As an 8 year old in Canada in the early 50's, I was obsessed with Dinky toys. Only had a few, due to the economics of the day, but I certainly frequented the local toy store to look at them.
I'm 73, and I have the Dinky Toys I purchased in the late 50's and early 60's. All are in perfect condition, I still collect these and other diecast cars and trucks! It's a fun hobby! Thanks for posting this.😆😆😆😆😆
When I was a boy (50s & 60s), there was a local store who had all 75 current Dinkys in their window display. And at 40 cents each, I had to save up to get one. But I had a nice collection and played with them often. With a friend, we bought Triang/Hornby HO gauge trains from the local hobby shop. What memories!
Great info nicely delivered. Dinky in the 1970s had the most desirable collection of any vehicle maker. I would stare dreamily at their catalogues for hours at a time. I was lucky enough to own some of them, but I wanted ALL of them. A part of me still does.
Dinky models I have collected them since I was 5 yrs old I am now in my 60s and still collect them ,and have a lot of memories from these yrs ,thank you Meccano ltd / Dinky.
Hi Mr. Garrett! My name is Guaracy and I write for you from Brazil. Like you, I'm a Dinky Toys collector since early sixties. Now I'm 62 and I have a huge collection, including other brands and scales, with difficulty to dispose them in shelves enough, due lack of space in my apartment...
Very interesting history and video. For what it’s worth I worked at Meccano/Dinky for a short time around 1973 in the Jig & Tool design office at Binns Road Liverpool. Fascinating place to work but even then the writing was on the wall as to its long term future so not a company to linger too long at, such a shame.
My first Dinky was around1956, a fork lift. It was orange with a green fork I believe and had a little crank on the side to lift the fork up. It had rubber wheels you could take off. I think it came in a box. Each week my mother would take me to a small toy store and let me pick a new toy. I had trucks and little trailers, a dump truck, cab over with a flat bed and many others. One time I got a crane that had a crank on the side that had a string up and over with a hooked a crank to lift the crane. I also have a cab over truck in a light blue. Had close to 30 or so toys for years. Then sadly sold all for very little except the cab over and a earth haller dump truck. Had many happy hours playing with them and fond memories. Always wondered what happened to the Dinky company. They're hard to find now and sellers want a lot of money for them.
I have a large collection of Matchbox toys, Started collecting them in 1958.as child. I also have some Dinky and Corgi toys. They've all been played with. That's what young children do with their toys. They were a joy in my childhood. I just turned 71 years old. Thank You for presenting this history of my most favourite toys. I lived in Arlington, Va.
It's sad that these no longer exist. I've got lots of these including some of the really large ones of the Ford Mk1 Capri which is incredibly detailed.
I also started buying Dinky Toys in the early 50s. I am not 75. I have all my Dinkys. My neighbor friends also had Dinky; when they grew too old to play with them; I purchased their collections. I would also purchase Dinkys at swap meets in the early 90s before anyone knew what they were!!!!! My son will inherit all these great toys! Thank you for making this video.
I’m 61 and I don’t remember ever seeing these models in the USA. Now Corgi toy models yes. We had them. But Dinky, I’d heard of them, but never had any, and I didn’t know anyone who did. Very interesting and informative video, thanks.
Hi Jmad627, I am 73 and was raised in the Northeast (VT, upstate NY), we had "Dinkys" in larger hobby specialized stores that sold Meccano construction sets (as opposed to Gilbert-Erector). IIRC, these were imported from Canadian distributors (Montreal or Toronto I believe), I used them a lot in my youth as props for my railroad layout. I remember Matchbox toys being $0.39 circa early sixties. Those were the days, Ciao, L
My memories of Dinky Toys I had were the Lotus Europa 218 , the Ford Zodiac 164 and the VW Beetle 129. I had Corgi toys mainly and Matchbox. My toys all wound up crushed in my dads vice im sorry to say back in the 70s . Im 64 now and have a collection of mint boxed & played with Corgi/DInky. Discovering the Dinky range a few years ago, what struck me was some of the vehicles issued were extremely obscure in real life. The BBC tv/ABC tv ones for example. Pics of these seem to be rare in themselves so how they sold is amazing along with the Antar range. It must have been about the sheer size and play value(these ones were way before my time but beautiful none the less). I hope my collection winds up for all to see but I doubt it. Thanks for keeping Dinky Toys name alive
From across the pond, before Hot Wheels, I remember the name Dinky Toys. In the mid-1950's at age 7, I thought any small metal toy was a dinky (small) toy. Later I discovered that I probably had Tootsie Toys. Regardless, these small metal toys occupied my little brother and I for many hours during the day, enabling our mother to live to age 87. Thanks. Narragansett Bay
Grew up in France in the '70s and had Dinky Toys stuff: SEPECAT Jaguar, Harrier Jumpjet, Thunderbird 2, FAB-1, UFO Interceptor, SHADO Tank, Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle (I never saw Captain Scarlet on French TV), all 3 Space:1999 Eagles (original green, freight white, freight blue metal), and a Mini Moke with a parachute. Oh, and the weirdly off-model USS Enterprise from Star Trek, which I had never seen so I had no idea what the hell I was looking at. My brother had a Stuka and a Spitfire. One of us had a Sikorsky Sea King. I still have a Space:1999 Eagle Transport (green) and it is my all-time favorite diecast toy!
Still have many orginal Dinky Toys, mosty military but some cars and "men". In my will to my daughter who probably won't know what they were/are. Loved them.
