Advertising on Commercial Vans, Tankers and Truck

In view of the lengthy discussions that have taken place under the 514 Guy Van 'Lyons', and following a suggestion that as the discussion encompasses other models as well, that a new Topic be prepared. Whether this Topic is in the correct category, we will see! The following is part of that discussion which I submitted on 14 April 2016: 'However, Meccano was quite sneaky in that all the price lists for 1951 and 1952 refer to the 514 simply as 'Guy Van'. With that the price of 6/10 was only current between June 1951 and December 1951. June 1951 as per a price list with the print reference of 16/651/75 and the price was increased to 7/9 as per Meccano World Famous Toys catalogue with a print reference of 16/152/50. With this, it can be stated that the Lyons Van was available in 1951, perhaps in time for Christmas. This then confirms what the Richardsons had stated, 1951 - 1952 and Cecil Gibson in his HISTORY OF BRITISH DINKY TOYS stating the Lyons Van was introduced in November 1951. So the title of this topic will have to be corrected! Attached is the first advertisement for the new Lyons Van that appeared in the November 1951 issue of Meccano Magazine.' Until other leaflets are found, this is the only location when the Lyons Van was pictured and that was in the Meccano Magazine. The van appeared in the next issues of the magazine, December 1951, January, February and March 1952 with its last appearance in the March issue. Then followed a long gap until the 514 Guy Van 'Weetabix' appeared in the June 1952 issue of the magazine. The interesting thing with this advertisement for Dinky Toys that although the 31b Trojan 15-cwt van has the advertiser's name of 'DUNLOP', the Weetabix van is simply recorded as 514 Guy Van in the same manner as all advertisements in the Meccano Magazine, leaflets and catalogues until the arrival of the 'SPRATTS' van. Bruce (150) 20160415/894/1115

I mentioned above how the advertisers were treated differently. The images below show how Dunlop was quoted in the description of the van, whereas Weetabix was not granted the same 'privilege'! However, the early Guy Vans were not the only models where the advertiser was not mentioned (I stand corrected) in price lists, leaflets and catalogues, even their boxes. The 591/991 AEC Tanker is another, as 'SHELL CHEMICALS LIMITED' and 'SHELL CHEMICALS' were not mentioned anywhere, except in the original write-up in the October 1952 issue of the Meccano Magazine. At least from 'Spratts' in March 1954 when the model was given its individual number, 917, the advertiser was mentioned. Kind regards Bruce (150) 20160415/895/1254

The 591 A.E.C. Tanker was released in October 1952 in the colours of Shell, with the side inscription being SHELL CHEMICALS LIMITED. At the rear was the company's emblem, a shell with the company's name SHELL in yellow in the middle of the shell. This was located on the door at the rear. (This is the first time I have noticed that it is in fact a door!) Meccano issued a small leaflet in October 1952, which was actually printed in September, with the print code of 13/952/250 The leaflet was originally intended to be included with the Order Forms that were to be sent to every Meccano Dealer during September. One can see that even with the 591, no mention was made that it was a Shell Chemicals Limited tanker, apart from the image. Bruce (150)20160415/896/1412

Bruce---Thanks for creating this topic, as I think it is one worth further discussion, and not specific to any one model. The AEC Tanker non-naming is interesting. If we assume that Meccano did not name those Guy Vans, because others were coming down the road, and it was just easier to use a 'generic' name, than does that mean that Meccano was also thinking of other liveries in the future for the AEC Tanker? Another thought with the Guy situation: did Meccano intentionally not assign names in the catalog, knowing that different versions might be produced at the same time, with overlap in what was available? That could just list Guy Van, not knowing what various stores might have in stock at any given moment. I think we do know that Slumberland vans were available well after the Lyons van (Supertoys wheels). Likely we will never know the exact dates these different versions were still being made and sold, but in the end, it is still very strange that the Lyons was never mentioned in anything other than the Meccano Magazine. My own personal thought is that something happened to cause Meccano to curtail production, and it happened fairly quickly..... Best regards, Terry

There is also a single Guy van factory colour sample owned by l'Auto Jaune in Paris, ex Roulet collection. It advertises LOTUS & DELTA SHOES. The change of name on the Shell Chemical tanker is probably because this firm changed it's name. Where are the drawings with this change ? Jacques.

Greetings all There has been some discussion on this Topic and the 514 Guy Van Lyons Topic concerning the lack of identification on sales literature relating to the British firms that Meccano selected to appear on the 514 Guy Van. At first I thought this had something to do with copyright laws, but if this was the case, then why were the small vans treated differently, with the advertisers name appearing throughout the print media such as price lists, catalogues and on the boxes themselves. And then there is the anomaly associated with the boxs labels. One has to wonder why Meccano went to great lengths to include an artists drawing of the model showing its advertising, and then only include a single letter (or two letters as was the case for the early Spratts van) within a circle, to denote the contents of the box on the upper and one end label when it would have been a simple task to include Slumberland, Lyons, Weetabix and Spratts on the box label. No doubt Meccano had a valid reason for this, but unfortunately these days all we can do is to speculate. With that it was interesting to see when I picked up my boxed Spratts to see that although the end label had SP within a circle to denote 'Spratts', the upper label simply had an S within a circle. There has also been discussion on the length of time each advertisers van has been in production and how some vans appear to have been treated to a shorter duration than others. It is possible the reason rests with something that appeared in Meccano Magazine. In the January 1950 issue, the individual responsible for writing about the new introductions of Dinky Toys wrote this about the new 514 Guy Van although he/she did not mention the name of the company whose livery appears on the new product. Each van will bear the name of a well-known British firm, and the result is a really beautiful miniature road vehicle. Unfortunately, the reader is left to ponder how many firms will be covered and the frequency when these will appear in the shops. Some vans seemed to have been in long production as evidenced by the change of wheels for them such as Weetabix, but I was surprised to see a Slumberland sold through Vectis with grooved Supertoys hubs in 2013. Unfortunately I forgot to draft these words elsewhere and then paste them into the Topic, and I could kick myself, as something happened after writing much more than the above and then attaching my images then hitting the Save button only to have it disappear into cyberspace. It would be great if one were able to highlight what has been written direct into the Topic, copy and then paste it elsewhere as quite frequently when one pastes a story, often during the proof-reading process additional details are added. I just hope I have not omitted anything I guess I can always write a new Post! Kind regards Bruce (150) 20160415/897/2106