... but your Commer Breakdown Van is nice too! The earliest issue with the darker brown cab/chassis unit with its orange labelled lid box. Still wanting in my collection. Congrats, Richard, and kind regards, Jan

Hi all,

Just arrived is a #967 Muir-Hill trencher with large and small back windows showing a late alteration to the tooling.  I have the #437 version with the window arrangement but was not sure whether the Trencher was also modified.  Interesting, too is the pale grey 'hydraulic rams'.   It is far from mint, but it is the only one I've seen of this version.

Ron F

It's been a tradition for some decades already that my parents-in-law 'surprise' me with an envelope on my birthday, with monetary contents 'to buy a nice Dinky Toy for your collection'.

Usually it does not take me too much time to find one. This morning the new gift arrived, a very nice purple blue 3rd type no. 25t Flat Truck & Trailer. I'm very happy with it, because this colour isn't as common as for instance the grey and green ones in my opinion. Kind regards, Jan 

Hello Richard, those are very nice additions! The Coles Crane is a remarkable hybrid, showing both old and new features. The mixed wheels are a surprise. I will post my later (last) version in the appropriate 972 thread. You may post yours there too, for comparison of these changing characteristics. Kind regards, Jan 

By the way, the rivets of all 25g Trailers are painted, as far as I know.

Kia Ora from Aotearoa,

Just arrived is the yellow/black version of #435 Bedford TK Tipper.   The box has a sticker on one end advertising the Meccano Magazine which looks original.

Ron F

Just recently received this very nice "Job's Dairy" version of the 30v/491 Electric Dairy Van, made for promotional purposes in 1960. According to prior posts, only 1167 examples were made by Meccano, before die problems forced them to stop production short of the 3,000 ordered. Since this was a late issue, all came with treaded tires and the non-illustrated box.
Terry

Ron, I am not that familiar with the Bedford TK model you show, so it strikes me that the end flap of the box shows a publicity text and not a habitual reference number and/or model name.

Terry, this Job's Dairy version of the milk float must be a long awaited addition to your collection. Your box also shows the correct yellow colour sticker, which mine is lacking and which I made some remarks about in the 491 thread. Kind regards, Jan 

Another new arrival for me was the #110 Aston Martin racing car, in competition livery.  I had previously acquired the grey colored one, but have always preferred the green with red interior version.  Also a photo of my current modest collection, with both competition models along with one of the touring versions, purchased about 56 years ago, but fortunately like new still.

                  Best regards,  Terry

Greetings all

As mentioned elsewhere in this Topic, I was successful with quite a few lots from the John Kinchen Collection conducted by Piers Motley Auctions in Exmouth, United Kingdom.  Some I am absolutely delighted with, others having some doubt as to their authenticity and at least two that I am very disappointed with the obvious changes that have taken place, either by John or someone else.

I will begin with Lot 1136, a collection of letters, memos, and advertising material.  In a word - WOW! It provides one with a very detailed story of John and his collection and how he obtained many spares direct from Meccano.  The correspondence starts in 1957 with the Dinky Toys Club and ends in 1980 with a letter from Airfix concerning his subscription to the Meccano Magazine, with John's cheque that was being returned, still attached to the letter.  There are many letters from Chris Jelley who was the Meccano Information Officer and in the later years of the Meccano Magazine who wrote the monthly column on Dinky Toys.

Kind regards

Bruce   (150)

20160807/960/0110

Kia Ora everyone,

I have just received the Canadian version of the Plymouth Plaza Taxi (266, although it was described as 265).  The box did not fare well in the passage even though it was a bit tatty to start with.   According to Ramsay's 15th, 265 is 'valued' at £150-175 and 266 £100-125 which would suggest the Canadian version is more common, but my observation is that 266 is much rarer.  The production dates are given as 1960-64 for the 265 and 1960-66 for 266.   This is the first 266 box I've seen but I have several for 265.

Nice collection of Ephemera Bruce.

Ron F

Just received a new Dinky Toy in the mail today......the early, first version of the French Dinky 24N Citroen 11BL.  These are not seen very often for sale, especially here in the US, so when the opportunity arose on this one, I made my move.  I will just post a couple of photos here, and followup with more photos and information about the history of this classic French car a little later.