Great video, and very nostalgic for me ! I had lots of Dinkys as a kid in the 50's, as well as a Meccano set, a [plastic] clockwork Tri-Ang Centurion tank, armies of Britains lead soldiers sold in bins at Woolworths, and a spring-loaded howitzer that could fire matchsticks most satisfactorily in the back yard. I still have around 20 of my old favourite Dinky toys, some fairly pristine, most well used in play. Boxes ? What eight year old boy ever kept the boxes ?
Thanks for this. Was so good to see the Gerry Anderson page and see all the Dinkys of this I still have - Thunderbird 2, FAB 1, Eagle transport, Joe 90 car, Captain Scarlet (although Sam Weston’s car eluded me). The Sikorsky Sea King and Harrier, I also have the SEPECAT Jaguar. Oh those days.
Oh to have all the Dinky Toys I owned as a child, but the joy they gave me will never fade. Thanks for sharing this video and for refreshing my memories.
I was and am a CORGI guy. I always thought Dinky cars never had the sophistication of CORGI models. Thanks again for putting this ' little ' doco together.
I preferred Corgis too. My favorites were the 224 Bentley Continental with steerable front coil spring suspension and openable boot with spare, and the 245 Buick Riviera with trans-o-lite head and tail lights. I did have some Dinkys but I can't remember which ones. 64 Impala maybe? Corgis seemed to have more "features"
Neil Aspinall I collect all 3 major brands but I agree that the Corgis were generally more sophisticated, particularly from the early 60s era onwards. Dinky sometimes seemed to ‘drop the ball’ a little during that era.
I had and have a bunch of Dinky and Corgi from the mid to late 50's through the late 60's they were a nice scale size to use with model railroads, which I also had. The Hot Wheels and smaller sized models were assisted by being cheaper and closer to HO size which was the dominant scale for electric model trains. Hot Wheels also was clever in marketing things with track for the cars to ride on by gravity and do stunts. Dinky and Corgi were expensive with Corgi having more detail in design. Ultimately I think labor costs and competition from the far east did things in. Today you can buy quite nice models in the Corgi and Dinky scales effectively for a fraction of what they used to cost. I think it is a sad loss that these kinds of manufacturers are only in the far east. In my experience not all competition was fair with the far east, starting with Japan where they kept the exchange rate low and could sell for less, that coupled with political sell-outs of domestic industries and jobs had a lot to do with it then as now with China and the rest. At least that is what they did in the US, whole industries were basically trade negotiated away along with the jobs and production capacity, it was and is a betrayal of the citizenry. They have gutted much of the US industry and the remainder they hamper with regulations of all kinds, especially in some states. Moral turpitude is the norm in most realms. Quite sad, awful really.
I have collected Dinky Supertoys all my life .I have so many and would not sell one .I am an 80 year old International lorry driver and still collect them in other countries...In my cab I use the AEC 6 wheeler crane to lift my Weetabix up on to my Muesli.!!!Who needs to grow up....My favourite of which I have 6 is The 1955!/6 Mouth Organ Leyland Octopus and Drag and imagine I am Victor Mature with Diana Dors in the film.""""""The Long Haul""..!!!!
My uncle used to buy and sell them as well as collect them. He would have been very interested in this video. He often visited Toy shows over in Canada. He once sold a car for £5,000 which must be about 20 years ago. It amazes me how much some of them go for, if they and more importantly their original box are in great condition.
It was in the mid 60’s when I was about 7 or 8 when I saw the dinky toy display. I thought that was the coolest thing. The way they were packaged and how cool the car’s were inside. Like every one else I wanted all of them! Thanks for sharing your video.👍
Yup, me too. I had both of Dinky's Space 1999 Eagles both in their original packaging. Until recently when they were destroyed in a house fire. Gutted! Had 'em for over 40 years! The Eagle is the best looking spaceship ever.
Great video, thoroughly enjoyable. However, I can't help but notice most of the comments below are posted by our friends from across 'the pond'. As a Brit growing up in the 1960's I had a lot of Dinkies and Corgi toys but sold off all bar one in my early teens. Subsequently, I have rediscovered my love of diecast toy vehicles and have managed to build up a large collection, concentrating mainly on original condition and preferably boxed Dinky toys from the immediate postwar period to the mid/late 1960's; indeed only today I purchased (via ebay) a French Dinky BMW 1500 from a seller in the States. I still have the one original Dinky I kept; an AA (Automobile Association) motorcycle & sidecar purchased in the early 60's, this occupying a special place in the collection. For anyone wanting to know more about the history and model range of these charming miniatures I recommend the 'Great Book of Dinky' by Mike and Sue Richardson.
Hi Roger. I have that book having met Mike & Sue at Sandown.Huge disappointment when compared to the Corgi Toys equivalent book. What lets it down is the poor photos and lack of backstory for each toy introduced. I never look at it as to me its just a glorified list and I love Dinky toys. Check out the Corgi one for comparison
I had dozens of Dinkys in the 1950s and 60s and played with them all the time. I had a fleet of 32 buses and a big fire station of fire engines as well as many military vehicles including Centurion Tanks and the 25 pounder field gun set. Someone will no doubt correct me if some of these were Corgis. Anyway, I lost interest as I grew up and when I regained it, I found that my mother had disposed of virtually the whole lot. But I still have the odd Dublo Dinky model and some Matchbox from the early 60s. Thank you for this fascinating insight.
