870 Paquebot 'France' (1962-71)

November 1962 window posterSixty years ago today the liner France was launched by General de Gaulle. Two years later Meccano launched his own probably at the request of the French Lines so that the model could be sold on board.Jan W. will probably ad to to this post in a much better way than I can.

Dear Jacques, very nice of you to have opened this new topic, dedicated to the Dinky model of your (former) beautiful flagship, which ended so horribly as S.S. Norway and was finally cut into pieces on a distant Indian beach. During one of our trips I may have told you that, as a youngster, I had the walls of my room covered with huge plates of ships of the Compagnie Gnrale Transatlantique. My teacher helped me writing the letter in French which I sent to Le Havre, begging for documentation And they treated me with a tube loaded with magnificent, colourful wall plates. They all seem to have perished in the course of years, but my ships love remained and I bought one huge example, of the Antilles, anew, quite recently. I did not like the Dinky model of the France because of the abundance of plastic. The Tri-ang model, however, lacks the most characteristic feature of the liner: the funnel wings! A big mistake. Still, last January at last I bought one, which now makes part of my fleet of diecast 1/1200 1/1250 ship models. I am in fact preparing an article on the Dinky France, but also in the light of similar non-Dinky metal ship models. Thats why I believe it will be more suitable for Model Collector or Diecast Collector than for The Journal. Nevertheless, on this place some nice pictures may honour Le Paquebot France and its Dinky Toys representation in a decent way. Kind regards, Jan

Happy to see that my article was published in this month's issue of The Journal! Kind regards, Jan

Dear Jan, I have not yet received the last issue of the journal but I can give you a piece of information. The picture in your main post above shows the France's prow in Paris, it is now back in Le Havre which is a more apropriate place for this relic.

Thank you, Jacques. Yes, I mentioned Le Havre as its present location, the lettering 'FRANCE' included. Kind regards, Jan