiting for a Chris with substantially more disposable income than he had back then?

No.

 

There was, though, a number of NOS Matchbox models! Quite how they came into the inventory of a tiny "all under one roof" shop in Cornwall, I don't know. I remember that this one had the least dishevelled box on the shelf; the others were bleached by the sun or warped by damp. On mine, the cellophane is a bit crinkly but that's about all that's wrong with it.

I think I paid about £1.50. And in a remarkable display of self control I decided to never open it. 

Problem I'm not sure if the memory I've dragged up is real or a romanticised work of fiction. Anyway. It's entirely plausible and I can't think of any more fitting version of events, so I'm sticking with it.

[bunglebus]

I'd have probably bought the lot!

[MorrisItalSLX]

16 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

One noteworthy point is that the model features three simulated air vents on the front wing, just behind the wheel arch. On real-life HJs, these vents were only featured on the top-of-the-line GTS sedan and coupe models - although interchangable panels were key to the broad 'full size' Holden lineup, and even today basic utes continue to be upgraded using panels for the sportier Monaro, as well as the luxury Premier and Statesman versions - all of which used the same basic chassis and shell across its successive HQ/HJ/HX/HZ/WB models, between 1971 and 1984.

The vented wings, or ‘GTS Guards’ as they are know in the trade, were fitted to Utes and Panel Vans from the factory. This was done for the Sandman version alongside a snazzy graphics pack, GTS Wheels, GTS dashboard and (usually) a V8.

This leads me to believe that the model was based specifically on a Holden HJ Sandman Ute.

[Sudsprint]

15 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Is that a gen-5 Quattroporte up there at the back?

It's a Ghibli

15 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Crikey.  You owned a proper Flavia

Still do (with an old school friend), but sadly it now needs restoration and is up for sale with Percival Motor Company