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janwerner's picture
janwerner
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Happy collecting milestones

:)
Yesterday, after over 30 years of collecting, swapping and selling, I acquired my final Studebaker Tanker, with which I am satisfied enough to declare my tankers range to be complete! It is the green 'PETROL' version, one of the two (green and red) versions that were introduced in July 1950.
The same happened last November with my Trojan vans, the 'OXO' replacing its rather poor predecessor in the collection and thus completing that fine half-a-dozen.

Don't be afraid that I will be annoying myself now. Enough series to be completed like that, and it is the cataloguing, displaying, photographing, discussing and writing about them that gives me the same satisfaction as merely collecting them.
May be you have similar collecting milestones to report?

Kind regards, Jan

jackh
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DTCA MemberIsrael

Nice endeavor, Jan, and very nice results!
Cordially,
Jacques H.

buzzer999's picture
buzzer999
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DTCA MemberUK

Two lovely sets of commercial vehicles with nice adverting.

My Trojan set is like your old one, all are really nice except for the OXO but it is just a matter of being patient, it will happen eventually.

Dave

Richard's picture
Richard
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DTCA MemberFrance

Here are mine. Not mint in boxes but it's OK for me !

janwerner's picture
janwerner
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Racing and record cars 23a-e in silver-red ...

... with improved 23b Hotchkiss now!

Regards, Jan

dinkyfan's picture
dinkyfan
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DTCA MemberUSA

Jan---
Very nice collecting milestones to accomplish! And those all look in lovely condition too. I also finished the Studebaker tanker collection for myself last year; I was missing the later Mobilgas version and finally found one. I wish my early green "Petrol" one was as nice as yours, but the rest of mine are quite nice. By the way, I also have both versions of the Esso tanker....the earlier one I think is the Robin's egg light blue border and the latter one is the darker blue? I have heard discussion of this before, but is it recognized as a difference?

Terry

janwerner's picture
janwerner
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Yes Terry, it is a well-known difference. In fact I should try to find the one with darker blue frame which - in my opinion - is slightly more common than the light blue version,
A detail:

Kind regards, Jan

janwerner's picture
janwerner
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

This year I managed to really complete the Studebaker tanker range by adding the dark blue framed Esso tanker! Kind regards, Jan 

starni999
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DTCA MemberUK

Hi Gents,
Here are my Trojans, and yes I have now got the missing red hubs "Dunlop" so they are complete apart from the "Brooke Bond" with roof sticker...

Chris Warr

janwerner's picture
janwerner
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

In an amazing regularity I have been able to keep up a annual number of acquisitions of closely around 15 items in the past 33 collecting years. Again, this year, and again without deliberately pursueing that average number, I ended with number 16! They are not all worth mentioning at this place, because they cannot be qualified as collecting 'milestones'. My sixteenth acquisition is no milestone in a sense of completing a series of related models. But for me it is such a victorious acquisition that I think it deservedly fits here. In fact, I seriously doubt if I will ever accomplish completion of the whole series, because the scarcest of them go too high - that is, if one, like me, is not satisfied with a less than a (very near) mint example.

I am talking about the famous series of six Guy Vans, the 'Slumberland', the 'Lyons', the 'Weetabix', the 'Spratt's', the 'Ever Ready' and the 'Robertson's Golden Shred' vans.
The conquest of any of them is a great milestone in my eyes. My 'spoilt boy's' standards mean that I have been able to collect one Guy Van only, my favourite 'Slumberland', in all these years. And now my happy number 16 of this year's collecting is ... a splendid 'Ever Ready' van.
So I proudly present to you my second Guy Van happy milestone acquisition:

And this is my difficult task for the future:

Kind regards, Jan

dinkyfan's picture
dinkyfan
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DTCA MemberUSA

Jan--
Congratulations on your most recent milestone, and a worthy one at that! Any new addition to the Guy van series is worth celebrating, and it appears that you have kept your high standards with the new EverReady version. And that is amazing that you are averaging that number of acquisitions so closely without really trying to maintain that pace.
It appears that near mint models of these vans keep going up....they, along with their Foden cousins, are to me one of the pinnacles of Dinky collecting....good luck on the others!