I still have - somewhere - my Dinky, Corgi, and Matchbox cars from about 60 years ago. As I got older I kept them in good condition rather than staging car crashes and landslides and floods.
Holly Cow!! My grandma gave me some of this that were my uncle's. I clearly remember the shapes and the feeling of the car. I never thought the were so old! I wish I kept them.
Some of the Dinky Dublo cars have been recreated by diecast car manufacturer Oxford diecast to be sold in Hornby's 2020 100 year anniversary range. Two of the vehicles present that were in the original Dinky range are the Roadster (MG TF) and the iconic yellow Hornby Dublo VW van.
It’s a great shame that die cast car models died out. They were beautiful little pieces of engineering, and, for me personally formed a massive part of my childhood, and for that matter adulthood - I’ve re-bought a few of my favourite die cast cars. They were so much more than mere toys - they were little gems of design, manufacturing and ingenuity. The early Dinky models especially, have a certain charm about them that a hot wheels model, with its exaggerated scale, wide wheels and garish paint job, could never match. Thanks for a really interesting film!
Simon Hodgetts....they havent died out....you can still buy metal models - cheap ones or collectors highly detailed ones....i collect volvo only diecast cars and have around 500
@@geoffdundee I think he means that British made high quality die-cast models have died out, which they did post-2003. (excluding some specialist white metal models done in low volume) Most of the "die cast" cars on sale now are more plastic than metal, poor quality & low accuracy... and from sweatshops in China. We've gone from being able to buy quite high quality cars at a medium to high price, to very poor quality at a low price. The big losers of it all... the kids themselves.
Antique collectors dream, not uncommon. I thought of that before. The locals will think I am loco filling box after box of trash at the dump. Also you will have to bring currency made before the time you return to . The owner of the coin collector shop will love you . You could end up in prison as a spy with counterfeit cash.
The D'eAgostini Dinky range was not discontinued after 5 models. I have 65 of the 72 models planned. I have received no models this year owing partly to Brexit & partly to Covid 19!
I still remember those stacks of yellow boxes in my hobby shop when I was a kid in the 50's. They were generally fifty cents over here, although some of the larger and more detailed ones went for a dollar. A dollar was a princely sum in 1958, when I was making around four dollars a week from my paper route. I often had to make the choice between a Coke, large bag of chips, and the latest Superman comic or another Dinky car. I must have had 30 or so Dinky vehicles for my model railroad, most of which got modified or repainted to make them look more "American". I wonder how much they'd be worth today if I had just left them in their boxes and put them away for safekeeping?
i loved my dinky toys in the early 1960s especialy the army vehicles.we used them in the school flower beds to make it more realistic.i now have 10 restored bedford rl trucks no 621 as a reminder of proper toys.which you cant buy today
1975 Europe i remenber the toy market was being shaken by the 1/6 action figure phenomenon,brands like Action Man and the Italian Big Jim series were all the rage,very manly,it deserves a video about
That was really interesting! The old Hornsby railways factory in Margate Kent closed about 20 years ago and moved their manufacturing to China (as far as I know) but I think there is still a visitors centre there.
I had a Dinky rubber-tyred LNER A4 pacific in blue and two carriages in 'teak'. Then, when the coupling hooks easily broke, I had a repainted set in BR green with carmine and cream coaches. I still have the remains of the latter. I have never seen them even on the internet.
Me regalaron un.camioncito verde que esta en este video, dublo dinky toys cuando tenia 5años, hoy tengo 65, y aun esta conmigo! Me alegré mucho de verlo en esta seleccion!!
I still have a tin of toy animals which I got when I was three. In there is Clarence the cross eyed lion from Daktari complete with his glasses. Absolutely everyone I knew had the Gerry Anderson toys.
It brings me back to when you would go into a new friend's house the first the first thing would say is... Show me your dinkys... It was the generic name for all.. Matchbox and corgi were under the term
I had the 50s racing car set. Destroyed by wizzing them across the playground to see who's would go farthest. My best performer at this was a Corgi 1960 Chevy Impala. Ultimately they would be destroyed by gravel rash. Nice upload,ta.
Correction. The DeAgostini range was not discontinued in the UK after 5 issues. I am a subscriber and received parts 47 & 48 this month. There are 70 parts planned.
@@TheShowgirl25 Thanks for amending that. I myself thought it odd that 5 issues were all, as adverts & sponsor bumpers on TV went on far too long for just 5.
I remember the American models (ironically because I gather they didn’t sell there but match box did)like the 57 Plymouth taxi 61 ford etc.I also had the 61 Ford police car (I think it was in RCMP livery)I didn’t realize they were made in the home town of the almighty Beatles.
I only vaguely remember Dinky Dublo, this video shows why. UK TV spin-off vehicles must have done pretty well, as I remember lots of kids having Gerry Anderson themed Dinkys.
I have all three captain scarlet models,Fab 1 from thunderbirds,sam's car from joe 90 and the model t ford from the secret service,all boxed and good condition.The detail on these is very good,especially the spv and fab 1.
Your videos about die-cast cars are very well researched and nicely produced. They bring back valuable memories of my childhood. Thank you very much! I watched all three and I am hungry for more. Could you please also do a video on Siku die-cast cars. I don't know if they sell them in the UK. In Germany they are very popular.
