40e and 153 Standard Vanguard Saloon (1948-60)

Here are my Vanguard family.With and without wheel-disk.

Some more informations : The three Vanguards without wheel-disk have a small letters base plate and a smooth inside roof. The brown one, on the box, has also a small letters base plate and a smooth inside roof. The cream one, has a big letters base plate and 'Vanguard' engraved on the inside roof. The blue with the cream hubs, has big letters base plate and 'Vanguard' on the inside roof. The blue with fawn hubs, has big letters base plate and a smooth inside roof. So, there are, at least, 4 variants of the Vanguards : 1) the oldest, ref. 40E without wheel-disk made around 1948 2) the brown one ref. 40E made around 1950 3) the blue with fawn hubs, made around 1954 4) the two others, made also around 1954 That's all I know on these beautifull little cars. Cheers

Hi all, there's the block that was added on later variations behind the rear bumper too, you can clearly see it on the later version in the photo above. Lovely model, still need a few of these including, of course, a Maroon one. Chris Warr.

Richard wrote: 'Here are my Vanguard family. With and without wheel-disk. ' Hi Richard, What colour are the wheels on the top row far right model? They look Blue - Green? CW.

Yes Terry. I forgot to mention the axle clip ! Thanks to have done it. I did not know about the stiffening block behind the bumber ! Any of my Standard has that detail ! The other difference are the streaked tyres on your item. Chris, the wheels are green but I don't think that they are original ! Richard

This morning, while entering the 1952 French trade catalogue in the Dinky Toys Encyclopaedia, I read that it was planed to make the Triumph 1800, the Standard Vanguard and the BEV Electric truck in Bobigny but this did not happen.

Jacques--Please clarify....you mean it stated somewhere in that 1952 catalog that they intended to make them in Bobigny? Was that is the very front of the catalog? That seems to indicate that they were thinking of transferring the existing dies there, instead of making them in Liverpool. Most interesting! Terry

Hi Terry, This is inside the trade or dealers catalog, it states that Bobigny is thinking about producing these three models. You can translate this as the dies will be shipped to Bobigny, the castings will be fitted with French base plates as was done with the Auto-Union, the Mercedes, Packard, Studebaker State Commander etc... The exact text is : 'Nous envisageons la fabrication de deux voitures de tourisme Anglaises Vanguard et Triumph et d'un chaiot

Interesting! I wonder why it didn't happen? Maybe they were still selling well in the UK, or, they were cars you wouldn't see much of in France?, (I don't think you'd see much of the BEV in the UK to be honest!) Chris Warr.

I have never seen a Vanguard or a Triumph in France at that time. On the other hand I remember some electric trucks with standing drivers at the Paris central market (Les Halles) and a couple of these trucks are preserved in the Cherbourg maritime museum.

A comparison of the Dinky and the real one. Not bad for 'just a toy'! Kind regards, Jan

Jan--Great closeup shot and a wonderful example of just how good Meccano was in detailing in the early post-war years. That is such a good replica of the real car, and all those horizontal grill bars are really accurate. Nicely done! Terry