Club News

 

User login

New Comments

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

3 days 1 hour ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

3 days 3 hours ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

3 days 5 hours ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

3 days 6 hours ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

4 days 1 hour ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

4 days 7 hours ago

-508 DAF

4 days 8 hours ago

--14c and 401Coventry Climax Fork Lift Truck (1949-64)

4 days 8 hours ago

FRENCH DINKY TALBOT LAGO

4 days 8 hours ago

-Boxes General Discussions including end flaps, both British and French

4 days 9 hours ago

--14c and 401Coventry Climax Fork Lift Truck (1949-64)

2 weeks 5 days ago

--14c and 401Coventry Climax Fork Lift Truck (1949-64)

2 weeks 6 days ago

-508 DAF

1 month 1 week ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

1 month 1 week ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

1 month 2 weeks ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

1 month 2 weeks ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

1 month 2 weeks ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

1 month 2 weeks ago

-508 DAF

1 month 3 weeks ago

-508 DAF

1 month 3 weeks ago

-508 DAF

1 month 3 weeks ago

New arrivals

1 month 3 weeks ago

New arrivals

1 month 3 weeks ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

1 month 3 weeks ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

1 month 3 weeks ago

ORIGINAL MECCANO DINKY TOYS FACTORY BOX ART 175 HILLMAN MINX SALOON + DRAWING

1 month 3 weeks ago

--29c and 290 Double Decker Bus (1938-63)

1 month 3 weeks ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

1 month 3 weeks ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

1 month 3 weeks ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

1 month 3 weeks ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

1 month 3 weeks ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

1 month 3 weeks ago

--29c and 290 Double Decker Bus (1938-63)

1 month 3 weeks ago

--29c and 290 Double Decker Bus (1938-63)

1 month 3 weeks ago

DTCAwebsite upgrade 2023

1 month 3 weeks ago

Visitors

  • Total Visitors: 1640484
  • Registered Users: 388
  • Published Nodes: 1681
  • Since: 03/21/2024 - 21:56
29 posts / 0 new
Last post

Richard's picture
Richard
Offline
DTCA MemberFrance

-157 Jaguar XK120 Sports Coupe (1954-62)

Dear Friends,*
The Jaguar XK 120/140 scale 1 is one of my favorite sport car.
That's the reason why I could not collect Dinky Toys without a range of this marvellous little car.
Here are my Jaguar XK120 team :

and I am waiting for some others coming soon.

Of course, I compared all the models and I discovered that the mouls was modified, at least, 2 times, that's mean 3 versions.
We can verify this point with the 3 Jaguar in green colour.
The photos here under show 3 different inside roofs.

Richard's picture
Richard
Offline
DTCA MemberFrance

Type 1 : Zamac injection traces in the front corners and the central stile of the windscreen is running over the roof

Richard's picture
Richard
Offline
DTCA MemberFrance

Type 2 : zamac injection traces always in the corner but the central stile stop at the roof side.

Richard's picture
Richard
Offline
DTCA MemberFrance

Type 3 : Zamac injection traces are located in the middle side of the roof

If we keep only those 3 green Jaguar, we have :

-3 different inside roof
-2 different hubs and in the zamac hubs, 2 different colours
-2 different tyres

Funny ! isn't ?

Richard

janwerner's picture
janwerner
Offline
DTCA MemberNetherlands

Some observations that you may find interesting:

The factory drawing for the body of the Jaguar (no. 13866) shows that as late as 30 September 1953 (the model was issued in March 1954) there was a change to the design: the centre bar was added to the windscreen!
It is also noteworthy that the drawing is bi-lingual, English and French. Was this model ever considered to be assembled in France too (like some other models)?

Even more remarkable is the representation of the Jaguar XK 120 in the USA catalogue of 1957: it shows the Jaguar without centre bar for the windscreen! This catalogue shows many out-of-date models and pictures. So, was this one made after a pre-production sample?

And finally, indeed, it is a favourite Dinky model, almost more beautiful than the real one!

Richard's picture
Richard
Offline
DTCA MemberFrance

Effectively Jan, this drawing is very interesting ! I don't have any explanation for the presence of French traslation on it !
Perhaps, Meccano planed to assemble the Jaguar in France but never did.

starni999
Offline
DTCA MemberUK

Wonderful to see your Jags Richard, you have a full set of colour / hub combinations there I think? I still need the Red / Spun hubs myself.
Chris Warr.

