23e and 221 'Speed of the Wind' Racing Car (1936-56)

There is a third base plate. Sorry for the poor quality of the picture. A better one will be welcomed.Jacques.

Slightly better, but not by much. This baseplate was a result of the re-numbering that took place in 1953/54. 23e Speed of the Wind became 221 and a new, mottled baseplate with model-name and model-number (still 23E!) was attached, following the same design pattern as the new 23-series Racing Cars (Alfa, Ferrari, HWM, etc. ...) Regards Walter

Hi all, I've got to confess that I don't really like racing / record cars, they're OK, but I always preferred stuff I could see on the street, so how to explain that 23e SPOW was always one of my favourite Dinkys? don't know, but here are two pre wars and a post war...

Neither Pre War has a base sadly, but racing No backgrounds are white and silver. CW.

Walter, Many thanks for the picture which is not so bad after some Photoshop treatment. Jacques.

Hi all, I checked my silver post-war examples of the Speed of the Wind and these are the results (top-down = earlier-later). Note the differences in hub colours, tyres, axle ends, base plates and shades of brown of the driver. Remarkable to see that the mid example's base plate holes do not exactly match the positions of the rivets. Kind regards, Jan

Until I found the all red with silver wheels no. 22e Speed of the Wind (below) recently, I wasnt aware of the possible combination of an (old) moulded base plate with (new) round axle ends. In my opinion the round axle ends exactly coincided with the new flat base plate, as re-introduced in June 1952 (see MM of that month). This one must be a kind of early 1952 hybrid, preceding the official new silver one with red hubs, grey tyres and flat base plate, which was available from 1952 to 1956 (later no. 221, still always marked 22E on the base plate). Trying to present my five post-war examples in chronological order I took into account that: Darker brown driver precedes lighter brown driver. Black wheels precede coloured wheels. Herringbone tread tyres precede black round tread tyres. Black round tread tyres precede grey round tread tyres. Moulded base plate precedes flat base plate. Crimped axle ends precede round axle ends. Which produces the chronological top down and right to left order 1-5, from older to new:

I just received a very nice early post war version of this record car, and am very excited to share it. I bought this a couple of weeks ago, and when I saw it listed, I made a quick decision that I had to have it, as it was a bit unusual. It has to be a very early issue right after WWII as it has both smooth wheels and white herringbone tires. Another likely early indication is the driver....most of these I have seen tend to be tan or light brown in color. This one is black, and I am sure it has not been re-painted. The overall condition is very good, with some surface wear and a few chips, but I am excited to find another nice post war example of the 23 series of racing cars. Best regards, Terry

After the initial provisional picture you sent to me, it's nice to see these various detailed pictures of your very interesting and unusual Speed of the Wind, Terry! I was not aware of the existence of a driver in black before. Kind regards, Jan

Jan----Thanks so much for your always appreciated comments. I do believe that this model had to be made very early, after production resumed following the shutdown during WWII. The white herringbone tires are likely left over pre-war stock being used up, and I am guessing the black driver was also short-lived, then changed to tan or brown shortly after. I am really glad that I saw this and quickly bought it. Best regards, Terry

Hello, One of my friends bought a Red Speed of the Wind at the November Sandown swapmeet. It was much heavier as my own models. So we weight it and the weight was 84 grams were a standard model is 58 grams. The model was sold as being lead by a well known dealer. I know that many pre war models were made from lead but this was unknown to me. As I have the original drawing of the model in my collection I was able to bring some light in this. On the drawing, Job no 10255 you can read material zinc-base alloy. There is a issue 4, change order 3379, date 12-3-52, alternative material. A second Job no can be found on the drawing as 10255A, material lead-alloy grade 2. During Korean war there was a shortage of zinc and other metals so Meccano used alternative metals such as Aluminium, Vulcan and Studebaker tanker, and also lead alloy for a short time. From the drawing and the baseplate we can conclude that this model was produced in lead-alloy only for a short time, probably only in 1952. I include some pictures of the model, colour red, silver hubs and black baseplate. As far as I know the Speed of the Wind was not produced in lead before 1940. If anyone also has this model in lead please let us know. Possible more models were produced in lead-alloy. The drawing of the Speed of the Wind can also be found at the Forum, search drawings. John.

Hi John, a very nice, surprising find, some evidence for the fact that indeed in that very period several experiments with different metals were done. The colour finish of the one you show is exactly the same as mine, shown somewhere above. And I dated that one on 1952 indeed, which complies with your findings and the drawing information available. This means that even within one finish batch this different use of metals might occur (mine has the regular zamak weight). And this colour combination is not common anyway. Now waiting for other 'heavy ones' to show up indeed and see if this one is a single incident / trial or one of a limited 'sub-batch' ! Kind regards, Jan

John----A very interesting find, and as Jan pointed out, verifies that Meccano was likely struggling some with Korean War metal shortages, and trying alternatives such as this. So nice that you also have the drawing to verify with!Best regards, Terry