Desert island diecasts
Imagine you’re stranded on a remote island and had only taken a handful of your collection favourites on that fateful trip, which five would you want it to be? Richard Young is this month’s castaway hero.
Richard Young is this month's castaway.
Ican’t resist a challenge and, believe me, choosing only five favourite toys is a tough challenge indeed, having played with Dinky Toys from about 1946.After whittling them down to around two dozen, I decided that I would just have to choose the ones which represent some sort of milestone in my life, which is what I have attempted to do.
DINKY TOYS NO 157 JAGUAR XK120
What a great car this was! The new convertible XK120 sports car caused a sensation when first shown at the 1948 Motor Show, although it was originally intended only as testbed for the new Jaguar XK Engine. Such was the demand that Jaguar decided to put it into production. Capable of 120 mph, it was the fastest production car in the world then.This treasured model is my original Dinky Toys No 157 and is the hard-top version, introduced in 1954, which is when I received it with great joy as my main birthday present. It was my first sports car model and has had quite a hard life.A repaint in its original colour has helped restore some of its glamour.A fabulous car and a nicely cast model.
SMALL SCALE WHITE METAL AUSTIN 8
The second model is of the first car that I owned, also the first car in our family. I bought it at the age of 18, costing £50, which represented several years of savings. It is also the car in which I passed my driving test that same year.The Austin 8 was made from 1939 to 1948 in various versions, with just over 100,000 being produced in total. My car was 1948, so was one of the last to be made. My white metal model, bought on ebay, is rather small at around 1/76. I can’t remember who made the model, but it is poorly cast and the shape is not really right. However, beggars can’t be choosers and this is the only model I have found of an Austin 8, although I would dearly love to replace it with a good model of decent size and shape.
DINKY SUPERTOYS NO 952 VEGA MAJOR LUXURY COACH
This is theVega Major luxury coach, built by Duple Coachbuilders Ltd., of The Hyde, Hendon, London NW9, where I served my apprenticeship from 1960 to 1965, which I loved. Although a design apprentice, I, like all the apprentices, had to serve time in each department on the factory shop floor, in order to be familiar with production methods. These coaches were mainly constructed of timber, with metal cappings where necessary. If you ever see a Duple coach of the 1960s, it is quite likely that I have hammered in some of its woodscrews!
The Dinky Supertoys No 952, which I bought just a few years ago, depicts this vehicle quite well, with its large front grille and curved windows in the roof quarters above the cantrail, and is quite large at 9.5” long.The front bumper sticks out a bit too much and the interior seating is rather boring, but altogether it’s a nicely cast model of this 3-axle coach, based on a Bedford VAL chassis. Plus, it has the exciting feature of flashing indicators which actually work.
SPARK GULF RACING JW AUTOMOTIVE RACING CAR TRANSPORTER
This racing car transporter is personally rather special because it is the only model made by a well-known model manufacturer of a vehicle that was wholly designed by me. Like most of my special vehicle designs, this was a one-off. It was made for JW Automotive by LexVehicle Engineering at Totton, Hants, where I worked.This transporter was commissioned for the 1968 season and consisted of a crew cab at the front, fully equipped workshop in the centre and space for two GT40s in the rear, one above the other.We had a real GT40 at the factory to check that it fitted.
The model of this vehicle is a limited run by Spark and, being a resin model, there are no working features or opening doors, so none of the interior detail can be seen, except in the cab. It is a fine model with good proportions and external detail. The only small niggle is that the headlamps are too large and protruding. Incidentally, I used a Duple coach windscreen and front bumper for this vehicle, since I knew that replacements could be fairly easily sourced.The vehicle was later used for the team’s Porsche 917s, as shown by the altered signwriting on the model.
DINKY TOYS NO 156 MECHANISED ARMY SET
My last choice is not one single model, but a set.This may be cheating a bit, but to me, being primarily a military modeller, this set is the pinnacle, the zenith, in fact the Holy Grail of military model sets. It is of course the pre-war Dinky Toys No 156 set of the Mechanised Army.
I don’t have this set and it’s very rare, to the extent that I couldn’t even find any decent pictures of it. Issued in 1939, it was a collection of all the military Dinky Toys made up to that date, comprising twelve models.The reason for its rarity is two-fold. Firstly it cost 12/6d (62½ p), which was nearly a week’s wages for some people at that time. Secondly, of the limited number that were sold, many of them have succumbed to the dreaded ‘fatigue’. I don’t know how many were sold nor how many still exist, but a genuine set in good condition would now cost many thousands of pounds. I haven’t got one... but I want one on my desert island! Please. DC