Dinky Toy

I was reading a Meccano Magazine, that I got from Krautrock. The date is June 1961. Wow! Time sure does fly!

I noticed a couple of the toys that were advertised back then. One such toy was the Dinky toy, a die-cast miniature vehicle produced by Meccano Ltd. They were also the makers of the Hornby railway sets, that were named after Frank Hornby.

 Frank Hornby started Meccano Ltd in 1901 to make toy erector sets. Village houses, churches, bridges and a mill with villagers were just some of the early pieces.

Before 1934, Meccano made many types of tin and metal cars, mostly in kit form and in 1933, they made a series of track and railway trackside pieces to complement their O scale (1/45) Hornby Railway model sets. First they were called “Modelled Miniatures” but in April 1934, the Meccano Magazine began calling them Dinky Toys for the first time.

By December 1935, there were around 200 different products, including doll furniture. Vehicles came in packs of 6 and were not available in individual boxes until 1952. Over the years, Meccano Ltd created airplanes, ships, cars, trucks, railway sets and much more.

In 1947, Meccano Ltd introduced a series of model lorries, also 1:48, and called the range Dinky Supertoys. Two of the models produced in this line were the 503 Foden Flat Truck with Tailboard (1947) and the 505 Foden Flat Truck With Chains (1952). Of course, they produced many others, but I wanted to point these two out for a reason, as you will later see.

Meccano Ltd continued making die cast toys, coming up against the Mattel Hot Wheels which entered the UK model car market in 1967. Since the Mattel Hot Wheels had low friction axles, the Dinky Toys came up with other innovative designs such as the Speedwheels, and was the first British company to have all four doors opening and the retractable radio aerials. Each innovation, however, was more expensive to produce and price could only be kept down if they produced sufficiently high quantities. In the face of Mattel’s creations, Dinky Toys was facing an uphill battle.

In November 1979, the original Binns Road factory in Liverpool finally closed its doors. The Dinky tradename changed hands many times before finally ending up part of Matchbox International Ltd in the late 1980’s.

Today, I decided to look for some Dinky Toy’s and lo and behold, I found some!! Just check these out!!

 

Dinky 905 Foden Truck with Chains 2^nd Grille Dinky Supertoy 505/905 Dinky Truck

Dinky Supertoy Foden Flat Truck with Tailboard 1st Grille, 503 Dinky Foden Truck

Dinky 419 Leyland Cement Wagon, Dinky Supertoy 419

Now, all three of these are available from DebsVarietyShop! I was amazed at the great condition they are in. So if you are a collector, you might want to check these out!!

And if you are interested in the Meccano Magazine, various issues, just check out Krautrock’s store!!

As always, check out OLA.com for the best buys, best sellers, and best times!!

And check out our store, KornKountryTreasures!!

Thank you!

REMEMBER YOUR CHILDHOOD

Remember your childhood. ...

Meccano Magazine was an English monthly hobby magazine published by Meccano Ltd between 1916 and 1963, and by other publishers between 1963 and 1981. The magazine was initially created for Meccano builders, but it soon became a general hobby magazine aimed at "boys of all ages". It remained in circulation for over sixty years.

CLICK HERE TO BUY A HUGE AMOUNT OF MAGS IN .PDF FORMAT.

The magazine was launched by Frank Hornby, the inventor of Meccano, as a bi-monthly publication in 1916 in the United States as "Meccano Engineer", and was a month ahead of the UK issue. The first copies were given away free but in 1918 readers had to pay two pence for postage for four issues. In 1917 and again in 1932, Hornby published a history of Meccano, its manufacture and marketing in the magazine. In 1919 it doubled its size to eight pages and now cost one penny. New Meccano parts were advertised for the first time in 1920 and in 1922 the magazine became a monthly publication. From the May 1924 issue, the magazine had full-colour covers, and the December 1924 issue was 96 pages, costing six pence. By the 1930s Meccano Magazine had a circulation of 70,000.During the Second World War the content and quality of the magazine was reduced greatly, and the size decreased from approximately A4 to A5. The A5 pocket-size format remained until 1961 when it was increased again to A4.In 1963 the magazine started reporting a loss and Meccano Ltd handed its publishing over to its printers, Thomas Skinner. In August 1967 Thomas Skinner terminated production of the magazine and passed the magazine on to Model & Allied Publications (MAP) of Hemel Hempstead in 1968. At the end of 1972 publication stopped due to a decline in popularity.In April 1973 it was resurrected again, this time as a quarterly magazine, and from 1977 it incorporated Meccano Engineer and the Meccanoman's Journal. Meccano Magazine's last issue was Spring 1981.

Meccano Magazine was originally aimed at Meccano builders and featured articles on Meccano construction and new Meccano developments. When Frank Hornby launched the Meccano Guild in 1919, the magazine carried regular Guild news to keep Meccano clubs informed of each others activities. But over time Meccano Magazine became a general hobby magazine aimed at "boys of all ages". Aside from Meccano related articles, it also featured Hornby trains, Dinky Toys and other products of Meccano Ltd, plus a wide variety of general interest articles, including, engineering, aircraft, trains, modelling, camping, photography and philately. Commonwealth countries always featured strongly in articles as Meccano Ltd exported its products to these countries.The magazines today are an excellent source of historic information and an invaluable aid to collectors of toys from those years. They have also become collector's items and there is a healthy trade in them at auctions.