Interesting Combinations

Yes, the Bedford drivers window is hinged at the top and it can be opened a small amount to allow some cooling air inside on a hot day. Dave

Hi Terry, here is one still around today. This is NOT MY IMAGE. Please DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE outside this site. My grandkids live a handful of miles from Barsley and I will track this vehicle down and get a shot of this myself as soon as I can. This vehicle was one of the earliest Auxilliary Fire Service (AFS) vehicles, with a Hose Layer body and first registered in 1956. This makes it younger than the Dinky version. Dave

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Some Americana to add to this utterly fascinating thread. Dave

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Dave---Very nice pairing of two American cars nears nearing the end of their production life, and those are beautiful examples for sure......nice! Regards, Terry

All the variants ... I think ! Am I in the right thread ? I don't know

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Dave--Your comment about that folding open window on the Bedford reminded me that my own 1930 Model A Ford has a similar feature; the whole flat windshield is hinged at the top and opens varying amounts and can be locked in place. It actually works quite well when driving......an early sort of air conditioning! Regards, Terry

You are absolutely right Terry, the military Bedfords we had were earlier than the one shown above. Not only did they not have the opening window they also did not have a heater in the cab. I think the Ministry of Defence (MOD) considered those things were a waste of money. Its a great pity that they were sat in a nice warm office in Whitehall and not in North Germany. We absolutely cooked in summer and froze our nuts off in winter, worse, was the the condensation froze on the INSIDE of the windows and we could not see where we were going at all. Happy days!!!! Despite all this I do genuinely look back on those times with warm affection, I still have lots of mates and we stick together now, just as we did then. Dave

Here is another interesting combination, or cousins of sorts: The English made Austin Atlantic and the French produced Simca 8 Sports. These were both nicely made models of contemporary sporting convertibles, made in the early 1950's. The Austin was produced somewhat earlier, then the Simca, but in each case, they were their factory's first effort at having a complete interior detailing, along with a dashboard. They both also were first to have a diecast metal windscreen frame.....everything prior had the flimsy thin plastic, or thin rigid sheetmetal. An interesting detail of the Austin, pointed out to me many years ago, is that its door, trunk, and hood lines are recessed instead of raised. If you look at your other 1950's era Dinky's, you will find all of them with raised edges. The Simca, on the other hand, did use the raised edge, but many of the French models soon went to the recessed version....interesting! Regards, Terry

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Hi Terry, I managed to copy a very old short article of mine (June 2005) on the TalkModelToys webforum to this text frame. Here it is, a provisional overview of 'firsts' and other special features of the Austin Atlantic. I will try to copy it to the specific Austin Atlantic topic too. 'From the notes in my documentation I can give some firsts, onlys and specials about this model, as the 1950s Dinky range is concerned: In spite of all shortages on the metal market, this model was issued in the very difficult and disappointing year 1951, no less than two years after the completion of its design drawings! The diecast windscreen frame is very unusual, instead of the comprehensive moulded clear polystyrene windscreens like the ones on the 131 Cadillac and the 132 Packard (but in many respects analogous to the French Simca 8 cabriolet no. 24s/534 which was introduced one year later, in 1952). Possibly this is the Dinky showing a maximum of colour variations during its production period, at least twelve. A colour scheme and table of variations is given by Jos F. Heraud in Model Collector 12/5 (May 1998) p. 18, and of course the Christies auction catalogue of the Remy-Meeus collection (24 September 2001, pp. 61-62) shows and describes a stunning number of variations. Until the 1960s the only and earliest Dinky which was designed with recessed instead of the usual protruding detailing lines of doors etc. The period Dinky with the most extensive silver detailing. The first truly post war British Dinky convertible. The diecast dash board detailing, even showing a radio, is unprecedented. A regular 1950s Dinky open car, but without the later so familiar driver (compare the regular sports cars of the 1950s, the Cadillac, the Packard). Of course the American market oriented MG Midget Sports, no. 129 was also without a driver. The only regular British Dinky Toy in the 1950s which featured smooth white tyres (on the black one, far more were used on French Dinkies of that period). One of the few 3-digit + 1 letter numbered Dinky Toy cars. The American market orientation of this model (and its real world prototype) was also expressed by the later number 106, which was an extension of the 100-105 range, the earlier 38-series sports cars, but now, in the early fifties, only available on the American market (Dinky Toys & Modelled Miniatures, p. 223). By the way, these later 38-series sports cars (with their coloured hubs) were also available in The Netherlands, at least until 1952 but possibly later. ' Kind regards, Jan

A military combination. Dave

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A very nice display of the two field gun units, nicely positioned. When I was a youngster, many, many years ago, the older one was a favorite play toy. I liked the tracks and also the way you could connect and unhook the pieces.Regards, Terry

Jan---Very nice writeup on the Austin Atlantic, and all the special attributes that little model has. Pretty amazing that there are so many special items associated with it. Regarding the raised detail lines, I have never heard much discussion about them, or why the Atlantic was singled out to try them. I think Jacques, on his CD, mentions that the original drawing, which is in the GB of DT, even shows those lines as raised and makes no mention at all about them being changed to recessed. A very interesting anamoly! A very nice article Jan. Regards, Terry