Catalogues

micromodels wrote: 'More NZ catalogues: 1955/56 has the import restrictions. No restriction in 1964. What are the letters by each model for? Ron F' Ron I have answered your original post in two parts. The first dealt with the 1955 Meccano catalogue and its comparison prices, and now this post with the 1964 catalogue. I think it will make it easier this way for readers of this Thread to read my response - or I hope so!! The letters beside each model refers to the price group or category in which each model is placed. However, with the Australian version of this catalogue, these letters mean nothing as the price list has the models in numerical sales order. I presume your catalogue may be missing the price list. Now we see where the letters originate - the UK catalogue: I presume the Australian catalogue did not continue with the example set by the UK catalogue as there were too many variations with the Australian prices and that it was simply list the models by sales number. Kind regards Bruce (150) #656 17 June 2015

The catalogues are often identical for all contries. The pictures are printed first without texts or prices. The texts in various languages and prices are added during a second printing. Here is a very rare example of a 1958 catalogue with pictures only. The catalogues may contain errors like this 1959 US catalogue which states that the trailer of the 666 is a landing platform ! The number of pages may vary because the French and English Dinky are not available in all countries. So there are catalogues with English Dinky, some with French Dinky and some with both productions. One can even find them both on the same page. One can also find some information in the catalogues . The 1961 portugese catalogue states that the ladder of the 955 fire engine is from Magirus. Reality or error ? The 1960 Swiss catalogue on page 16 states that the Forward control lorry ref. 25 r / 420 is a Leyland. 1951 Dutch catalogue page 11 A 'z' suffix has been added to some French models exported to England. The same applies with an ' f ' to some models exported to the Netherlands but amazingly not to all models. Why do the Ford trucks have this suffix and not the Studebaker or the cars ? An other Meccano mystery. In the 1955 catalogue printed in the U.S. for this country only, a letter F has been added to the reference number of the models made in France. There are some examples where models have been published in catalogues and these models have never been issued. These are the Triumph Dolomite ref. 38 e, The Facelia ref. 519, the Simca 1000 Rallye II ref. 520, The Porsche 917 ref. 1431. This light blue car carrier with black wings, one piece wind screen and trailer crank on the wrong side shown on page 16 of the 1957 catalogue has never been issued in this colour. Many drawings shown in the catalogues show colours which have never been issued. The drawing of the car carrier has two errors. The windscreen is missing it's center pilar and the crank is on the wrong side of the semi-trailer. The 1962 English catalogue page 22 shows the Foden with chains fitted with window glazing and a tiny steering wheel. These accessories have never been fitted to this model. Also, the Leyland Octopus wagon has never been fitted with windows. In this 1962 Dutch catalogue, the name of the models is not shown ! According to the quantities ordered, the catalogues were delivered in large or small boxes.

Kia Ora Bruce, I have found a few more Dinky Toys catalogue for New Zealand. 1961 and 1962 show that they are available in New Zealand at that stage. I have not seen the NZ one you have for 1953. I don't think there were any Dinky Toy catalogues before 1961 in New Zealand as they could not be bought here. They did appear in the general Meccano catalogues with the warning about the import restrictions. This was a policy of the government of the time to balance the terms of trade that I won't detail here. At the time there was a lot of immigration from the UK at this time so some Dinky Toys did appear on the second hand market from new settlers, etc. Micro Models (Lincoln Toys) were the reason Dinky could not come in to NZ. Even though most tooling was from Australia, they were actually manufactured in Auckland. Other companies like Tri-ang had factories here so they imported their toys in a knock-down state. Here is the 1961 Dinky Toys catalogue: and a 1962 leaflet: Sorry I don't have any Australian catalogues. Ron F

Hello Ron Nice to know that you have been able to add two more Dinky Toys catalogues for New Zealand. Now all that is required is for the same good fortune to locate more - earlier than 1953 and between 1956 and 1961, to solve the time frame mystery when unfortunate wee little Kiwis were unable to buy new Dinky Toys! Hopefully with your help through the publishers, we, the readers, will see a list of catalogues for the New Zealand market included in John Ramsay's British Diecast Model Toys Catalogue one day! It is an interesting story with Micro Models of Australia and their move across the Tasman. I only had three Micro models but they could never be compared with Dinky Toys, or at least according to this brain when it was far younger! Kind regards Bruce (150) #697 5 July 2015