                   Best regards,  Terry

Greetings all

Further to my previous Posts concerning my winnings at the recent Piers Motley Auction in Exmouth, UK, well, at long last I have this little fellow in gloved hand, the uncommon 34a Royal Air Mail Service Car!  So here it is in all its glory - and at a fabulously inexpensive cost - ₤45 plus premium and all the extras!

She is a real beauty - even down to its fatigue which is not all that bad I suppose.

More to come on some of the others that arrived at the same time.

Cheers

Bruce   (150)

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Wow, that's a really nice one, Bruce, and so affordable! You can't find them much better. I'd love to have one. And opening bonnet ... 

Congratulations!  Kind regards, Jan 

Thanks Jan for your always appreciated words.  Yes, it must have been one of the first models to incorporate opening things although I will be leaving the bonnet in the closed position!!

On the matter of the John Kinchen ephemera Post 556 above, herewith are copies of two letters from this collection when John endeavoured to buy a French Dinky Toys 596 LMV Road-Sweeper/Washer in December 1963. John was referred to the French factory and his suggestion that such a model be included in the English Meccano inventory would be passed to the Production Department for consideration where it will be given every consideration but no guarantee can be given that his idea will be adopted.

As we all know, John's suggestion never came to fruition.

Kind regards

Bruce   (150)

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This afternoon a no. 702 D.H. Comet Airliner G-ALYV landed on my desk, as a companion to the later no. 999 G-ALYX. An aviation history tragedy in a nutshell ... Kind regards, Jan 

Just arrived yesterday, a Dinky model that I somehow skipped buying in my younger days......the 965 Euclid Rear Dump Truck.  And what makes this one special is that I acquired it from fellow member Bruce Hoy, who graciously  agreed to part with one of his prize Dinky's.  It is a lovely model, in excellent condition, along with a very good box, and appears to be from the first year of production....1955.

               Best regards,  Terry

It's a beauty, Terry! So desirable that such a model is not (too) chipped, because any deficiency in that respect is so very obvious on a bright yellow model like this, with so many protruding parts.

A nice intra-DTCA members transaction too. Remarkable that the BUY, SELL, TRADE section of the forum has not been used by anyone yet ...

Kind regards, Jan 

Jan....thanks for the nice comment; I am not sure now why I never bothered to add this very nice model years ago, but have now corrected that oversight. I also enjoyed reading all the history that many of our members have contributed on this truck.
And, by the way, your comment on the buy, sell, and trade function prompted me to list a buying want.......never hurts to list it!
Best regards, Terry

Richard

A very nice Beemer Richard!  I have not seen the red version that often, but according to Ramsay, it is worth less than the lime-green which would indicate that more are available than the lime-green but this may not necessarily be the case as the lime-green seems to be more prevalent but has a higher value.  But it is nice when one has an example of both colour schemes.  Well Done!

Anyway, here is another of my new arrivals from Exmouth, Devon, UK, again from the John Kinchen Collection, a 193 Rambler Cross Country Station Wagon in all-over sage green.

.

Looking a little tatty and obviously much played with, but it is quite an uncommon South African version, having the off-white interior. This version comes up occasionally with the usual UK version in yellow with white roof but this is the first time I have seen a similar one with an off-white interior from South Africa.

The tyres are not original so this is yet another Dinky Toy that John has replaced the original tyres or perhaps it came into his care without tyres.

Happy collecting to you all!!

Bruce   (150)

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Trundling into the collection this week is a green 889 Autobus Parisien.  There is a red version 889U Autobus Urbain, presumably suitable for towns other than Paris and supplied in the same dual purpose lidded picture box (the box end blurb may be different).

Pulling back the front wheels closes the plastic doors and pressing down the back wheels opens them.  Sort of.  The door hinges are ultra fragile and the doors on this example are somewhat perished.   Originally there was a sticker sheet of advertising panels which a previous owner has applied.

Al----Very nice! I had never seen this before......having those doors still intact has to be pretty special.
Best regards, Terry