THE BRADSCARS FOUR Words: Christopher Moor
Bradscars were four models of early 1950s British saloons, in about 1:76 scale, manufactured in England by Bradshaw Model Products Ltd, of Hove. The target audience was the era’s 00-gauge modelrailway enthusiasts.
The first of the Bradscars was a rather high-roofed lead die casting of a Morris Six, which debuted circa 1951 at the Annual Model Railway Exhibition in London.
Bradscars were basic models, without the Perspex windows and plastic interiors that would be expected today. Few of the metal castings are now seen without any paint loss or wear, and some even show the start of rusting.
They did not have catalogue numbers on their bases, and nor were they individually boxed.
The Morris Six body casting was mounted onto an embossed, black, tin-plate base bearing the Bradshaw logo. ‘Morris Six’ appeared on the base before the logo, and ‘Bradscars (regd.)’ afterwards.
The 60mm model’s lead wheels had a fine tyre tread cast into them, and were painted black. Bumpers, radiator grille, and headlights received hand detailing in silver paint. Sometimes the smooth axle end rivets received a silver paint finish, too.
A Riley 1.5 was probably the next car issued. This 61mm lead model receives unfavourable comparison with the larger Dinky version — No. 40a, renumbered as No. 158 in 1954 — because of the heavy appearance of the radiator grille.
Some Bradscars Rileys went on sale with Morris Six bases fitted, and with a body painted in a light green shade similar to that of the Dinky model.
An Austin A30 four-door saloon was the last of the lead Bradscars. This model differed from the Morris and Riley because the base was lead. The words ‘Bradscar, Hove, England, Austin 7’ appeared cast into the base across four lines without any Bradshaw logo — ‘Austin 7’ denotes the name the A30 was launched under at the Earls Court Motor Show in 1951.
Another difference between the Morris and Riley is the 47mm Austin’s smaller black metal wheels, without cast tyre treads.
The Austin’s major design fault is the skinny rear window, which is nothing like the half oval of the real car.
The final Bradscars release was a plastic Jaguar MKVII, which, by being more of a rarity than the lead models, is a greater challenge for collectors to find.
Moulded into the base are the words ‘The New Bradscar, Made in England’. The model is not identified as a Jaguar, and has even less resemblance to the real car than the earlier lead saloons did.
Production of Bradscars appears to have ended circa 1954/’55.
During their brief manufacture, Bradscars were exported to New Zealand. One longtime collector bought the Austin, Riley, and Morris at Stephen Nixon’s magazine and model shop in Elizabeth Street, Wellington, during the early 1950s, and remembers paying 7s 6d (75c) for them. This year, a dealer sold three near-identical models after the first Trentham toy fair for $270.