Things that Dinky should have made

In those days owners of such a car would not have believed that nowadays some people are prepared to pay the same price for a Dinky Toy! Kind regards, Jan

I was not familiar with the Morris Eight, so was delighted to see it. Such a really cute car....that would have made a very nice model for Dinky! Terry

The Austin Metropolitan was designed by the American Motors Corporation and built in England by Austin Motors at Longbridge. It was branded as a Nash in US and left hand drive, it was branded as an Austin in UK and in right hand drive. 95,000 were produced between 1954 and 1961. Whilst Dinky did not replicate this fabulous litte car Mike and Sue Richardson with their 'MikandSue' company did do a model of the Metropolitan. Dave

Dave--The Metropolitan sure would have made a nice model. When I was a kid growing up in S. California, I remember that a neighbor had a pink and white one, and I always thought they were neat little cars. You still see them once in a while. Thanks for showing! Terry

I was always surprised that they never made a Bedford OB single Deck bus. This is one I saw at a show in 2011, the OB was incredibly popular with small operators in th late 1940s, and 1950s. Dave

You are right, that would have made a very attractive model...the front end is detailed and interesting. It would be nice to know just how many models Dinky did entertain building, but did not, and how the process went.......was there much discussion, was their some sort of committee, or did one person make the call? With so many makes and models out there it must have been interesting! Terry

Here are three nice examples of the Scammell Scarab made by Budgie Toys This vehicle was also modelled by Matchbox amongst others. The Scarab was seen at virtually every railway station in Britain and was used by the armed services and most breweries in the UK. I was always amazed that Dinky did not do this as they could have made lots of variants from the basic casting, and I am convinced it would have been a best seller. It would be fantastic to have the minutes of new product meetings at Meccano and learn about the decision making progress. Dave

Hello David, Meccano should have made almost everything which they have not made. But it is not that simple. Manufacturer may not have wanted their vehicles to be made as a model or they had already given a licence to an other toy manufacturer. To day we know that there was a close relationship with some manufacturers such as Triumph or Foden but only one E.R.F. Dinky was made. Also, Esso was a favorite against all the other fuel companies. In France, Renault had an agreement with C.I.J. until there was a change of management, the contract went to Meccano and the Dauphine was issued followed by a long series of Renault. Today, Atlas can not obtain licences to make copies of Ferrari, Chrysler and Piagio (Vespa 400) Dinky models. On TMT (see Michigan bulldozer), we have learnt that manufacturers paid Meccano to make the die or have their name on a model and buy the first batch. Today, it is the oposite and the toys manufacturers have to buy a licence. The Dinky Toys Encyclopaedia (Clic on NOT ISSUED on the home page) contains a list of 103 English and 37 French Dinky which have been selected by Meccano but not issued. There are either mock-ups, drawings or just lists mentioning these models. How come that there is only one Japanese and one Russian cars in the Meccano range ? I suppose that each of us has a list of models that they would have liked Meccano to make but the list was definitely closed on November 30 1979.

Here are a couple of models Dinky should have made: Porsche 911 Coup (could have been an ideal companion to the nice existing 356) Ferrari 250 GTO (a classic strangely overlooked by all the manufacturers of the time)