It was great seeing the collection of vehicles… distinctly ‘British’ styling. I remember all these series through the 1960s with great affection. For some reason, my memory of Corgi is of greater design detail, and the suspension. Dinny’s were distinctly clunky alongside. Luckily I was at the tail of my toy life when Hot Wheels arrived. I loved the freewheeling axles, but the bodies and detail were disappointing. America vs Britain !
I had a set of stamped metal cars I kept since I was 6 years old. They were made in Japan and were good quality. I sold the set of 5 for $125. They were marked Mar X with the X filling a circle and the mar passing through the middle of the X. They were trying to pass off as MARX toy products which were made here in the USA and my mother and other neighborhood women worked part time.
Interesting and informative, thank you. I would love to see a longer version (or a series of sequential videos) with perhaps small pauses between paragraphs of commentary to give us time to digest what you have said, and also with time for more anecdotes associated with the history of these addictive models, not to mention more screen time to show the wide variety of these model toys..
I remember growing up in the 80s in Canada the term "dinky cars" was a generic term for any small die cast cars, didn't realize until recently it was an actual company. Does anyone else recall using the term?
As a kid in Australia in sixties the same, don't forget your dinky toys my mum would say, 56 yrs old and I always thought that was just what you called them, same, same with tonkas, can't ever recall seeing a dinky brand toy though
My mum worked at binns road till it closed. I always had lots of cars, vans, buses - never any boxes though... Lol. I wrote jimll fix it to see if i could visot the factory but didnt get a reply..... I hindsight a fortunate thing. So i wrote to the manager and got invited on a tour of the factory in 1976/77 cant remember exactly. Got show tje whole production fron raw materials thrugj to painting and boxing, got to see my mum and auntie working on the production line. I was presented with a silver jubilee atlantean bus - straight off the line and a packet of decals - no box. So i probably have the only on with the stickers on upside down and wonky cos i did them my self.... Still got it.
There's other, little metal diecast, car lines. Like the old company, that predated Matchbox was Budgie, and like Matchbox, made in Lesney England. I'm 61, and still have 2, of them. A 1954, English police car, and a 1965 Lomaz ambulance. And 'Johnny Lightning' racetrack (the red track. Hot wheels was orange) and cars, were a good competitor to Hot Wheels!! Then the ever popular cheap line, 'Tootsie Toys' (made in Chicago). Remember them?? It was endless on the amount of vehicles, Tootsie used to produce🤔!!! Just to mention several, older well-known one's, not including older, unknown brands.
Wow. TIL. I remember everyone calling toy cars "Dinkys" but never knew that this was a brand name (Me and my friends only hotwheels/matchbox/dollar store knockoffs).
Does anyone know why Dinky made the SHADO and Space 1999 toys in colours different to that shown in the tv series? As a child, I can't recall even noticing that they were green and not white etc. Any ideas?
I had one of those Action Packs - a Ford tipper trick - I still have it and I intend to restore it but with a better paint job than the original green enamel.
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As an 8 year old in Canada in the early 50's, I was obsessed with Dinky toys. Only had a few, due to the economics of the day, but I certainly frequented the local toy store to look at them.
Ditto. Then matchbox then hotwheels.
I'm 73, and I have the Dinky Toys I purchased in the late 50's and early 60's. All are in perfect condition, I still collect these and other diecast cars and trucks! It's a fun hobby! Thanks for posting this.😆😆😆😆😆
When I was a boy (50s & 60s), there was a local store who had all 75 current Dinkys in their window display. And at 40 cents each, I had to save up to get one. But I had a nice collection and played with them often. With a friend, we bought Triang/Hornby HO gauge trains from the local hobby shop. What memories!
Great info nicely delivered. Dinky in the 1970s had the most desirable collection of any vehicle maker. I would stare dreamily at their catalogues for hours at a time. I was lucky enough to own some of them, but I wanted ALL of them. A part of me still does.
Corgi were far better quality.
eBay.
Dinky models I have collected them since I was 5 yrs old I am now in my 60s and still collect them ,and have a lot of memories from these yrs ,thank you Meccano ltd / Dinky.
Hi Mr. Garrett! My name is Guaracy and I write for you from Brazil. Like you, I'm a Dinky Toys collector since early sixties. Now I'm 62 and I have a huge collection, including other brands and scales, with difficulty to dispose them in shelves enough, due lack of space in my apartment...
Yes! Hopefully there will be a loved one that we can leave them to when the time comes, who will also cherish them, but who knows?
Very sad that those brands are gone ...
Dinky, Corgi, Matchbox , Spot On
Very interesting history and video. For what it’s worth I worked at Meccano/Dinky for a short time around 1973 in the Jig & Tool design office at Binns Road Liverpool. Fascinating place to work but even then the writing was on the wall as to its long term future so not a company to linger too long at, such a shame.
My first Dinky was around1956, a fork lift. It was orange with a green fork I believe and had a little crank on the side to lift the fork up. It had rubber wheels you could take off. I think it came in a box. Each week my mother would take me to a small toy store and let me pick a new toy. I had trucks and little trailers, a dump truck, cab over with a flat bed and many others. One time I got a crane that had a crank on the side that had a string up and over with a hooked a crank to lift the crane. I also have a cab over truck in a light blue. Had close to 30 or so toys for years. Then sadly sold all for very little except the cab over and a earth haller dump truck. Had many happy hours playing with them and fond memories. Always wondered what happened to the Dinky company. They're hard to find now and sellers want a lot of money for them.
