US catalogue 1951:

US catalogue 1952 (only):

Regards, Jan

Here is my Dinky of the day...the #25k Streamline Fire Engine with Firemen. This was only made pre-war, from about 1937 through 1940 I believe. It came with painted, tinplate firemen, mounted on tabs through the base, then bent over. I was always fascinated by this little truck and was finally able to find a very nice one several years ago. I think Dinky's use of these little figures inside closed vehicles was a wonderful idea, even though some think they look a little strange! These sometimes come up for sale, but most are quite fatigued. I was very lucky...this one is free of fatigue, except for the wheels, which have a small amount.
Terry

this shows the baseplate, with the tabs bent over to hold the firemen in place

and finally, this shows my little collection of Streamline Fire Engines, with the early post war, later post war, and the final numbered 250 version

Hi Terry,
Lovely! You are very lucky to get that one in such lovely condition, mine is far gone. The figures were great weren't they? Really added to the model.
Chris Warr.

Jan
Thanks for showing both the 1951 & 1952 catalogs.....that seems to show that they made those 39 series two-tones only in 1952, which accounts for how rare they are.
Terry

Gentlemen

Changing the topic to Volvos! Proudly displayed here as my "Dinky of the Day", actually "Four Dinky of the Day" is my gaggle of Dinky Toys 184 Volvo 122S, dark red, red, white and the South African Lavender Grey together with two boxes, both showing a colour rendition of the Volvo, except with a creamish roof that the model never wore. I wonder why the artwork was depicted as such? Were there any examples painted in this scheme? I have never seen any but that may not necessarily be so, as with so many other models, someone always manages to dig out a colour scheme previously unknown. I can think of one collector who might just have a two-tone Volvo!

Cheers

Bruce

Hi Bruce,

Lovely line up! Very nice to see the South African Lavender grey! So different and soooo rare!

Kind regards,
Rob

Eighty years ago today, September 26th 1934, the Queen Mary was launched. Enough for the Dinky Toys Queen Mary to deserve a REAL

Jan
A very nice piece on the Queen Mary......I can only imagine what your original, longer article must be like. I have never started collecting any of the Dinky ships.....seem to have my hands full with just vehicles, but they are always interesting to see......thanks for showing us!
Terry

Thank you Jan for sharing this with us, and also remembering the importance of 26 September 1934.
It is interesting to see that Meccano released its model as "534" prior to the naming and launching of the ship as "Queen Mary". Like Terry, I do not have much interest in Dinky Toys ships, but I can understand and appreciate collectors like Jan who is an ardent ship model enthusiast! So there is hope for collectors like Terry and me!! :laugh:
Thanks again Jan for all the details and hopefully you can create a new thread so we can easily retrieve what he has posted without having to go to another link within this website.

Finally, my wife and I visited "Queen Mary" where she is permanently docked at Long Beach, California, on 23 August 1981.

Hello Jan,

Thank you very much for sharing this wonderfull topic with us. The great pictures of the Dinky Toys models, the advertising and the box art work, all memories of an era long gone. Just imagine crossing the ocean and arriving in New York, passing the Statue of Liberty on board of such a glorious ship enjoying the luxury and atmosphere

Hello friends,

Just a small addition to the excellent article of Jan.
The Queen Mary was also available in France. The model can be found in many french pre war Meccano catalogues. First as 52A in small catalogue 1935-1936 at 6,- francs. In catalogue 1936-1937 the price was 6,50 francs. Catalogue 1939 showed the ship at already 8,- francs.
The pricelist of 1940 list the 52A but is "suspended".

At some time Meccano France had the Queen Mary in a special box. The plinth was printed in french language. My box has no label on the lid and just a label at the side with text: Meccano Dinky Toys No 52 A, "Queen Mary".
John.

Is that you, Jacques, at the back?
Kind regards, Jan

Too busy yesterday with Sint Nicolaas presents for my children and grandchildren, I had no opportunity to post the Dinky couple below, my Dinkies of (the)(yester)day. This is the illustrious couple that represents the start of my vintage Dinky Toys collecting, on December 6 1979, marking my 35th Dinky collecting anniversary now. They were on display in the (then) famous Amsterdam toy shop Merkelbach (non-existent anymore), making part of a small but extremely fine collection of Dinky Toys, Tootsie Toys and the like.
I had spotted them for several days already and had been wandering around them like a little child. A month before I had bought the little booklet by Noboru Nakajima 'Model Cars of the World', which, looking backwards, betrayed my renaissance of interest in Dinky Toys already. After much deliberating I decided to strike and bought 6 of them, in several stages until February 1980. The rest is history ...
But this Studebaker Land Cruiser and the Estate Car were the real firsts on 6 December and they still form the favourite core of my collection.
The card catalogue photo shows my initial way of cataloguing the collection, from 1979 until 1988, the arrival of the PC. Of course I have always carefully kept the historic coupon of Merkelbach!

Kind regards, Jan

Hello Jan,

Congratulations with 35 years of Dinky Toys collecting! I hope many happy collecting years will follow. Fantastic to see how you kept records from Day One!And two very nice models to start with. Both with the scarcer cream hubs.
On the sales ticket of Merkelbach the prices are very low compared to todays standards, but not for 1979 I assume.
Truly Dinky's of the Day.

Kind regards,
Rob

Hi Jan,
I too had the Noboru Nakajima book, but sadly I no longer have mine, any chance of a picture of yours for old times sake?
Chris Warr.

Rob, those models were expensive for those days, but not extremely, just what you can expect from a quality toy shop selling some spotless vintage models. I didn't know of other collectors, collections or swap meets then, so I had no idea of reasonable prices. Advantage of such pristine models is that you never regret having bought them, they are so lovely.
Chris, here is one double page of Nakajima, for the sensation/sentiment:

Jacques, I cannot match you with a Pearl Harbor model, or it should be a Revell scale model of USS Arizona, but this is a Dinky place.
Kind regards, Jan

Thanks Jan!
I found one on Ebay so I've bought it, only

Jacques--
Lovely image from that film, and it shows the car well; it had nice lines. I finally saw one in person a couple of years ago at a concourse in San Diego, and it was a handsome car.
Regards,
Terry

Good grief Jacques - what has happened? Did you have too much Christmas cheer to bring a Solido into this auspicious site??? You should be made to stand in the corner! :angry: :angry:

dinkycollect wrote:
"You were too quick with your post, I was currently building mine."

Apologies - Perhaps there should be a thread DINKY COLLECTOR OF THE DAY as the above post is unusual, or have I had too much cheer? :woohoo:

Bruce