Sunday, January 31, 2016

#639 AMIGO and ASS - TURTLES QUARTETT and POLICE ACADEMY POKER QUARTETT (1990)

 
This two sets have several things in common. Both are from 1990 and based in cartoon characters, licensed by Mirage Studios and Warner Brothers espectively. Both come in an oversized package that might have helped to sell better, or at least for a higher price.
 







 
 
 
 
In the case of the turtles deck, the box includes two round card holders, that may be good for children with small hands to hold a lot of cards and having all in sight. The Police Academy deck includes nothing but the deck.
 
 
A difference between them is that the turtles game is simply a quartett game, while the Police Academy is actually a trumpf game too. Each card shows a vehicle or a weapon with several technical characteristics: speed, distance, attack and defense... it is quite fun to play.
 
The Police Academy film series was always one of my favorites. I haven't seen any film as many times as Police Academy 3, closely followed by Police Academy 4, they were really funny. The cartoon series however was aired only rarely and in regional channels, and I think I have seen it a couple of times (a couple of chapters) and it was ok.
 
The Ninja Turtles cartoons were much popular and I have seen many chapters, but still I preffer the other quartett game. When I saw it, I knew I had to buy it.
 



 
 
FACTS AND FIGURES:
  • Name: TURTLES QUARTETT and POLICE ACADEMY POKER QUARTETT
  • Year: 1990
  • Company: Amigo and ASS (Germany)

Thursday, January 28, 2016

#638 CAREX - PORSCHE CARRERA (Nr 100) (1983)


Carex is a misterious manufacturer from the early 80s to the early 90s with very few models available. I found this in a flea market and bought it inmediatly, it was the first I had seen by this brand. Now in Google, I have found some others. The company was based in Warsaw and its complete name was: Carex Przedsiebiorstwo Zagraniczne w Polsce ul


Another source of information for this brand and this model is diecast.blog3.fc2.com from Japan. Using machine translation I have read that the suspension used in this model is rare for an european model of that age, and they leave open the answer to the question if this model was really manufactured in Hong-Kong to be packaged and sold in Poland, or if it is really a Polish made model. Difficult question, since there is almost nothing about this brand on the internet.
Currently there are 7 known models, all of them made between 1981 and 1993 (according to the dutch wikipedia).
  • Jaguar XJ6
  • Jaguar XJ6 Racing
  • Porsche 911
  • Porsche Carrera
  • Ferrari 365 GTB / 4
  • Volvo 760 244 GL (see comment below)
  • Lancia Gama

Note that the years between 1981 and 1993 are the last years of the communist People´s Republic of Poland and the first years of the modern Republic of Poland, so theoreticaly, this brand would still be active after the old regime had fallen (in 1989).

The model itself is not very well detailed/casted but has windshields and interiors. It is decorated with stickers and was available in other colours, for what I have seen on the internet. You can see the package and a Volvo model HERE. The Volvo is also badly casted, but still has practicable doors.

FACTS AND FIGURES:
  • Name: PORSCHE CARRERA (Nr 100)
  • Scale: 1:64
  • Year: 1983
  • Company: Carex (Poland)
  • Size: approx. 6 cm

Monday, January 25, 2016

#637 MIRA – AUTORREMOLQUE RULOT, HÍPICA and MOTO-CROSS (Around 1992)


I have commented this several times already, but here it goes again. By the beginning of the 90s, the Spanish market was already open to foreign toys and the first products from China were already being sold in stores. At first, they had very bad quality, but afterwards they started improving. These were extremely cheap, for example, one MC Toy car costed 100 pesetas (0.60 Eur).

The die-cast market, dominated by local brands plus Matchbox and Majorette had to react against those cheap products, and while Matchbox launched the Super G.T. (this was before the 90s, since to other countries the Chinese concurrents arrived earlier), Guisval the “Club” series, and Mira simplified its cars so much, that they were then even difficult to recognise.


The last Mira series comprised a few car models, very simplified in its design, withouth interiors. The cars had a metallic body, black chassis, dark windows and the wheels with the axles attached to the chassis. Each car was applied some stickers with the name of the car, in case you were not able to recognise it at first sight. These are in my opinion, some of the worst die-cast made in Spain ever (together with the Gisima models I already presented). 

In order to reduce stocks when the company was already losing market share and making fewer and fewer business, they re-released the “Autorremolques” series. This series was originally released in the 70s, and consisted of larger boxes that included one model and one trailer. The trailers are copies of Matchbox, Corgi or Majorette, as some models at that time were.