I have a large collection of Matchbox toys, Started collecting them in 1958.as child. I also have some Dinky and Corgi toys. They've all been played with. That's what young children do with their toys. They were a joy in my childhood. I just turned 71 years old. Thank You for presenting this history of my most favourite toys. I lived in Arlington, Va.
It's sad that these no longer exist. I've got lots of these including some of the really large ones of the Ford Mk1 Capri which is incredibly detailed.
I also started buying Dinky Toys in the early 50s. I am not 75. I have all my Dinkys. My neighbor friends also had Dinky; when they grew too old to play with them; I purchased their collections. I would also purchase Dinkys at swap meets in the early 90s before anyone knew what they were!!!!! My son will inherit all these great toys! Thank you for making this video.
I’m 61 and I don’t remember ever seeing these models in the USA. Now Corgi toy models yes. We had them. But Dinky, I’d heard of them, but never had any, and I didn’t know anyone who did.
Very interesting and informative video, thanks.
Hi Jmad627, I am 73 and was raised in the Northeast (VT, upstate NY), we had "Dinkys" in larger hobby specialized stores that sold Meccano construction sets (as opposed to Gilbert-Erector). IIRC, these were imported from Canadian distributors (Montreal or Toronto I believe), I used them a lot in my youth as props for my railroad layout. I remember Matchbox toys being $0.39 circa early sixties. Those were the days, Ciao, L
I'v been a collector for over 20 years and still enjoy collecting Dinky they are legendary.
My memories of Dinky Toys I had were the Lotus Europa 218 , the Ford Zodiac 164 and the VW Beetle 129. I had Corgi toys mainly and Matchbox. My toys all wound up crushed in my dads vice im sorry to say back in the 70s . Im 64 now and have a collection of mint boxed & played with Corgi/DInky. Discovering the Dinky range a few years ago, what struck me was some of the vehicles issued were extremely obscure in real life. The BBC tv/ABC tv ones for example. Pics of these seem to be rare in themselves so how they sold is amazing along with the Antar range. It must have been about the sheer size and play value(these ones were way before my time but beautiful none the less). I hope my collection winds up for all to see but I doubt it. Thanks for keeping Dinky Toys name alive
Coming back to be a child! I still have the dublo dinky 066 and the space 1999 “eagle” as was known in Italy. Thanks!!
Such a pleasure to watch this video! I remember Corgi and Dinky models well (being a pensioner).Do wish I kept them and their boxes!
From across the pond, before Hot Wheels, I remember the name Dinky Toys. In the mid-1950's at age 7, I thought any small metal toy was a dinky (small) toy. Later I discovered that I probably had Tootsie Toys. Regardless, these small metal toys occupied my little brother and I for many hours during the day, enabling our mother to live to age 87. Thanks. Narragansett Bay
Grew up in France in the '70s and had Dinky Toys stuff:
SEPECAT Jaguar, Harrier Jumpjet, Thunderbird 2, FAB-1, UFO Interceptor, SHADO Tank, Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle (I never saw Captain Scarlet on French TV), all 3 Space:1999 Eagles (original green, freight white, freight blue metal), and a Mini Moke with a parachute. Oh, and the weirdly off-model USS Enterprise from Star Trek, which I had never seen so I had no idea what the hell I was looking at.
My brother had a Stuka and a Spitfire. One of us had a Sikorsky Sea King.
I still have a Space:1999 Eagle Transport (green) and it is my all-time favorite diecast toy!
Got my 1st one at 3. Still gotta have them and love them.
Still have many orginal Dinky Toys, mosty military but some cars and "men". In my will to my daughter who probably won't know what they were/are. Loved them.
Oh my. I do remember those. I did not have many, just a couple. Those and a Lionel O Scale and Athearn HO scale, made for a busy summer afternoon.
What a shame as the Dinky name was something I was brought up with. I’m now 75 years young!
I still have all my 1950's military Dinky Toys including the US Jeep. One of them has dirt on it from the last time I played with it, circa 1957.
Great video, and very nostalgic for me ! I had lots of Dinkys as a kid in the 50's, as well as a Meccano set, a [plastic] clockwork Tri-Ang Centurion tank, armies of Britains lead soldiers sold in bins at Woolworths, and a spring-loaded howitzer that could fire matchsticks most satisfactorily in the back yard. I still have around 20 of my old favourite Dinky toys, some fairly pristine, most well used in play. Boxes ? What eight year old boy ever kept the boxes ?
In the 50s and 60s the only toys we wanted were Dinky, Meccano and Hornby. Nothing else came close. Also, lead toys are only toxic if you eat them!
Thanks for this. Was so good to see the Gerry Anderson page and see all the Dinkys of this I still have - Thunderbird 2, FAB 1, Eagle transport, Joe 90 car, Captain Scarlet (although Sam Weston’s car eluded me). The Sikorsky Sea King and Harrier, I also have the SEPECAT Jaguar. Oh those days.
Oh to have all the Dinky Toys I owned as a child, but the joy they gave me will never fade. Thanks for sharing this video and for refreshing my memories.
I was and am a CORGI guy. I always thought Dinky cars never had the sophistication of CORGI models. Thanks again for putting this ' little ' doco together.
Corgi had ,shocks, springs, Dinkey didn't
I preferred Corgis too. My favorites were the 224 Bentley Continental with steerable front coil spring suspension and openable boot with spare, and the 245 Buick Riviera with trans-o-lite head and tail lights. I did have some Dinkys but I can't remember which ones. 64 Impala maybe? Corgis seemed to have more "features"
Neil Aspinall I collect all 3 major brands but I agree that the Corgis were generally more sophisticated, particularly from the early 60s era onwards. Dinky sometimes seemed to ‘drop the ball’ a little during that era.
