Meccano's Dinky Toys Club

I've never seen a French version before, I love the documentation side of this hobby Dave

Richard Many thanks for bringing this unique piece of Dinky France history to our attention again! I had completely forgotten that you had posted this 7 months ago, on 10 September 2014 at 5.52pm! This is what you wrote under the topic 'Driving-Licence': Richard wrote: 'Hi guys, Are you allowed to move or drive your dinky Toys ? I don't think so ! So, send me your collections because I am a driving-licence holder for Dinky Toys ! :laugh: :laugh: I prove it : It was given on the Meccano stall after driving Dinky Toys on a circuit, during the 'Foire de Paris', in 1954. Kind regards. Richard' Was this 'licence' printed on both sides, as the picture shows what could be two licences showing the front and back. How many years was this 'licence' issued, or was it only in 1954? Kind regards Bruce (150) #525

Bruce, Richard's picture shows both sides of his driving licence. In 1954 the French dirving licence looked like that. As indicated on the licence, it was distributed only during the 'Foire de Paris' in 1954. This trade fair lasts about one and a half week so the distribution period of Richard's licence was wery short. Enlarging the picture makes it more readable. Merci Richard pour ce document certainement extr

Je n'en ai jamais vu d'autres ! En fait, j'ai deux exemplaires, ce qui a permis de faire une seule prise en pr

buzzer999 wrote: 'Here is the licence for 1958-59 Dave' Greetings all! Adding to Dave's contribution of the cover of the 1958-59 licence, the following are the other three licences issued for Meccano's Dinky Toys Club, showing both front and rear covers: The print number is interesting. In 1959 the number printed was 35,000, 1960 was 100,000 and then the number takes a slight nose-dive to 90,000 for 1961. Was this an indication that interest was starting to wane, or that 1960 had an optimistic print run that was not quite succeeded? Kind regards Bruce(150) #526

Years ago, around 1958-1960, when I was a young boy and buying several Dinky's directly from H.Hudson Dobson, I was receiving several packages in the mail, and they usually threw in a current catalog. One time, they included the following bundle of Dinky Toys Club membership applications......there must be a dozen or more. Note that they are still in the original bundle, with the paper tape around them. Regards, Terry

They were obviously trying the 'member get member' trick and hoping you would encourage your mates to join the club. Dave

Dave....could be, but I only had a very few friends that were ardent Dinky collectors. For some reason, we never bothered to join at the time. Regards, Terry

Terry (and Dave) Australia too had its agents distributing application forms, although in Armidale where I lived, a small city (large town by European and British standards?) of 10,000, I never saw anything to do with the club, only what I read in the Meccano Magazine. Here is an example of the Australian application form, distributed by LITTLE FOLKS TOY SHOP which was then located in the Old Town Hall Arcade, Queen Street, Brisbane. (The Arcade is still in existence although its name has changed to Brisbane Arcade, but the store is long gone.) The reverse has the address where applications are processed for each State and Territory. E G Page & Co in Sydney were the Australian agents and distributors for Meccano and their products. In South Australia, the applications were processed by Harris Scarfe Ltd, a company that is still in existence with branches around Australia. It is a general merchandise store with electrical appliances, kitchenware, plastics, Manchester and clothing, so I presume in 1957 it also had a toy department. Note that the application form is dated July 1957, with 50,000 being printed. Kind regards Bruce (150) #568

Here is 'Dinky Dispatch' from the Dinky Club of America,PO Box 850, Hewitt, Texas, 76643. It is dated Summer 1979 so it is about 15 years after my collecting had stopped. It is addressed to WG Halpin, 22414 Parklane, St Clair Shores, Minnesota, 48080. Dave

Greetings all With Dave raising the subject of the Dinky Toys Club of America, until such time as sufficient information comes to light we may as well include material on that club here! So, herewith is the application form that was included in the US version of the Catalogue No. 14 for 1979 - long after the UK club had become a victim of its own success. This catalogue incidentally was included in a letter to a US toy store dated June 1, 1979 that also included tags for the #6030 Display Case. Even as late as June 1979, the impression given at least by AVA, the US distributor in Hewitt, Texas, for Meccano, Airfix, etc was apparently unaware of the imminent closure of the Meccano factory. Regards Bruce(150) #605 7 June 2015

An application form for the DTCA Dinky Toys Club of America was printed under the hanging box of the 1979 cost reduced US re-issue of the G.M.C. Brinks truck. I use the words hanging box so that this type of packing can not be mistaken for the Visi-Pac, both of them are often called window boxes which is confusing. As for the closure of the factory, the foreing agents were certainly not aware of the bad state in which the company was. In 1970, consultants were called in to improve the profitability. Their proposals were rejected at every level from the management down to the workers and mainly the six unions who were running the shops. The decision to close the factory may have been taken as late as the day before the closing. On November 30th the manager of Airfix turned up at the factory and simply said : we close down to-night. The unions organised a sitting which lasted until March 1980 but this did not help and the factory was demolished soon after. If you want to read the whole story, this is the book that you need, available on Amazon and probably on order at your local book shop.