Terry

janwerner's picture
janwerner
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Hi all, my French no. 33 Simca family was completed today by the addition of the Saint-Gobain glaziers lorry, no. 33c Miroitier Simca 'Cargo'. Very dusty and dirty as it was I had to do the domestic job of dusting the body and cleaning the window and mirror (you can see the planking of the loading platform clearly reflected in the again brilliant mirror) and an 'as new' model resurrected!

(A good lens wanting, there is some optical distortion in the family picture).

Kind regards, Jan

buzzer999's picture
buzzer999
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DTCA MemberUK

They are really nice Jan

Dave

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
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AustraliaDTCA Member

Greetings

Another set now complete - red, yellow, pale green and pale blue interior, at least until someone finds a previously unrecorded interior colour!

Kind regards

Bruce (150)
#637
15 June 2015

janwerner's picture
janwerner
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Congratulations Bruce! Rather ignorant as I am for this period (although I have one good childhood example, with red interior)I wasn't aware of this full 'set'. Actually, which one is your last addition and how are they to be rated in terms of scarcity?
Kind regards, Jan

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
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AustraliaDTCA Member

Thank you Jan. I was nearing the end of my Dinky Toy collecting, (my last one was the 196 Holden Special Sedan), when I received my 449 Chevrolet El Camino for Christmas 1961. I was already 16 almost 17 when it arrived, so there was no "playing" on my tarred road network so it spent most of its life in its box, except for the period I was away from home when anything happened, and did on looking at its condition now!

But back to your question "how are they to be rated in terms of scarcity". Well here is my assessment using mainly Vectis and other auction houses catalogues :

Red Interior - common
Blue Interior - uncommon and "difficult to find"
Pale Green or turquoise - very uncommon to rare
Yellow - rare

It is interesting that Ramsay's Diecast Model Toys Catalogue, even the latest issue, does not include the blue interior version, although the listing for "turquoise interior" mentions a number of shades, and yet the blue interior appears more times in Vectis catalogues going back to 2009. Under proper lighting of my blue interior version, there is no way it could be confused with it being a "various shade of turquoise" and the photograph above is an excellent rendition that used natural sunlight for its photograph. It is strange that my acquisitions were yellow, green and blue interiors, commencing with the hardest to find! I will post a story on how I acquired it in an appropriate Thread some time.

Kind regards

Bruce (150)
#644
16 June 2015

dinkycollect's picture
dinkycollect
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DTCA MemberFrance

On August 15 1961, I visited the Berlin Meccano importer exactly here in the Friedrichstraße. I was back there a month ago but the building has gone, there is a new one instead. Fortunately, the checkpoint Charlie which had been erected two days before behind the two blue signs in the background has gone as well.

But the Avus speedway is still there although the bank of the north bend has been demolished recently. On the picture, one can see two Mercedes W 25 racing southward and the rows of seats on the west side of the runway.

The Avus is now a main motorway leading from the north of Berlin (Tegel airport) to Postdam and the west passing by the now disused checkpoint Bravo.

starni999
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DTCA MemberUK

Thanks Jacques,
Berlin is my favourite city in Europe, miles better than London, I worked there in the East, when it WAS the East, had a run in with a 16 year old Soviet squaddie with an AK, but that's a whole different story!
Happy days!
CW.

janwerner's picture
janwerner
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Interesting information Jacques! I have many similar Berlin memories too.
And ... what is the happy collecting milestone? :)
Kind regards, Jan

Townie54's picture
Townie54
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Good to see these El Caminos. I have the yellow from new in the '60s, and the red since but had not seen the others. I have the 263 Criterion with 5 different colour interiors and the 258 Fairlane with white and red. Incidentally just visited Dallas where the Sixth Floor Museum uses two repainted Dinky Fairlanes as escort cars in their assassination convoy diorama.

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
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AustraliaDTCA Member

Many thanks townie54 for you comments. I like the El Camino, even though the model was aimed squarely for the American market with the use of the terminology "pick-up truck", unless that is a term also used in the UK. Here in Australia, where it actually invented this type of vehicle in the 1930s (a farmer asked the Ford Motor Company in Melbourne that he wanted to buy a motor car that he can use during the week to cart farm stuff around, pigs, bales of hay, fertiliser, etc, and also to be able to take the wife to church on Sundays. Ford then came up with the "Utility Vehicle" a name that has been used ever since in Australia to describe a "pick-up".