Really enjoyed this series of UK based toy car manufacturers :)
I had and have a bunch of Dinky and Corgi from the mid to late 50's through the late 60's they were a nice scale size to use with model railroads, which I also had. The Hot Wheels and smaller sized models were assisted by being cheaper and closer to HO size which was the dominant scale for electric model trains. Hot Wheels also was clever in marketing things with track for the cars to ride on by gravity and do stunts. Dinky and Corgi were expensive with Corgi having more detail in design. Ultimately I think labor costs and competition from the far east did things in. Today you can buy quite nice models in the Corgi and Dinky scales effectively for a fraction of what they used to cost. I think it is a sad loss that these kinds of manufacturers are only in the far east. In my experience not all competition was fair with the far east, starting with Japan where they kept the exchange rate low and could sell for less, that coupled with political sell-outs of domestic industries and jobs had a lot to do with it then as now with China and the rest. At least that is what they did in the US, whole industries were basically trade negotiated away along with the jobs and production capacity, it was and is a betrayal of the citizenry. They have gutted much of the US industry and the remainder they hamper with regulations of all kinds, especially in some states. Moral turpitude is the norm in most realms. Quite sad, awful really.
I have collected Dinky Supertoys all my life .I have so many and would not sell one .I am an 80 year old International lorry driver and still collect them in other countries...In my cab I use the AEC 6 wheeler crane to lift my Weetabix up on to my Muesli.!!!Who needs to grow up....My favourite of which I have 6 is The 1955!/6 Mouth Organ Leyland Octopus and Drag and imagine I am Victor Mature with Diana Dors in the film.""""""The Long Haul""..!!!!
My uncle used to buy and sell them as well as collect them. He would have been very interested in this video. He often visited Toy shows over in Canada. He once sold a car for £5,000 which must be about 20 years ago. It amazes me how much some of them go for, if they and more importantly their original box are in great condition.
Thanks. This answers the questions I had about what happened to the Dinky toys I loved in the '50s as a child.
I appreciate the research you put into this. Very well presented. Thanks, Ronn
It was in the mid 60’s when I was about 7 or 8 when I saw the dinky toy display. I thought that was the coolest thing. The way they were packaged and how cool the car’s were inside. Like every one else I wanted all of them! Thanks for sharing your video.👍
Space1999 eagle - it's like a walk through my childhood.
Yup, me too. I had both of Dinky's Space 1999 Eagles both in their original packaging. Until recently when they were destroyed in a house fire. Gutted! Had 'em for over 40 years! The Eagle is the best looking spaceship ever.
Great video, thoroughly enjoyable. However, I can't help but notice most of the comments below are posted by our friends from across 'the pond'. As a Brit growing up in the 1960's I had a lot of Dinkies and Corgi toys but sold off all bar one in my early teens. Subsequently, I have rediscovered my love of diecast toy vehicles and have managed to build up a large collection, concentrating mainly on original condition and preferably boxed Dinky toys from the immediate postwar period to the mid/late 1960's; indeed only today I purchased (via ebay) a French Dinky BMW 1500 from a seller in the States. I still have the one original Dinky I kept; an AA (Automobile Association) motorcycle & sidecar purchased in the early 60's, this occupying a special place in the collection. For anyone wanting to know more about the history and model range of these charming miniatures I recommend the 'Great Book of Dinky' by Mike and Sue Richardson.
Hi Roger. I have that book having met Mike & Sue at Sandown.Huge disappointment when compared to the Corgi Toys equivalent book. What lets it down is the poor photos and lack of backstory for each toy introduced. I never look at it as to me its just a glorified list and I love Dinky toys. Check out the Corgi one for comparison
I had dozens of Dinkys in the 1950s and 60s and played with them all the time. I had a fleet of 32 buses and a big fire station of fire engines as well as many military vehicles including Centurion Tanks and the 25 pounder field gun set. Someone will no doubt correct me if some of these were Corgis. Anyway, I lost interest as I grew up and when I regained it, I found that my mother had disposed of virtually the whole lot. But I still have the odd Dublo Dinky model and some Matchbox from the early 60s. Thank you for this fascinating insight.
Excellent as always. I was there 1950 s Dinky toys, The "Super toys" were so B expensive, thats why they never sold. .
I still have - somewhere - my Dinky, Corgi, and Matchbox cars from about 60 years ago. As I got older I kept them in good condition rather than staging car crashes and landslides and floods.
Mom. He`s playing with my Dinky again.
Great toys back in our day. I remember lots of collections among friends and neighbour's. My mother cleaned out my collection.
Holly Cow!! My grandma gave me some of this that were my uncle's. I clearly remember the shapes and the feeling of the car. I never thought the were so old! I wish I kept them.
Some of the Dinky Dublo cars have been recreated by diecast car manufacturer Oxford diecast to be sold in Hornby's 2020 100 year anniversary range. Two of the vehicles present that were in the original Dinky range are the Roadster (MG TF) and the iconic yellow Hornby Dublo VW van.
Rewatching this, I remember I had a battery powered Sea-King helicopter. I had forgotten that. Thanks for reminding me!
