24v and 538 Buick Roadmaster (1954-1960)

I have 2 Buick Roadmasters. 1st version blue/dark blue with smooth inner roof, but without silver detailing on the sides and 2nd version yellow/green with checkered inner roof with silver detailing on the sides.I find the lack of this silver detailing on the side and blue paint on the side of the bumpers suspicious and that's why I consider my 1st version as a repaint. The silver detailing is clearly shown on the accompanying boxes and apparently it should have been applied that way on the model.I am also fascinated by the beauty and detail of this French Dinky Toys model. After receiving my 2nd version, I started to delve more into certain details of the model and I also went in search of the origin of the model, among other things.Terry describes in #4 that the original model is probably from 1952 or 1953, but I think that is a mistake and must be 1951.The Meccano drawing No 100383 of this model is included in the DT encyclopedia of Jacques Dujardin and is dated 1-7-52. The model is indicated on the drawing as Buick 72 R which I find special in itself, because I had never seen a model number of a car on another Meccano drawing. It also makes it easier to find an image of the prototypeWhen looking for brochures I have downloaded Buick brochures from the years 1951 to 1953 and come to the conclusion that only the brochure from 1951 fully corresponds to the Dinky Toys model which I show below. I only found the chrome trim on the side, the so called sweepspear to and on the rear fender in the 1951 brochure. A similar chrome trim version also has the 1953 brochure, but that cannot be the original Dinky Toys model, as it has different headlights and front grille as can be seen in the photos below.Jan Oldenhuis 11 June 2021

Thanks, Jan, thorough, as ever! An example below of the blue/dark blue version, with shiny polished hubs, lower side silver detailing and chequered inside roof. The French 1954 catalogue gave extra attention to this new model by the introductory 'Le geste du connaisseur' page. It shared the nouveaut status with the 1954 Ford Vedette in the same catalogue. Kind regards, Jan W

Jan---Nice acquisitions! I have read before and remember seeing listed for sale, at least a few of the Buick's that were blue and missing that silver treatment on the sweepspear on each side. It is hard to imagine Meccano allowing that; my only guess would be that something happened with the mask device, where it wasn't usable, and they went ahead and made some that way.With regard to which year it represents.....I have spent considerable time after my initial posting in looking at these, and I concluded that the Dinky Toys model is a hybrid mix of both the 1951 & 1952 models. That chrome sweeping side spear on each side definitely came from the 1951 car, but those small raised fins on the rear fenders appear on the 1952 car, so it appears that French Meccano borrowed some design elements from both years....possibly because it appears they were somewhat late (1954) in releasing the model, and felt like updating it a bit. Another mystery for sure, but still one of the nicest Diecast models produced. The level and execution of detail is still amazing! Best regards, Terry

I happily proclaim Terry as our resident Roadmaster expert! I second his comments in this thread to the effect that this model can occur without the silver detaling on the sides (I have one such example in the lemon yellow color, and it is obviously original). Whether one can call this a 'factory error' or a 'variant' is of course a matter of opinion ... I also have samples where the silver detailing is present but somewhat faint, with a mottled quality. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I also have a blue example where the factory had first painted the body yellow, then for some reason changed course and overpainted it in blue. A rather mysterious thing to have done!

Jan---thanks for corroborating this fact. I am somewhat amazed that no one had noticed it before, in all these years! Here is one more photo of my modest little collection of Buick Roadmaster's..............in my humble opinion one of the very best diecast models that Dinky made in the post-war era through 1959. Best regards, Terry

Hi Terry, the characterization 'modest little collection' applies to my single piece Roadmaster 'collection', not yours! Yours is a miracle! Kind regards, Jan W

Terry you're right. It is a 1951/52 hybrid. With the photos below I visualize the differences between the DT 24V and the Buick Roadmaster 1951 and 1952 models. It can be clearly seen that the small raised fins on the rear fenders and the high position of the boot handle on the 24v correspond to model 1952. As for the grille and bumper elements at the front, the 24V model has 17 vertical ribs in the grille between the direction indicators like the 1952 model. The 2 bumper rosettes of the front bumper are located on the 24V at the rear of the bumper, like the 1951 model. As has already been said, the chrome detailing on the sides, the so-called sweepspear, on the 24V corresponds to model 1951. So you rightly call it a hybrid because the 24V model has model features of both the 1951 and the 1952 model. It is indeed surprising that the issue of model 24V has been delayed for so long. Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that Meccano Bobigny was not able to issue many new French cars after WW2 and therefore first opted for issuing new French models. Best Regards, Jan Oldenhuis 14 June 2021 Added 2 photos showing the small raised fins on the rear fenders more clearly with the fuel cap under the left fin.

I wonder if - by leaving these protruding 1952 fins at the rear out, or simply reducing, generalizing them - Meccano deliberately managed to avoid an extra complexity for the rear part of the die ... Perhaps Jacques' technical expertise can be of help explaining this. Kind regards, Jan

Jan, I think that the guy who made the drawings for this Buick mixed the 1951 and 52 models or even did not notice that there were different. Once the 1952 chrome parts had been added to the rear wings in the mould, they could not be removed to come back to the 1951 model. I must admit that although jan's O post is excellent as usual, I can not spot the differences between the two years on the front of the car.

My guess would be that the DInky Toy was originally designed as a 1951 model, and then the extensions were added to the rear wings in an attempt to update the toy. (And of course at that point it was impossible to delete the sweepspear from the sides.) One should remember that in those days the cosmetic changes that were applied to American cars every year were pretty drastic, and also the subject of pre-release secrecy. It was very difficult for Meccano Ltd. to keep up with them, and would have been even if they had had advance access to automotive designs (which I believe was rarely, if ever, the case with U.S. automakers). Another example, off the top of my head, would be Liverpool's model of a Ford Fairlane. This is a model of a 1961 Fairlane, which would actually have gone on the market in the U.S. in September 1960. Yet Binns Road could not release it until January 1962 -- 16 months later. This kind of gestation period was much more extended than, for example, that enjoyed by the U.S. makers of plastic kits, such as AMT and Jo-Han. They were able to release their versions of new cars from Ford, Chevy, Buick, et al while these were still current models. Inevitably, then, Dinky Toys (and to a lesser degree Matchbox and Corgi) always seemed a bit 'dated' from the spoilt American child's point of view. Not a criticism, of course, just a comment!

Jacques-indeed there are no casting changes to spot in the body of the front of the 1951 and 1952 Buicks. But I found subtle differences in the grille and bumper rosettes as I described and show in the pictures of the brochures and the real Buicks 1951 and 1952. It seems to me an American tradition in those days to change at least the grille every year. At first view the grilles look perhaps similar, but at closer look there are differences. If you count the number of vertical ribs of the 2 grilles you know the difference. I am attaching 2 more photos of a 1951 and 1952 Buick Roadmaster to show the difference in the grilles and bumper rosettes. What always remains a question is whether original bumpers and grilles are mounted back during restorations. Note: The photos show the perfect beauty of this legendary American car. Jan Oldenhuis, 17 June 2021

Jacques-thanks for your confirmation and listing the differences.Your summary is missing the high position of the boot/trunk handle which is the same as model 1952.I think that so far the main differences between the 1951 and 1952 model have been mentioned. Kind regards, Jan O.