My Favourite Dinky Toy Story

A new thread for us to share our memories of the Dinky Toys we all know and love.The Dinky Supertoys No 934 Leyland Octopus Wagon in green and yellow was announced in the April 1956 edition of the Meccano Magazine and I immediately fell in love with this absolutely stunning vehicle. At a cost of 8 shillings and with me at the time getting 6 pence a week pocket money this meant saving up for a minimum of 16 weeks - this seemed a lifetime!!!I pestered my dad for some time and eventually, just before the school summer holidays, my dad said that if I saved up 4 shillings he would give me the rest.My dad was the projectionist in the local cinema in Settle, North Yorkshire, at that time and I used to love going in with him during holiday times. In the first week of the holidays I spent quite a bit of time with the cleaners in the cinema helping them out with various jobs. In return they gave me any coins which had been dropped by the customers the night before. At the end of the week I was delighted as I had managed to collect 4 shillings!!!Imagine my dad's shock when I proudly showed him the money, he must have been horrified that I had got it so quickly. But, to his credit, he immediately gave me the rest of the money and I became the proud owner of a Leyland Octopus.During the rest of the holidays that vehicle worked very hard.It would be very good for the rest of us to share some treasured memories of our youth, or perhaps tracking down that elusive model after a long search.Dave

Very nice story Dave. Have you still this Leyland ? Richard

Sadly no, the one shown was bought a couple of years ago. About 20 of my original military vehicles were kept (and I still have them) all the rest were given away!! If I knew then what I know now I would still have them. Hindsight is a wonderful science. Dave

Dave While scrolling through these countless Threads, I came across your story. Absolutely fabulous and it brought back many memories of similar happenings on the other side of the world! It is amazing for the generation of today, to understand what it was like to save one's pennies to buy a Dinky Toy, especially comparing today's generation and their spending habits as well as their 'pocket money' from often over-generous parents. I had to split several barrow-loads of fire wood, and mow our quite considerable lawns with a push mower several times over to earn enough to buy a small Dinky Toy. However, on the plus side, the chores I was required to perform in and around the house each week (I hated when Mum got me to dust and vacuum!) when the reward came at Christmas and five days later, my birthday, with the arrival of a number of well-chosen Dinky Toys. I often wonder why certain models were selected, and others not, and what was the deciding factor when selecting the colour - or was a model chosen and that was it without regard to the colour scheme. Whatever the reason, I was always completely satisfied with every model that I was given and I cannot recall ever being dissatisfied with any Dinky Toy that was given to me. I do think that it was my Mother who selected some of my models, which explains why my 111 Triumph is in salmon pink, as too my 131 Cadillac Eldorado!! It must have been great having a father who was a projectionist at the local cinema! Great story Dave. Do you have any more? I am sure many others must have something to include in this Thread. Kind regards Bruce. (150) #534

Thanks for that Bruce, I was hoping that this would inspire other forum members to add some of their memories, sadly that was not the case. Dave

Thanks Dave and Bruce, Missed this one first time round, so here's my Dinky story, It was around 1968, certainly before I started school in 1969, and I already loved toy cars. Dinky's to me were what was out at the time, the new bronze Range Rover was my favourite. We were visiting my Aunty Dora in Walsall, and I was struggling to 'sit quietly' as you do aged 4! Aunty Dora took me out to the veranda, sat me at a table, and said 'I've got some of Geoff's old cars you can play with', Geoff was my cousin, who was about 18 by that time. She went into the garage, gave me an old cardboard box, and my life changed, I had never seen anything like it, all these years later I can still remember them, 'Ever Ready' Guy van, 2 x 29c buses, in Red and Green / cream, Hudson Commodore, Ford Fordor, and a Dublo Austin lorry, all well played with, but heaven to me. I played with them every time we went. Eventually I was given them, and they formed the start my mine, and my Dad's Dinky collection. Even though I was very young, the 'old ones' were never for play. I stupidly sold all 1500 of them (for 1,500.00!!) at 18 in 1982 to buy a real car, and I only wish I could have them back now. Chris Warr.