Here are my five 263 Criterion Ambulances with their five different interiors:

I was fascinated to read that you "visited Dallas where the Sixth Floor Museum uses two repainted Dinky Fairlanes as escort cars in their assassination convoy diorama". Does the museum approve the taking of photographs and if so were you able to take one of the diorama? It is nice that two repainted Dinky Toys 148 Ford Fairlanes were used. Great observation and well done!

With the 148 there are three difference interiors - red (uncommon to rare), a pale grey and another colour that is difficult to describe, but something like a pale cream colour. I will see about posting some images of them. Perhaps with your mention of white there are four different interiors!

Kind regards

Bruce (150)
#663
20 June 2015

starni999
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DTCA MemberUK

Me too! I'd love to see a picture of that diorama.
CW

Townie54's picture
Townie54
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DTCA Member

You cannot take pictures in the Sixth Floor Museum. However if you google 'The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza' then follow 'About the museum' then 'permanent exhibition' then 'further highlights' you will see the Diorama next to the Investigations section. Zoom in and the two Dinky Fairlanes can be seen centre left painted a cream colour and passing the Grassy Knoll. I could not discern the manufacture of the presidential X100 or follow up car on the diorama, but I think scratch built. Certainly not as neat as the Minichamps X100. They could do worse than substitute an 1/43 Atlas Heads of State X100 and Queen Mary. The Signature Queen Mary, slightly larger at 1/38, was on sale in the adjacent shop.

I attach a photo of Dealey Plaza from the nearby Reunion Tower, so you can orientate the Diorama. By the way the Dallas Police cars were actually '63 Galaxies, as opposed to the '61 Dinky Fairlane (my Dad had a '63 Fairlane). Although a new '64 model year Cadillac Miller Meteor hearse took the coffin to Dallas Love Field airport, at the other end at Andrews Air Force Base a Pontiac Bonneville Criterion ambulance collected the body, being a '63 stacked headlight version as opposed to the Dinky 263 1961 Bonneville model.

On the seat colours of Dinky Fairlanes I have revisited 258 and what I called 'white', and which I thought was the same as the solid green 148 interior, but is not. 148 is definitely cream, 258 must be what you call light grey or ' grey white'. The 258 grey white is the same on my RCMP and also on my later metallic green 148. Interestingly the solid green 148 has closed windows and the metallic green open front windows. Then I looked at the Cadillac 62s red and grey white, and grey white RCMP and 258 Police.

Townie54's picture
Townie54
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DTCA Member

townie54 wrote:
"You cannot take pictures in the Sixth Floor Museum. However if you google 'The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza' then follow 'About the museum' then 'permanent exhibition' then 'further highlights' you will see the Diorama next to the Investigations section. Zoom in and the two Dinky Fairlanes can be seen centre left painted a cream colour and passing the Grassy Knoll. I could not discern the manufacture of the presidential X100 or follow up car on the diorama, but I think scratch built. Certainly not as neat as the Minichamps X100. They could do worse than substitute an 1/43 Atlas Heads of State X100 and Queen Mary. The Signature Queen Mary, slightly larger at 1/38, was on sale in the adjacent shop.

I attach a photo of Dealey Plaza from the nearby Reunion Tower, so you can orientate the Diorama. By the way the Dallas Police cars were actually '63 Galaxies, as opposed to the '61 Dinky Fairlane (my Dad had a '63 Fairlane). Although a new '64 model year Cadillac Miller Meteor hearse took the coffin to Dallas Love Field airport, at the other end at Andrews Air Force Base a Pontiac Bonneville Criterion ambulance collected the body, being a '63 stacked headlight version as opposed to the Dinky 263 1961 Bonneville model.

On the seat colours of Dinky Fairlanes I have revisited 258 and what I called 'white', and which I thought was the same as the solid green 148 interior, but is not. 148 is definitely cream, 258 must be what you call light grey or ' grey white'. The 258 grey white is the same on my RCMP and also on my later metallic green 148. Interestingly the solid green 148 has closed windows and the metallic green open front windows. Then I looked at the Cadillac 62s red and grey white, and grey white RCMP and 258 Police."