Richard's picture
Richard
Offline
DTCA MemberFrance

Thank you Chris.
I think that there are 2 or 3 models still missing. Variations in the two tones and in the colour of the white Jaguar wheels.
Richard

Richard's picture
Richard
Offline
DTCA MemberFrance

Here is my new little pensioner, arrived this morning.

Richard's picture
Richard
Offline
DTCA MemberFrance

with my other one for comparison

Richard's picture
Richard
Offline
DTCA MemberFrance

Cheers

dinkycollect's picture
dinkycollect
Offline
DTCA MemberFrance

I went to the HRCA auction in Retford today and came back with this.

Both the car and the box are superb, I am really pleased.

Dave.

dinkycollect's picture
dinkycollect
Offline
DTCA MemberFrance

The people in Bobigny did not need the die drawing to assemble the model. Only the drawing called "assembly" which lists all the parts is necessary.

The bi-lingual drawings may have been drawn in Bobigny or made so that the dies would be made in Bobigny.

Richard's photos mean that there were two dies or a double cavity die. It would not have been possible to move the ejectors to a different location without leaving marks.

Townie54's picture
Townie54
Offline
DTCA Member

Interesting that the catalogue picture and factory schedule suggest that the XK Dinky might have appeared without centre glazing bar. On the real post war car the bar is fairly unobstrusive but the car has a distinct prow, and no doubt on balance it was felt the bar was needed to maintain the best appearance on the model albeit a bit chunky. Artistic licence decisions. Despite advances in glass technology I believe the XK didn't get a single screen until the '57 XK150, as on the Odgi Dinky style model here. Such decisions were obviously faced, for example the Hudson had its distinct spilt screen modelled, but the Fordor didn't.

buzzer999's picture
buzzer999
Offline
DTCA MemberUK

Here is an official Ford press photo of the Fordor.

As well as ommitting the centre pill in the front screen Dinky appear to have the roof line lower.

That did not bother me in the 1950s as I loved this car then, and I still do.

Dave

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
Offline
AustraliaDTCA Member

Thought I would throw is some old advertisements for the Jaguar XK120

Sorry - I have been unable to find one with the hardtop that Dinky modeled.

Kind regards

Bruce

janwerner's picture
janwerner
Offline
DTCA MemberNetherlands

The hardtop - but no advertisement.

I made these pics in the Brummen Gallery, last summer.

Kind regards, Jan

buzzer999's picture
buzzer999
Offline
DTCA MemberUK

That is fabulous Jan, there are not many hard tops, most of the preserved examples are convertibles.

Dave

dinkycollect's picture
dinkycollect
Offline
DTCA MemberFrance

An other hard top XK 120 at a check point of the Tour de France auto 2013.
THis one is from 1951.

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
Offline
AustraliaDTCA Member

buzzer999 wrote:
"That is fabulous Jan, there are not many hard tops, most of the preserved examples are convertibles.

Dave"

Dave (and Jan)

Actually there are quite a few FHC still in circulation, and surprisingly, the majority of these are in left-hand drive. FHC? Fixed Head Coupe as they were known and still are known. Here are a few of them. The black one was sold by Bonhams two years ago:

Jan

I am not certain about the accuracy of the red XK120 - the rear wheel covers (known as spats over here) have been altered probably to provide a better view of the "wire" wheels. I have never seen covers with a small opening - however, having said that, I guess anything is possible!

Kind regards

Bruce

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
Offline
AustraliaDTCA Member

.

I wrote in my first post that I was unable to include an advertisement from Jaguar of their XK120 Fixed Head Coupe. Well the wait is over, so the following are two advertisements that display the graceful, flowing lines of the XK120 coupe which graphically show that Meccano made the best decision to produce this version of the XK120. The advertisements also show how incredibly fast the XK120 was as well as the high quality of its construction.

The beautiful lines of the 157 Dinky Toys XK120

To round-off this post with a few more photographs of the real car. How I wish I had the financial resources to buy one!!

And to conclude, a colour scheme that almost matches the two-tone yellow and grey selected by Meccano:

And artwork associated with the Jaguar advertisng department:

buzzer999's picture
buzzer999
Offline
DTCA MemberUK

Absolutely fabulous I remember this car as a small child, it look stunning and the sporting achievements were a schoolboys dream.

Thanks ever so much for posting these stunning images, I'll have the sage green one as that is version I had as a child.