One of my early Dinky memories happened in 1956, when I was 11 years old, and had just a handful of Dinky Toys. I had a brother, Jeff, who was 6 years younger than me, or about 5 years old then. By then, I played with my Dinky's, even outside, but carefully, as I did not want to damage them. Brother Jeff had long noticed my Dinky's and he finally mustered the courage to ask if he could play with one. I already knew that Jeff did not take care of things like I did......his toys were always quickly broken, and worse yet, he didn't seem to care a lot. So when he asked me, I quickly answered no..........that just was not going to happen with my prized Dinky's. Sometime later, he decided to plead his case to a higher authority....our mother! Despite my pleas to the contrary, she then decided that I should let Jeff play the rest of the afternoon with one of my Dinky's, just to prove he could be careful with it.So I decided to surrender my Reconnaissance Car, as my other Dinky's were more fragile. Later in the evening, Jeff proudly returned it, and on first look, it appeared to be ok. But a little later I discovered that one of the front wheels was now at an angle....the front axle was bent. I then ran to mother, and showed what had happened...............and she then said I did not have to let Jeff play with my Dinky's anymore!This may sound a little harsh, but I was very careful with all of my things at a very early age, and I am convinced that is why I am one of the few people I know who still has all of his childhood Dinky's along with those catalogs from 1953Terry

Wonderful....this is what I really hoped would happen with this thread. As you will know I look to find something from the Forum to put into the DTCA Journal once every four months. With your permission I would like to put these threads forward and then some of the old boys who live in a computerless world could hopefully add their experiences. Thanks again guys. Dave

Great thread! Two Dinky-related things happened in 1955 which would have a profound effect on my life. I was just a toddler, but already developing an interest in motor vehicles. I don't remember which Dinky came first, but the arrival in my little hands of a brand-new Foden Regent tanker led to a deep interest in these handsome vehicles, and the company that built them. Close to where I live, a coach company operated a few Foden coaches, and the only double-decker Foden bus to be fitted with their own two-stroke engine often operated on a route which passed the end of my street - and they all had the same 'face' as my beloved tanker. My Dinky 942 led a similar life to many of the real vehicles - worked hard in its early years, then fitted with a different body (in my case, a wooden flatbed made by my grandad after the tank got damaged) before being laid aside, unused, for many years. Rediscovery years later resulted in the finding of a replacement tank, and restoration to its former glory. The other was the gift of a maroon and fawn Hudson Sedan, which sparked an interest in American cars which has lasted to this day, and resulted in me owning seventeen real ones over the last forty years. An unfortunate consequence of this ownership came about in the mid-1980's. During the late 1960's, when I'd realised that my playthings were becoming collector's items, I used to trawl the toyshops buying up old stock, and had quite a large collection. Returning to real American cars, in 1983 I bought a 1958 Oldsmobile 98 Holiday Hardtop which had been laid up for about fifteen years, and needed a fair amount of work to become roadworthy. The most expensive job was the rebuilding of the four-speed automatic transmission, and for this, I needed to raise some cash. Something had to go, and it was the bulk of the Mint Boxed Dinkies that I'd snapped up a decade and a half before that went. The car did get fixed, and eventually was sold on. I heard that a few years later it was cut in half lengthwise and mounted on a Pub wall in Newcastle. I hope that my Dinkies fared better - perhaps some of you might own them now! -Kevin.

A lovely story Kevin, I suspect your Dinky Toys will have fared better than the Oldsmobile. Dave

Hi, I have not ignored this thread, but the memory of the TalkModelToys site and the many stories I wrote there (which now have gone) frustrates me a little bit (as do the memories of many other elaborate contributions I wrote there). Perhaps I will dig some up from my older text files and make them suitable for publication here. Even during retirement I am short of time ... Kind regards, Jan

We all lost a lot with the demise of TMT, it is a real shame Dave