Greetings to all Forum readers from Australia,

as an existing DTCA member, and a regular reader of Forum posts, it seems appropriate to start making contributions rather than just sitting anonymously 'on the sideline', so here goes.

Firstly, some information about me - my name is Adrian Nash, and I was born in 1947 and grew up in Twickenham (now Greater London), England. I was not showered with Dinky Toys as a boy, but by age sixteen had accumulated about twenty or so models, all boxed, which were packed away as my interests moved into more adult directions - pop music, girlfriends, my first car etc.

I was married in 1970, and in 1972 my wife and I, looking for a new challenge, applied for emigration to Australia. We were accepted and received our sailing orders in July, arriving in Sydney in August. We settled down, got jobs and somewhere to live, and started a family shortly after.

Some time in 1983 I was clearing out some unwanted household items when I opened an old suitcase to find - two old shoe boxes - which were opened to reveal my old Dinky Toys! How they managed to come with us to Australia I have no idea, but after an hour of nostalgic inspection of the toys, 'we' decided that they should be sold, so I located a toy dealer in Sydney who made me such a low offer that I decided I didn't want to part with my childhood so cheaply, but would rather keep them. The dealer let me inspect his stockroom, and when I arrived home, my wife was a bit annoyed that instead of selling my old toys, I had actually bought another one! And so the collecting bug had bitten.

Since then, my collection has increased to include not only Dinky Toys, but also Corgi, Tri-ang Spot-on and Minic tinplate, Tri-ang TT trains, Britains civilian issues (zoo, circus and farm etc.) and Hornby 'O' gauge (mainly pre-war) and anything else of similar appeal.

With Dinky toys, my original ambition was to obtain all of the boxed models from renumbering in 1954 to around 1965, in each colour variation, boxed, and in as good condition as I could afford without 'breaking the bank'. Having achieved that, and as one learns more about the products of Binns Road, I found myself becoming interested in model variations over the course of their production, which in the case of long-lived models can be quite numerous, as we all know! So these days, as well as variations of most of the models from the early 1950's to 1965, I have found new interest in collecting all the models which were issued in the non-pictorial red & yellow panel boxes from 1960-1, most of which had 'spun' hubs and also 'Mirror-Gloss' (my own terminology) bases; pre-war and early post-war models; yellow Trade boxes; and subsequently the plain card post-1954 Trade Packs. I find that Dinky Toys are more intriguing than other makes because of the constant changes made during the life of many models, which doesn't seem to happen with the other makes.

I try to keep most of my models on display, so currently have 12 display cabinets which are perhaps a little more crowded than I would like - but my wife has mentioned that the house is looking more like a museum every day, so I have to tread gingerly on the subject of adding another cabinet (or two).

Apart from toys, I also enjoy restoring older cars, and at present in my shed are: a 1955 Ford Zephyr Mk1 (thus my DTCA identity); a 1962 Ford Zephyr Mk2 convertible; a 1968 Ford Cortina Mk2 GT (all three fully restored and road registered) and recently, with restoration nearly completed, a 1980 Chrysler Australia Lancer Hatchback LC (made by Mitsubishi, sold in England as the Colt Celeste, in Europe and Japan as the Mitsubishi Celeste, and in the USA as the Plymouth Arrow).

Well, that is enough to start with - although my photographic skills are not to the same high standard as Jan, Jacques, Dave and some of the regular contributors, I will have a go and hopefully improve as time goes by. I hope my contributions will be of interest - over the years I have acquired quite a few unusual Dinky items which seem to pose more questions than I can find the answers to, so maybe other members can provide more information in due course.

Regards to all,
Adrian Nash (141)