Townie54's picture
Townie54
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DTCA Member

By the way my Profile Picture is me with the X100 which is in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
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AustraliaDTCA Member

Many thanks townie54 - I followed all the links and was hoping for a larger image! I can vaguely see two cream coloured cars in the diorama, but that became pixelated out when one tries to zoom in.

I read that the diorama was prepared by the FBI to be used at the Warren Commission. Nice to see that Dinky Toys played a role in unraveling the events of that terrible day in 1963. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

As can be seen, the image is rather small! Actually, the image on the website is slightly larger for those who would like to see the Fairlanes "a little better"!

Kind regards

Bruce (150)
#669
21 June 2015

Townie54's picture
Townie54
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DTCA Member

Hi Bruce, like many a DTCA member I can sniff out a Dinky at 20 yards or more, and the spun wheels was the clincher. The book The Death of a President by William Manchester is a good read.

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
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AustraliaDTCA Member

Hello "townie" (wish I knew your first name!!)

I liked what you wrote about sniffing out a Dinky Toys at 20 yards! I think that is a requirement to be an acknowledged collector of these little gems! (Given the direction of the wind prevailing at the time, I can do likewise at twice that distance!)

William Manchester is/was a prolific writer concentrating mainly on WW2. I have his book "Goodbye Darkness" which became quite controversial for reasons I have long forgotten. "Goodbye Darkness" was given to me by a World War Two fighter Ace, Sidney S Woods in 1981.

Kind regards

Bruce (150)
#671
22 June 2010

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
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AustraliaDTCA Member

Hello "townie"

I encountered a problem in attaching an image on my last post, and in so doing, I lost the last two paragraphs of that post. Fortunately I had made a copy, so here is the rest of that Post!!

Thank you for enlarging your profile photograph. Is the X100 on display in the Henry Ford Museum The Actual car in which John Kennedy was assassinated? If so, it must have had the capability of being converted into an open limousine. (I suppose I should Google this, but I am feeling lazy!)

You did not ask, but the image below is my profile photograph, although I wonder what became of the young stud with the shorts and tropical long socks as well as the mop of hair! (Taken in September 1972 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea when my parents came to visit their son in this tropical colonial "outpost"!)

The car is a 1971 Mitsubishi Colt Galant GTO that I bought in February 1972 - probably the best car I have ever owned which is why I have half a cabinet filled with model Galant GTOs! (No doubt taking up valuable space that should be occupied by Dinky Toys!!)

Kind regards

Bruce (150)
#672
22 June 2015

Townie54's picture
Townie54
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DTCA Member

Hi Bruce the picture of the X100 dates from my visit to Detroit in 2000. The HFM has other presidential Lincolns too, eg the Sunshine Special and one of Reagans. After the assassination the X100 was resprayed from presidential blue to black in tribute and was given an armoured roof, and dubbed the 'Quickfix' as it exists now. It did have a clear attachable bubble roof originally but the failure to use it in Dallas has been one of the many conspiracy theories. I attach a picture from Model Collector December 2009 from my article "A Bit of a Stretch" which the editor strangely retitled. The article included Dinky 170, 198 and 131 as well as the Dinky Club France Cadillac Fleetwood Limousine.

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
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AustraliaDTCA Member

Hello Patrick

I must dig out the MODEL COLLECTOR story you wrote as I do recall reading it. (Funny how with important events one can remember exactly where one was on hearing of it - I can still recall where I was at that time as on arriving at our local golf club and on seeing the Australian flag at half-mast, I asked what had happened. It was 4.30am in Australia when this took place, but things took a little while for the news to come out.) Thank you though for filling us in on the details of the X100. Editors have a great way of handling one's story - I speak from experience. I guess it is to exert their editorial authority!!

My wife and I were in Dearborn in 1981, visiting an associate who was providing assistance with our Museum's Ford Tri-Motor aircraft. Never gave it a thought to visit the Ford Museum and we were only blocks away! I should have done more homework!

Regards

Bruce (150)
#674
23 June 2015

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