Dave

janwerner's picture
janwerner
Offline
DTCA MemberNetherlands

Hi all, an elaborate article on the Dinky 157 Jaguar XK120 Coupe by Michael Driver has just been published in Model Collector 30/2 (no. 327) of February 2015, pages 72-77 (Big Cats and Dinky Toys Part 2).
Kind regards, Jan

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
Offline
AustraliaDTCA Member

buzzer999 wrote:
"Absolutely fabulous I remember this car as a small child, it look stunning and the sporting achievements were a schoolboys dream.

Thanks ever so much for posting these stunning images, I'll have the sage green one as that is version I had as a child.

Dave"

Thanks Dave - actually I will have any of them! I am not fussy! Mine was the grey and yellow version, and here it is, a little the worse for wear I am afraid. Sure wish now I never played with it but left it in its box which is in better shape!

Kind regards

Bruce

janwerner wrote:
"Hi all, an elaborate article on the Dinky 157 Jaguar XK120 Coupe by Michael Driver has just been published in Model Collector 30/2 (no. 327) of February 2015, pages 72-77 (Big Cats and Dinky Toys Part 2).
Kind regards, Jan"

Jan

It must be grand living "over there" - being able to pick up the latest issue of Model Collector as soon as it hits the newsstands! I have just received my copy with the Part 2 Foden article in the Christmas issue so it will be a month or two before I get to read Michael's article! All things come to he who waits, I guess!!

Thanks for letting us know Jan!

Kind regards

Bruce

janwerner's picture
janwerner
Offline
DTCA MemberNetherlands

Well Bruce, this happens to be the first time that I received MC so early (yesterday 27 January). I used to buy loose copies (only when they contain stuff that I like) in a bookshop in Amsterdam. These are rather irregular and late, so I missed the Foden 2 article issue you just mentioned. Now Lindsey, insisting on me to accept some kind of 'reward' for my calendar article in the January issue, offered me a free year long subscription (on my suggestion), so for the first time I received it with the mail - and indeed, that mail appears to be more in time than for the opposite side of the globe!
Kind regards, Jan

buzzer999's picture
buzzer999
Offline
DTCA MemberUK

I also subscribe to Model Collector and got mine about 8 - 10 days ago. Subscribers in the UK get theirs about a week before they appear in the shops.

Dave

Richard's picture
Richard
Offline
DTCA MemberFrance

I found this one somewhere in france !

Cheers

Richard

Jan Oldenhuis's picture
Jan Oldenhuis
Offline
DTCA MemberNetherlands

I found some interesting information about the prototype of DT 157 in an article with title: Jaguar XK: the definitive 1950s British sports car by DrjohnWright (shannons.com.au/club/news/search/) and other worth knowing not yet discussed here. Most related text and photos are from this article and some other open sources. The Jaguar models are my favourites and the background of the prototypes interests me very much.

The Jaguar XK120 is a sports car manufactured by Jaguar between 1948 and 1954. It was Jaguar's first sports car since SS 100 production ended in 1939.

As already stated in #20 en #21 is the prototype of DT 157 a Jaguar 120XK Fixed Head Coupé (FHC). Many photos are already shown in this topic, but no background information about this model is added, while the development of this model with his famous XK engine is just very interesting. The most essential part of a model is yet his prototype. Documentation tells that this FHC model was first available from 1951, especially for the North American market.

This one-off SS Jaguar 100 Fixed Head Coupé was prepared for the 1938 London Motor Show. In some respects it foreshadowed the 1951 XK120 Fixed Head Coupé.

The XK120 Fixed Head Coupé was launched in 1951 and aimed principally at the North American market.

The XK120 was shown at the 1948 British International Motor Show as a concept car to test the new Jaguar engine. However, the design was so successful that Jaguar decided to put the car into production.

The Jaguar stand at the first postwar London Motor Show held at Earls Court in October 1948 promised a new era of excitement for the British car industry. ‘Export or Die!’ was the government’s imperative.

The XK engine made its public debut in 1948 but powered generations of Jaguars for more than four decades till 1992.

With alloy cylinder head and twin side-draft SU carburetors, the dual overhead-cam 3.4 litre straight-6 XK engine was comparatively advanced for a mass-produced unit of the time. With standard 8:1 compression ratio it developed 160 bhp (119 kW), using 80 octane fuel. Most of the early cars were exported; a 7:1 low-compression version, with consequently reduced performance, was reserved for the UK market, where the post-war austerity measures then in force restricted buyers to 70 octane "Pool petrol".

