A Matchbox example of the same year 1962, the Jaguar 3.4 Mk 2 on the 1/72 scale!

Jan -- that's a good example. I was thinking of, among others, a somewhat later model that I owned, the Ford Cortina Mark II. Its doors would open well and then close with a satisying snap that I remember to this day.

In order to hold up Binns Road's honour I am trying to think of a British Dinky with an opening feature that is as slickly implemented, but none comes to mind at the moment ...

The post brought another today ...

Today ...

Is this French lady in her Peugeot 404 cabriolet the same lady as the English driver?

No Jan it is her sister, she belongs to the same large family, other sisters have been fitted to the Daf ref. 508, The Renault 8S ref. 1414 and the Fun A'hoy set ref. 125. . The way she wears her headscarf shows that she is muslim, the first and only one in the Dinky Toys range. There was already a black man riding the rare triporteur ref. 14a. The Honda S 800 ref. 1408 could have been provided with a japanese driver so that all the colour variations are in the Dinky Range.

Inspired by 1435 DS Presidentielle and owning a real DS (as was obligatory for serious architects, and being allowed to drive a colleague’s Chapron bodied car), I have collected several examples. Only the PP Copy model for Dinky Club France features De Gaulle, in his kepi. Other makers have covered the cars and presidents, my last Holland (sans crash helmet!). Macron has now appeared in an SUV, but so short his head barely sticks out.

Unfortunately I do not have the Peugeot 404 cabriolet, so I cannot compare the ladies. But I can say that when the Spitfire was new, it was not only Muslins who wore headscarves ...

Although I have the grey civilian no. 105 Triumph TR2 Sports in my collection already, and I do not seek to have them all, I could not let this affordable lemon beauty escape when it came along. It is a slightly later (but not the final) issue, with the nobbly tyres, shiny base plate and the brighter yellow box, with correct colour spot. A very fine addition to my Triumph family, as demonstrated in the freshly taken pictures below. Kind regards, Jan  

A beautiful Triumph, Jan!

Here is a new arrival for me ...

The sun came out today, so ...

Today ...

Hi Jonathan, always nice to have a Fire Engine addition! I guess it will benefit a great deal from having the remarkable tyres replaced by correct ones. Looking at the darker grey hose reel box and its undistorted condition it appears to be an early 555, which would justify the black or grey round tread 20 mm tyres, the left and centre examples shown. The block treaded black ones are suitable for much later issues.

I found a correct final issue 674 Austin Champ, next to my earlier find without driver. And now I can better explain how and why the difference, in my opinion. To be published in due time in the correct thread. By the way, both excellent examples - though unboxed - have a continental provenance. The previous one came from Paris, France, and this new acquisition came from Mainz, Germany, 28 and 26 euro bargains respectively. Kind regards, Jan 

Jan -- thank you for your expert Fire Engine comments! I guess I am the polar opposite of you, since I know you have an unrivaled collection of this model, whereas for me I always neglected it for some unfathomable reason. I'm glad to have the tip about the proper tyres!

New yesterday ...

The prototype box for the Ferrari, purchased separately earlier, is a bit of a mystery.

Johnny,

The text "LIFT-UP ENGINE HOOD" means that this card was probably planed for exports but as these cards are not printed with the either the marque DINKY or DINKY TOYS they must be fakes. There is no evidence that this and other similar cards have been made by or for Meccano Ltd. incidentaly it is useless. Try to put it around the base of a cristal box.

There are similar cards for the E type Jaguar, Jensen FF and the De Tomaso Mangusta and perhaps other ones. Why are there three cards for English DINKY and only one for a French DINKY which was never packed in a cristal box and was not fited with folding seats backs ?

BUYERS BEWARE

Anyway, very nice Ferrari and pumps

Jacques

The card is  labeled  with the marque, stating "Start a Dinky Toys collection" at lower right. But yes, the card is probably spurious, given that the detailed base of the Ferrari would have to have been retooled to incorporate fixing points for the crystal box. And if they were planning to sell the model in the UK, why still with the French sales number?

If a fake, it is well done, however, on the right kind of period paper ...

I collected these six from the Post Office today.

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