I wouldn't hold your breath about Ramsay's. Some time ago I sent them a list of Trade Boxes not in their listings and they never even replied to me, or amended the listings. Dave

Since I happened to locate these yesterday, here is a post regarding Gilbert's one-year distribution of Dinky Toys in the U.S. This is the last four pages of a 48-page booklet illustrating the company's 1963 product lines, which otherwise included Erector sets (not Meccano), chemistry sets, microscopes, and other homegrown toys. Since Gilbert was in financial trouble, the arrangement only lasted until 1964, at which time Lines Brothers took over U.S. distribution. I'm sorry the resolution isn't better, but given that these were full-page, it was a struggle to get each within the 800-pixel limit.

Johnny Thanks for posting that Gilbert issued Dinky catalog; my, how the range had already dwindled by then! What was the last year that H. Hudson Dobson was listed in the U.S. Catalog as the distributor.....was it 1960? Regards, Terry

In my US catalogues there is a remarkable blank between 1959 and 1962, so I cannot help with an answer, Terry. As it happened, during my speech at the DTCA dinner, last weekend, I showed i.a. some of the special Dutch Hausemann & H

Terry and Jan -- The last U.S.A. catalogue with the H. Hudson Dobson imprint was issued in 1959. As a reflection of the disruption to U.S. distribution that then took place, there was no 1960 Dinky Toy catalogue for the U.S. at all (too bad, as those north of the border naturally did get the 1960 edition, whose motorway cover I consider one of the most attractive ever). A 1961 catalogue for the U.S.A. did appear, but without pricing or distributor information (since, as I wrote earlier, there was no national U.S. distributor at that time). Those Dutch catalogues are indeed exceptional, with their unique art. As for the Gilbert catalogue, it's obviously just done photographically, but one would like to have been a fly on the wall to watch as the models were arranged on the studio floor. -- Jon

Jan The interesting thing to me about the Hausemann and Hotte catalogues is that the selection is seriously biassed towards the offering from Binns Road rather than the items made in Bobigny. As someone in the living in the Netherlands at the time did you guys have the same feeling? Dave

Dave K (Moderator) This Post #27 is incomplete. Can you please check the original site and fill in the missing words/sentences/paragraphs that somehow have not made it onto the new website? Apologies for burdening you with more tasks! Many thanks. Bruce (150) #740 1 January 201623:28AEST

Hello RonContinuing our discussion earlier about the availability of Dinky Toys in New Zealand with you providing us with a copy of the cover and several interior pages for the 1956 Meccano Toys of Quality catalogue. I then went through my catalogues, and the only New Zealand Meccano Toys of Quality catalogue I have is for 1953, issued in September, and attached below are scans of the front and rear cover, and I was surprised to see that this catalogue also has the wording THE FOLLOWING IN RED WAS OMITTED WHEN THIS POST WAS BROUGHT OVER FROM THE OLD WEBSITE. FORTUNATELY, I HAD RETAINED A COPY AT THE TIME. INTUITION?? MORE LIKE GOOD LUCK!!! Dinky Toys generally are not available at present in New Zealand because of import restrictions. So we now know that the restrictions applied as early as September 1953 and at least until July 1956. Perhaps this had something to do with the Korean War? Hopefully you can track down earlier and later catalogues that can provide a definitive period when Dinky Toys were generally unavailable in New Zealand! Incidentally, you wrote in your initial post Ramsay's does not list any New Zealand market Dinky catalogues. The reason this may have come about is that the publishers are completely unaware of the details of any New Zealand catalogues and leaflets. The same partly applied to Australia as there were only a couple when I started to take this hobby seriously many years ago. This resulted in many correspondence exchanges with John Ramsay himself when he was at the helm. Perhaps you may wish to advise the current editors of the Ramsay price guide of all the catalogues you and others in New Zealand have. Do you have any Australian catalogues that have not been included in the Ramsay price guide? Kind regards Bruce (150) #686 29 June 2015