This was the Export or Die era for British industry. The XK120 offers perhaps the most graphic illustration of how this worked in practice. Lyons was only able to obtain the raw materials he needed to manufacture cars by guaranteeing to sell most of his vehicles overseas because the country direly needed export pounds for its ravaged economy.

The XK120 was ultimately available in three versions or body styles, first as an open 2-seater described in the US market as a roadster (OTS - open two-seater) then as a fixed head coupé (FHC) from 1951 and finally as a drophead coupé (DHC) from 1953, all two-seaters and available with Left (LHD) or Right Hand Drive (RHD). However, certain Special Equipment roadster and fixed head coupé cars were produced between 1948 and 1949 denoted by an 'S' preceding the chassis number. These Special Equipment cars were sold as an early production build for enthusiasts.

The "120" in the XK120 name refers to the top speed of 120 mph (192 km/h), making the XK120 the fastest production car of its time.

On 30 May 1949, on the empty Ostend-Jabbeke motorway in Belgium, a prototype XK120 timed by the officials of the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium achieved an average of runs in opposing directions of 132.6 mph with the windscreen replaced by just one small aero screen and a catalogued alternative top gear ratio, and 135 mph with a passenger-side tonneau cover in place. In 1950 and 1951, at Autodrome de Linas-Monthéry, a banked oval track in France, open XK120s averaged over 100 mph for 24 hours and over 130 mph for an hour. In 1952 a fixed-head coupé took numerous world records for speed and distance when it averaged 100 mph for a week.

XK120s were also highly successful in racing and rallying.

In 1949 the first production car, chassis number 670003, was delivered to Clark Gable.

The first Jaguar XK120 delivery to Clark Gable by Sir William Lyons. Note the license plate from California dated 1950. ‘Export or Die!’ was the government’s imperative.

Humphrey Bogart with his Jaguar XK 120 with California license plate dated 1950.

1951 Jaguar XK 120 Fixed Head Coupe Dealer Sales Brochure

1951 Jaguar XK120 - export left handed - 2016 Shanghai Auto Museum

1952 Jaguar XK 120 Fixed Head Coupe rear side with separate bumpers and taillights. Also with the original removable spats (fender skirts)

This model is in the Louwman museum in The Hague, has never been restored and still bears its original Dutch license plate. The metallic blue paint is original. Almost 2700 copies of this XK120 Fixed Head Coupé model are built, of which only 195 with the steering wheel on the right side, because most Jaguars are intended for export.

My DT 157 Jaguar XK 120 rear side with bumpers and taillights. Not yet shown in this topic.

Introduction of Dinky Toys 157 Jaguar XK 120 coupé in MM UK March 1954

My 157 Jaguars XK120 Coupé

DT 157 Jaguar XK 120 with number 157 in baseplate. Not yet shown in this topic.

First advertisement of renumbering in MM UK March 1954

According to Meccano Magazine UK, DT model 157 was issued in March 1954. That was in the beginning of the renumbering period as seen in the first advertisement of renumbering, also in MM March 1954 above. The assignment of number 157 to this model is directly related to the renumbering, as explained below.

Changing sales number 139d to 157:

Memo 20112 index DT Job Lists Meccano Liverpool with new number 157 for 139d

It was the original intention to use the number 139d, which is in line with model 139a, 139b and the unreleased but planned number 139c for the 172 Studebaker Land Cruiser, as described under #3 in topic 172.

The above document shows that Meccano Liverpool had the intention to give model 157 first the number 139d. Due to the rules of the renumbering, which wanted to get rid of the old numerical + alphabetical numbering system, the number 139d could not be maintained. So this model was classified in the series 150 British Saloons and received the number 157.

Richardson listed in GBofDT among the List of Meccano Drawings on page 190, Meccano Drawing Job No. 13867 Base for Jaguar dated 30.10.52 as significant changes: 16.6.53 sales no. changed to 157. If only a number were added to the base plate instead of changed, Meccano Liverpool would use the text: sales no. 157 added but in this case an existing/intended number 139d was changed to the new number 157.

Jacques also refers to number 139d for this model in his DT encyclopedia.

Note:

Thanks to the recently added documents in the PDF library I was able to confirm my suspicion about the old number 139d with this memo document.

Jan Oldenhuis, 9 February 2023.

binnsboy650
Offline
DTCA MemberUK

A very comprehensive assessment, as usual Jan. They nearly got the rear window right but not quite.

You can clearly see how Jaguar designers took their insiration from the previous year's introduction of the Morris Minor. laugh