Love this guys channels
It’s a great shame that die cast car models died out. They were beautiful little pieces of engineering, and, for me personally formed a massive part of my childhood, and for that matter adulthood - I’ve re-bought a few of my favourite die cast cars. They were so much more than mere toys - they were little gems of design, manufacturing and ingenuity. The early Dinky models especially, have a certain charm about them that a hot wheels model, with its exaggerated scale, wide wheels and garish paint job, could never match. Thanks for a really interesting film!
Simon Hodgetts....they havent died out....you can still buy metal models - cheap ones or collectors highly detailed ones....i collect volvo only diecast cars and have around 500
About 20 years ago I brought dinky army lorries which I had as a child ,off ebay.
@@geoffdundee I think he means that British made high quality die-cast models have died out, which they did post-2003.
(excluding some specialist white metal models done in low volume)
Most of the "die cast" cars on sale now are more plastic than metal, poor quality & low accuracy... and from sweatshops in China.
We've gone from being able to buy quite high quality cars at a medium to high price, to very poor quality at a low price. The big losers of it all... the kids themselves.
Fantastic info. Makes me wish I have a time machine to go back and purchase these classics and bring them back to the present.
Antique collectors dream, not uncommon. I thought of that before. The locals will think I am loco filling box after box of trash at the dump. Also you will have to bring currency made before the time you return to . The owner of the coin collector shop will love you . You could end up in prison as a spy with counterfeit cash.
The D'eAgostini Dinky range was not discontinued after 5 models. I have 65 of the 72 models planned. I have received no models this year owing partly to Brexit & partly to Covid 19!
I still remember those stacks of yellow boxes in my hobby shop when I was a kid in the 50's. They were generally fifty cents over here, although some of the larger and more detailed ones went for a dollar. A dollar was a princely sum in 1958, when I was making around four dollars a week from my paper route. I often had to make the choice between a Coke, large bag of chips, and the latest Superman comic or another Dinky car. I must have had 30 or so Dinky vehicles for my model railroad, most of which got modified or repainted to make them look more "American". I wonder how much they'd be worth today if I had just left them in their boxes and put them away for safekeeping?
Quite a lot, as originality is highly prized therein.
Then again even well used ones can sell well, to the right buyer.
Look at how they end on e bay
Ahh yes. My older brothers had Dinky cars. 1950’s by the look of them.
Always our favorite brand.
I have a number of Dinky cars my wife bought me in the '90s that are boxed up in the garage. Guess I should check them out.
So what did you find?
@@navelriver
Nothing since I totally forgot about it, lol. Sorry about that.
Well good luck! @@chrislj2890
Thank you very much.
Rare video footage.
I love Dinky,Matchbox and Corgi!!!
C' mon Mattel: the world's biggest toy maker: get with it and bring Dinky back! Corgi is still around and doing fine. Just look at their bus series!
i loved my dinky toys in the early 1960s especialy the army vehicles.we used them in the school flower beds to make it more realistic.i now have 10 restored bedford rl trucks no 621 as a reminder of proper toys.which you cant buy today
Aye. Toy Isles even in the '90's were a thing of wonder... now they're just a mountain of cheap & nasty plastic tat :/ .
1975 Europe i remenber the toy market was being shaken by the 1/6 action figure phenomenon,brands like Action Man and the Italian Big Jim series were all the rage,very manly,it deserves a video about
The late '70's was really bad for physical toy manufacturers in general, due to the then all new fad of Video Games.
That was really interesting! The old Hornsby railways factory in Margate Kent closed about 20 years ago and moved their manufacturing to China (as far as I know) but I think there is still a visitors centre there.
When I lived in Paris France I used to have a lot of dinky toys, mostly cars, I should’ve kept them, but when I was 16, they sorta disappeared
One again thank you for an amazing video. Darren (:
I had a Dinky rubber-tyred LNER A4 pacific in blue and two carriages in 'teak'. Then, when the coupling hooks easily broke, I had a repainted set in BR green with carmine and cream coaches. I still have the remains of the latter. I have never seen them even on the internet.
Me regalaron un.camioncito verde que esta en este video, dublo dinky toys cuando tenia 5años, hoy tengo 65, y aun esta conmigo! Me alegré mucho de verlo en esta seleccion!!
I still have a tin of toy animals which I got when I was three. In there is Clarence the cross eyed lion from Daktari complete with his glasses. Absolutely everyone I knew had the Gerry Anderson toys.
Your diecast car history videos are AWESOME! Thank you very much for the trip down memory lane...
Shame it cannot be brought back to life in the UK
It brings me back to when you would go into a new friend's house the first the first thing would say is... Show me your dinkys... It was the generic name for all.. Matchbox and corgi were under the term
Yes i remember my dinkey toys.
I had the 50s racing car set. Destroyed by wizzing them across the playground to see who's would go farthest. My best performer at this was a Corgi 1960 Chevy Impala. Ultimately they would be destroyed by gravel rash.
Nice upload,ta.
Correction. The DeAgostini range was not discontinued in the UK after 5 issues. I am a subscriber and received parts 47 & 48 this month. There are 70 parts planned.
Thanks. Can you update the Wikipedia article to show this?
@@LittleCar I wasn't aware that there WAS a Wikipedia article. By the way, my last 2 models are the Aston Martin DB3S & the Citroen DS19 Break.
@@TheShowgirl25 Thanks for amending that. I myself thought it odd that 5 issues were all, as adverts & sponsor bumpers on TV went on far too long for just 5.