The original series included normal street cars, like Renaults, Seats, Fords, Fiats and one of five available trailers. Some cars had stickers related to the tráiler they were carrying, so there was some logic that matched the car to the tráiler:
  • Hipica – Based on Matchbox’s Horse Trailer
  • Moto-Cross – Based on Matchbox’s Honda Motorcycle and Trailer
  • Rulot – Based on Corgi Juniors’ Caravan
  • Fuera-Borda – Based on Majorette’s
  • Regata – Based on Majorette’s

In this later release, the cars were more modern, cars that were among the best selling cars of their time. Most accurately, these models were:
  • Seat Ibiza
  • Ford Sierra
  • Renault 11
  • Peugeot 205
  • Nissan Patrol
About the trailers, I have only seem packages including one of the three first from the list above (no boats). Needless to say, that cars and trailers were mixed randomly in this later series:
  • Hipica – Based on Matchbox’s Horse Trailer
  • Moto-Cross – Based on Matchbox’s Honda Motorcycle and Trailer
  • Rulot – Based on Corgi Juniors’ Caravan
And I said they are probably leftovers, because, as you can see in the pictures, the wheels of the trailers are still the ones used during the 80s. If these had been produced at the same time that the cars, probably they would have the same type of cheap Wheel (1 part instead of hubcap and tyre).






FACTS AND FIGURES:
  • Name: AUTORREMOLQUE RULOT, HÍPICA and MOTO-CROSS (SEAT IBIZA and FORD SIERRA)
  • Scale: Approx. 1:64
  • Year: Around 1992
  • Company: Mira (Spain)
  • Size: 7 cm car, 7 cm trailer

Friday, January 22, 2016

#636 HEIMO/ UNKNOWN TOYMAKER - HEIDI PVC FIGURES (1974)


Heimo is a German producer of plastik figures, very famous for their Disney plasic figures from the 60s an the 70s. There is very few information availble about the company itself, but apparently, Heimo is a brand of Marx Toys from the U.S.A., one of the „classic“ american toy manufacturers.

The figures made by Heimo were very popular, and despite being really old (40 or 50 years old), they are very unexpensive today. According to my German catalogue, these Heidi figures are 2 Eur worth each. As catalogues always pump up prices, I would say 1 Euro each is already enough.


The Heidi series comprises 5 figures: Heidi, Peter, The Grandfather, Josef (the dog) and a small lamb which is more difficult to find (catalogue price: 10 Eur) and seems to be also very fragile because of its thin legs.

The official Heimo figures have a logo at the back which is a cross inside a circle, as well as a copyright symbol.

In addition to the Heimo figures, I want to present a bootleg of the Heidi figure (the other two are Heimo original). At first sight, they seem identical, but a closer look reveals that they are different. The size is slightly higher, the colours applied differ and the mark at the back says „Zuiyo“, which are the Japanese studios that created the cartoons.


FACTS and FIGURES:
  • Name: HEIDI OF THE ALPS PVC FIGURES
  • Year: 1974
  • Company: Heimo/ Unknown Toymker (Germany / Unknown Country of Origin)
  • Size of the figures: 5 cm

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

#635 TINTOYS/ TIN'S TOYS - GULF MIRAGE (W.T. 505), LOLA L & M 260 CAN AM (W.T. 701) and PORSCHE AUDI (T. 313) (Around 1979 and 1983)


This time I am presenting three cars that fit together well because they were made by the same manufacturer under two different brands. First Tintoys then Tin's toys (as explained in entry #594)


Tintoys models are W.T. 505 and W.T. 701, while T.313 is Tin's Toys.


(Left to Right:)
W.T. 505 GULF MIRAGE
W.T. 701 LOLA L & M 260 CAN AM
T. 313 PORSCHE AUDI


The interesting thing is that the name of the car casted on the base fits perfectly with the stickers the carry: Gulf Mirage actually has "Gulf" stickers, and the Lola L&M 260 Can Am has "L&M" stickers. Chance? I don't think so.


Another very interesting fact is that the Lola also has a sticker "Club Norev". Which is the relation between this brand and Norev?


UPDATE: I got three more Tin's Toys models that would fit perfectly in this entry. They seem to be more modern models and came without the plastic driver.

The grey one is a Matra Simca MS670 (T316)
The blue one is a March 707 Can-Am (T315)
The orange one is anotherPorsche Audi (T313)







UPDATE 1 (May/2017) Added second MATRA with original type of wheels and original sticker at the front.



UPDATE 2 (Sep/2023): I had the Gulf Mirage in gold, now I own it also in green, and not once, but twice. The stickers do not match anymore. Instead of Gulf Stickers, I have Caltex and Energizer... so probably and after all, it was just a chance that the stickers matched in the first foto of this entry.


FACTS AND FIGURES:

  • Name: GULF MIRAGE (W.T. 505), LOLA L&M 260 CAN AM (W.T. 701), PORSCHE AUDI (T. 313), MARCH 707 CAN-AM (T. 315) and MATRA SIMCA MS670 (T. 316)
  • Scale: Approx. 1:64
  • Year: Around 1979 and 1983
  • Company: Tintoys/ Tin's Toys (Hong-Kong)
  • Size: approx. 6 cm