Is this one original or a repaint ?

My gut feeling, without handling it, is that it is a repaint

Dave

Looks very much like a repaint. What I do, when in doubt, is to smell the paint. The old Dinky Toys paint has a distinctive smell (for my nose that is!) Repaints do not have this smell. The shine of the paint can help as well. Just hold a 100% original and a doubtfull model next to each other and compair the shine. It helps if the colours are thesame. On your picture the paint looks a bit dull.
Kind regards,
Rob

Rob

I am very pleased that we have another "Nose" in our group, as I always consider that Dinky Toys and their Super brothers have a very distinctive smell that is unique to them! I have known this ever since Christmases past have brought forth a Dinky or two. So, apart from checking screws, rivets, and the whole bells and whistles, just use your nostrils!
Thanks Rob!

Bruce

Rob, good of you to smell the difference! That is exactly what I miss nowadays, even with the mintiest/boxed over half-a-century old models: that overwhelming merry and promising smell of card board, rubber, metal and fresh paint of a new Dinky present!
Perhaps my smelling is not optimal, but my smell-memory is!
Kind regards, Jan

Bruce and Jan,
I think some of us are lucky to be able to smell the difference!! ?
Kind regards,
Rob

Hi all,

When I made some piotures today, I had to include one rare Foden. It is a 501 first type wagon in red with a pale grey body. A more common red wagon with a fawn body and a grey wagon with a black chassis are pictured alongside for comparison. I hope it is visible on the picture that the pale grey body is much lighter than the other two bodies. I bought the red/pale grey Foden direct from the first owner in his carpenter workshop many years ago. He thought he got it as a Christmas gift in 1948 or 1949. At the time when I bought it, I think it was my eight Foden and I realised its rarity much, much later. I have seen only one more red/pale grey wagon at the Sandown toy fair some years ago.

Kind regards,
Rob

Great Foden set, Rob, we'll eagerly await the rest of the breathtaking parade!
Kind regards, Jan

Hi all,

Decided to put these two 502 Flat Trucks in this thread in stead of the wheel variations thread. These two Fodens both are a difficult find, but the red hub version is very rare. In fact I have only seen this one, that I bought from a well known Dinky Toys specialist dealer at Sandown Toyfair.

Kind regards,
Rob

Hi Rob,
Wonderful! Just goes to show that no matter how many years you collect and make lists of these another one you never saw before always turns up. I wonder how many variations there were that have now simply disappeared as only a very few made and they all ended up in the dustbin?
Chris Warr.

I agree Chris

Rob keeps coming up with wonderful surprises

Dave

Compared with Rob's these Fodens seem so very ordinary and unsurprising, but I just love these photographs:

Kind regards, Jan

Have a look on these US catalogue pages, dated 1955 and 1957 respectively ...

... and see the chronological dissonances! Some Fodens still have their 1948 appearances, even with the herringbone treaded tyres.
Were these pictures used lacking up-to-date print examples or ... could our American friends confirm that these were still officially available in the States, and not the contemporary 2nd type versions (I remember Terry buying early post-war models as new at the end of the 1950s).

Kind regards, Jan

HD must have imported large quantities of Dinky and had stocks left over when the second type cabs were issued.

These american catalogues are interesting because they show what was and not what should have been.

Jacques.

Hello Jan,
Wonderfull pictures! Shows I can learn a lot from you in making superb pictures as we discussed in Houten! And thanks also for showing the US catalogues. Proves once more that sales from stock can be some years later than the actual production stop of a model.

Kind regards,
Rob

Jan and Terry

I must confess to being very much a Foden fan, although the wallet has precluded many purchases. However, I would like to share with you my Fodens, although I certainly cannot emulate the photography of Terry!

The first is my 501 1st Series wagon in the early colour scheme in dark blue.

Kind regards

Bruce
(150)

The Fodens shown here have been nothing short of fantastic.

It would make an incredible display if we could get them all together on one table, I think a good visit would be for all of us to go to Oz and see Bruce.

Dave

Dave

You all would be welcome - except all these beautiful specimens are in California! (My dark blue wagon which is stuck in-between the Fodens submitted by Terry has been the only submission of mine to this thread - I think!!) So far!

My collection of 1st and 2nd series Fodens has been considerably culled over the years to just a dozen, although I have had a total of 82 pass through my hands since 1993 - and only one that has been with me since 30 March 1956!

Kind regards

Bruce

Some of my favourite 1st type colours:

The satin brick red 501 has been my favourite since August 21 1983 when I bought this one on the Amsterdam AMC Fair, from John Teychenne of London.

And I love this deeper green 502, an acquisition of June 4 2011, bought on the NAMAC Fair, Houten, from Les Duplock, of Epsom, Surrey.

Both of them are not rare at all, still they are my absolute favourite 1st type Foden colours, and both with the nice early fishbone tread tyres!
Kind regards, Jan

The more reserved, deep and realistic the colours, the more I like them, especially if they have this original satin finished patina.
Another frontal view of this couple, now accompanied by the two tone blue equally herringbone tread tyred 504:

Kind regards, Jan

My second contribution to this thread is a 1st Series in its very common and final colour scheme. Nonetheless, it is very much an appreciated model, especially its bargain price, thanks to an extraordinary incompetent cataloguer in a well-known "world's leading auction house for collectable toys" in the north of England! Of course the seller would not be echoing the same sentiment as me, and may have been a little chuffed on reading the description of it being a repaint!
But I can assure the last owner that the model and its box has come to a home that it is highly valued, and one of the few models that I actually have on display. (Oh, the dark blue wagon the subject of my last post is next to it!)
Kind regards
Bruce

Rob, I just bought the December issue of Model Collector this afternoon and read a nice Foden article: 'Part 1 Dinky Toys 1st series Fodens, Clive Unsworth provides a check-list and pictorial guide to these highly sought after classics ...'.
I presume this takes the wind out of your sails, although of course you might consider to present an article here (but a little unhandy on a webpage, in my opinion).
This is a pity, because 'only' 19 1st types are presented there, whereas I see - if I'm not mistaken - 25 examples in your display. And I think the subject deserves a more elaborate text (although I understand it's meant to be 'a check-list and pictorial guide').
Perhaps an idea for the DTCA Journal?
The second types are scheduled to be published in the next issue of MC.
Kind regards, Jan

I agree totally with Jan here Rob

You have significantly more examples to show and certainly a lot more rare ones to show.

An article for the Journal would be more than welcome, furthermore, as Jan says the article in MC is very light on text.

The majority of the Journal readership will never have seen some of the jems you have.

Dave

Yes please Rob, I still use the old list in Classic Toys from 20 odd years ago, and could do with an update, even though I'll probably never own most of them, I still like to at least have a list of what to look for. :)
Chris Warr.

Hello Jan and Dave (and others),

I would be delighted to write an article on my Fodens for the DTCA Journal. It could be a series of articles. For example, there are ten different variations of the 501 first type Foden (in my collection). These 501's could fill an article easily. Help with making the quality of pictures these articles deserve would be much welcomed and could be realised together with Jan, as we discussed in Houten.
Details to be discussed next time in Houten, Jan?

Kind regards,
Rob