Happy collecting milestones

Many thanks townie54 - I followed all the links and was hoping for a larger image! I can vaguely see two cream coloured cars in the diorama, but that became pixelated out when one tries to zoom in. I read that the diorama was prepared by the FBI to be used at the Warren Commission. Nice to see that Dinky Toys played a role in unraveling the events of that terrible day in 1963. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. As can be seen, the image is rather small! Actually, the image on the website is slightly larger for those who would like to see the Fairlanes 'a little better'! Kind regards Bruce (150) #669 21 June 2015

Hi Bruce, like many a DTCA member I can sniff out a Dinky at 20 yards or more, and the spun wheels was the clincher. The book The Death of a President by William Manchester is a good read.

Hello 'townie' (wish I knew your first name!!) I liked what you wrote about sniffing out a Dinky Toys at 20 yards! I think that is a requirement to be an acknowledged collector of these little gems! (Given the direction of the wind prevailing at the time, I can do likewise at twice that distance!) William Manchester is/was a prolific writer concentrating mainly on WW2. I have his book 'Goodbye Darkness' which became quite controversial for reasons I have long forgotten. 'Goodbye Darkness' was given to me by a World War Two fighter Ace, Sidney S Woods in 1981. Kind regards Bruce (150) #671 22 June 2010

Hello 'townie' I encountered a problem in attaching an image on my last post, and in so doing, I lost the last two paragraphs of that post. Fortunately I had made a copy, so here is the rest of that Post!! Thank you for enlarging your profile photograph. Is the X100 on display in the Henry Ford Museum The Actual car in which John Kennedy was assassinated? If so, it must have had the capability of being converted into an open limousine. (I suppose I should Google this, but I am feeling lazy!) You did not ask, but the image below is my profile photograph, although I wonder what became of the young stud with the shorts and tropical long socks as well as the mop of hair! (Taken in September 1972 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea when my parents came to visit their son in this tropical colonial 'outpost'!) The car is a 1971 Mitsubishi Colt Galant GTO that I bought in February 1972 - probably the best car I have ever owned which is why I have half a cabinet filled with model Galant GTOs! (No doubt taking up valuable space that should be occupied by Dinky Toys!!) Kind regards Bruce (150) #672 22 June 2015

Hi Bruce the picture of the X100 dates from my visit to Detroit in 2000. The HFM has other presidential Lincolns too, eg the Sunshine Special and one of Reagans. After the assassination the X100 was resprayed from presidential blue to black in tribute and was given an armoured roof, and dubbed the 'Quickfix' as it exists now. It did have a clear attachable bubble roof originally but the failure to use it in Dallas has been one of the many conspiracy theories. I attach a picture from Model Collector December 2009 from my article 'A Bit of a Stretch' which the editor strangely retitled. The article included Dinky 170, 198 and 131 as well as the Dinky Club France Cadillac Fleetwood Limousine.

Hello Patrick I must dig out the MODEL COLLECTOR story you wrote as I do recall reading it. (Funny how with important events one can remember exactly where one was on hearing of it - I can still recall where I was at that time as on arriving at our local golf club and on seeing the Australian flag at half-mast, I asked what had happened. It was 4.30am in Australia when this took place, but things took a little while for the news to come out.) Thank you though for filling us in on the details of the X100. Editors have a great way of handling one's story - I speak from experience. I guess it is to exert their editorial authority!! My wife and I were in Dearborn in 1981, visiting an associate who was providing assistance with our Museum's Ford Tri-Motor aircraft. Never gave it a thought to visit the Ford Museum and we were only blocks away! I should have done more homework! Regards Bruce (150) #674 23 June 2015

HFM have of course a Tri-Motor which was on display in 2000.

Complete!! By adding the no. 80f Ambulance militaire all French military vehicles up to 1959, the full 80 series, is complete now, all I ever pursued! 80f was the only one of this set to have been issued with windows right from the start. In my eyes it would have looked nicer without, but complete is complete. The same goes for the 890 Tracteur Berliet et semi-remorque porte-char, which moreover always had a number in the new numbering system: 890, and which in fact does not belong to the initial 80 series of smaller military vehicles. Kind regards, Jan

Another collecting milestone (but I must admit I still will have the final three most difficult and expensive ones to go ...). Kind regards, Jan

[img]/images/sites/default/files/forum-images/dte917 IMG_1417.jpg[/img]
[img]/images/sites/default/files/forum-images/dte514, 917, 918 IMG_1409.jpg[/img]

Jan--A very nice addition to your growing fleet of the Guy vans. I personally think that set of 6 vans, all painted so differently, and in varied liveries, is one of the nicest series that Dinky ever produced. I remember commenting on here a couple of years ago about this Spratt's van, and the odd addition of red paint on the lower edge of the van body. It appears that every Spratt's has had this paint added, leading me to believe that it originally had a red stripe under the wording, similar to the stripe above. Mine appears to have been brushed in by hand, as brush marks are clearly visible. Can you confirm this with your new one? The question wold then seem to be, why was this done, and why was it not incorporated into the production paint scheme, and sprayed on? When I first brought this up, it appeared no one else in our group had noticed it before. When I bought my example years ago, I noticed it, and asked th seller about it, and was told then they were all that way. Best regards & Merry Christmas! Terry

Another happy collecting milestone reached at the Houten fair yesterday. I managed to replace at last the repaint 39f Studebaker Sate Commander Coupe, which I sold many years ago (2009), but were not in the position to replace very soon after that by a decent original example. That was a pity because in the mean time (2014) Al Keeling was so kind to produce for me the underbox of the 39 set box, of which I owned the original top lid only. Now I am able to present the contents complete, albe it the post-war issues only. Kind regards, Jan

Jan---Very nice addition and another milestone crossed off the list. That is a lovely box and it makes such a nice display and presentation. The whole of the 39 series is such an important set and also a Dinky diecasting milestone, and yours is very nice indeed! Best regards, Terry