I remember the American models (ironically because I gather they didn’t sell there but match box did)like the 57 Plymouth taxi 61 ford etc.I also had the 61 Ford police car (I think it was in RCMP livery)I didn’t realize they were made in the home town of the almighty Beatles.
Who remembers Triang and scalectric
I only vaguely remember Dinky Dublo, this video shows why. UK TV spin-off vehicles must have done pretty well, as I remember lots of kids having Gerry Anderson themed Dinkys.
I have all three captain scarlet models,Fab 1 from thunderbirds,sam's car from joe 90 and the model t ford from the secret service,all boxed and good condition.The detail on these is very good,especially the spv and fab 1.
Your videos about die-cast cars are very well researched and nicely produced. They bring back valuable memories of my childhood. Thank you very much! I watched all three and I am hungry for more. Could you please also do a video on Siku die-cast cars. I don't know if they sell them in the UK. In Germany they are very popular.
I can't claim any of the credit for the research as this is edited together from the Wikipedia article.
I love history. Thanks
So do I!
Really good to see some of my old cars again ! Excellent research , thanks 👍
I can't claim any of the credit for the research as this is edited together from the Wikipedia article.
@@LittleCar Excellent video all the same mate 👌
Jolly interesting and very I formative, thank you.
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,
Why do British companies quite inevitably run against the wall in time. Competence. Knowledge. Overbearing. What.
It was great seeing the collection of vehicles… distinctly ‘British’ styling.
I remember all these series through the 1960s with great affection.
For some reason, my memory of Corgi is of greater design detail, and the suspension.
Dinny’s were distinctly clunky alongside.
Luckily I was at the tail of my toy life when Hot Wheels arrived. I loved the freewheeling axles, but the bodies and detail were disappointing. America vs Britain !
Interesting and nostalgic. Thanks.
I had a set of stamped metal cars I kept since I was 6 years old. They were made in Japan and were good quality. I sold the set of 5 for $125.
They were marked Mar X with the X filling a circle and the mar passing through the middle of the X.
They were trying to pass off as MARX toy products which were made here in the USA and my mother and other neighborhood women worked part time.
Nice history lesson on Dinky. Thanks
Who had airfix model planes?
Interesting and informative, thank you. I would love to see a longer version (or a series of sequential videos) with perhaps small pauses between paragraphs of commentary to give us time to digest what you have said, and also with time for more anecdotes associated with the history of these addictive models, not to mention more screen time to show the wide variety of these model toys..
I remember growing up in the 80s in Canada the term "dinky cars" was a generic term for any small die cast cars, didn't realize until recently it was an actual company. Does anyone else recall using the term?
For the past 5 decades they used the words matchbox and hot wheels the same way. When describing larger sand box toys you say tonkas
As a kid in Australia in sixties the same, don't forget your dinky toys my mum would say, 56 yrs old and I always thought that was just what you called them, same, same with tonkas, can't ever recall seeing a dinky brand toy though
My mum worked at binns road till it closed.
I always had lots of cars, vans, buses - never any boxes though... Lol.
I wrote jimll fix it to see if i could visot the factory but didnt get a reply..... I hindsight a fortunate thing.
So i wrote to the manager and got invited on a tour of the factory in 1976/77 cant remember exactly.
Got show tje whole production fron raw materials thrugj to painting and boxing, got to see my mum and auntie working on the production line.
I was presented with a silver jubilee atlantean bus - straight off the line and a packet of decals - no box. So i probably have the only on with the stickers on upside down and wonky cos i did them my self.... Still got it.
Sorry about spelling, bad eyes on a tiny phone keyboard.
Once again ! Thank you little car very interesting and as others have mentioned more on other manufactures if you can please.
Fantastic video and information. Many thanks for this !
There's other, little metal diecast, car lines. Like the old company, that predated Matchbox was Budgie, and like Matchbox, made in Lesney England. I'm 61, and still have 2, of them. A 1954, English police car, and a 1965 Lomaz ambulance. And 'Johnny Lightning' racetrack (the red track. Hot wheels was orange) and cars, were a good competitor to Hot Wheels!! Then the ever popular cheap line, 'Tootsie Toys' (made in Chicago). Remember them?? It was endless on the amount of vehicles, Tootsie used to produce🤔!!! Just to mention several, older well-known one's, not including older, unknown brands.
Wow. TIL. I remember everyone calling toy cars "Dinkys" but never knew that this was a brand name (Me and my friends only hotwheels/matchbox/dollar store knockoffs).
great stuff. i wonder if you will tell the scalextric story, or burago, or britains farming model toys?
Scalextric will be next!
Does anyone know why Dinky made the SHADO and Space 1999 toys in colours different to that shown in the tv series? As a child, I can't recall even noticing that they were green and not white etc. Any ideas?
Joe90 car - always wanted one of them.
I had one of those Action Packs - a Ford tipper trick - I still have it and I intend to restore it but with a better paint job than the original green enamel.
Excellent ! thanks for the information
The old Dinky Toys are superb BECAUSE they don’t have windows, interiors or funny hot wheels.
Superb video presentation
all very intersesting, im 60 heard a lot of this , nevef had much of it
The plane @5:04 could be a Messerschmitt Bf 108 - they were used for liaison and recon by both parties in the war.
That was a surprise indeed, I was misinformed and believed that Tri-ang owned pretty much everything and everyone at one point in time.
You do brilliant videos u deserve the credit , even the wiper story was brilliant
Thanks Rob!