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

Photo by courtesy of Vectis Auctions.The maroon Vanguard with fawn hubs has large print on the base.There is also at least one with maroon hubs.

Yes Richard that is the other very scarce maroon one. Which is the base plate on this one ? Large or small print ?There is no uninteresting thread. When one starts studying a model one finds variations, rare colours etc...As Michael Driver (President of DTCA) says : ' if there are no variations, it's not a Dinky'.By the way, Michael has issued a new book about Mike Richardson. How come that there is nothing about it on this site ?

variations, variations, variations ............ The name VANGUARD was cast on the ceiling of some castings but not on the early ones. Were some of those with open rear wheel arches marked or was this marking added on the later castings with closed arches only ? Thank you for your kind help.

Hi Jacques. As soon as I am back, I will check. Kind regards Richard

Hello Jaques, I took a good look at my Vanguards. Only my youngest version in cream with knobbly tyres has the marking. The oldest ones with open wheel arches in the front row of my picture (and the others) do not show the marking.

Another maroon Vanguard with closed rear wheel arches! I am still wondering if my maroon sample with open wheel arches (recently posted in new arrivals) is genuine or not. I believe it is, but I know of only one other collector (Jose Heraud) with a similar specimen ...

Hi DTCA, This is my first ever posting so I hope I do it correctly. Joan here at Toys in Time. recently we had a visitor to our museum. He asked me to help him find out about his Dinky Vanguard. The first place I looked was the DTCA website, and here is discovered a lot of helpful information for him. It appears that he has maroon Type 2 Vanguard with closed spats. The box apprears contemporary but has no markings. I enclose (Ihope if I get it right) some photos of the car. He is interested in selling it so I wonder if any DTCA members might be interested in buying it. If so can someone please let me know the correct way to offer that to DTCA members. Many thanks for your help and interest. Kind regards, Joan Nessl

Thanks Terry. I missed the tyre tread completely because I was concentrating on the paint and now that I look again there are traces of red paint on one of the rear tyres. Not conclusive but suggestive of touching in on the hubs. Perhaps there's more to learn from another pair of eyes.

John---Very good observations. To me, the photos are not quite high definition or close enough to tell real well, and I always really like to focus on the silver detailing on the front of the model. Another potential red flag is the appearance of that lightly treaded tire on one of the wheels. Meccano only used those on late pre-war and very early post war models, and that Vanguard, with the closed rear arches is not early post war. Another concern is the appearance of the baseplate areas around the rivets....they all look somewhat scratched, as if they have been possibly replaced. I would need to see the model in person to be definitive, but I would be cautious.... Best regards, Terry

Hi, Terry and John, Thank you both very much for your comprehensive comments, they are very helpful. I had not noticed the red paint on the axles, or the different colour reds on the wheel arches. Also the tyre tread had escaped me, so I am really pleased that I posted this and am very grateful to you both for your helpful comments. I will advise the owner of the model regarding your points. You have also both encouraged me to post on the DTCA fora again as it is clearly the best place to receive top-class advice on Dinky models (of which I am very fond). Cheers, Joan

Jacques, I have checked and the result is : I have 3 variations of the open rear weels arches : nothing cast on the ceiling i have 4 variations of the closed rear weels arches : two with and two without VANGUARD casted on the ceiling; hope that's help you. Friendly yours Richard

Just a fondamental question before the year ends : is the rear axle of the Vanguard with closed wings domed ?