Collectors’ Corner

Carrera Universal arrived in 1963 with cars at 1:32 scale. Four years later, Carrera added the larger 124 system, with cars at 1:24. Those numbers describe quite a noticeable change in size. For the same full-size subject, a 1:24 model is one-third longer than its 1:32 counterpart. A car measuring 4.8 metres in real life would be 15 centimetres long at 1:32, or 20 centimetres at 1:24. The slot-racing business…

A collision was not always a failed lap. In Carrera’s 1998/99 catalogue, the Crash Derby set deliberately sends two little cars towards a narrow section of track where they can collide. The accompanying illustration shows a red car and a green one meeting nose-to-nose. The caption explains that their bonnets and body panels come away in a crash. Those loose pieces were part of the game. Crash Derby sits in…

The first European Car of the Year was a Rover. In 1964, the Rover 2000 took the award ahead of the Mercedes-Benz 600 and Hillman Imp. Behind the restrained saloon body was an unusual chassis: independent front suspension and a De Dion rear axle. The four-cylinder 2000 came first; the better-known V8 version belonged to a later stage of the P6 story. Corgi chose the 2000 for model no. 252.…

The Matchbox name describes a size before it describes a vehicle. In Mattel’s account of the brand’s beginnings, Jack Odell made a tiny die-cast road roller for his daughter because her school allowed toys only if they fitted inside a matchbox. The brand dates its beginning to 1953. The tiny vehicles soon had a miniature world around them. Mattel’s anniversary history records the first accessory pack in 1956: a fuel…

You may recognise these little Peugeot 201 vans without knowing their maker. They were produced by Giacomo de Andreis in Marseille, France, with colourful lithographed tinplate bodies. The real Peugeot 201 appeared in 1929. These toy versions are thought to date from somewhat later. Their roofs open, and the bodies appear to have doubled as biscuit boxes: a practical container that became a toy once the biscuits were gone. The…

One car, five entries. On page 3 of Vitesse’s 1987 catalogue, the Chevrolet Corvette appears as an open cabriolet, a Le Mans car, a closed cabriolet, a coupé with a hard top and an SCCA production-class Spyder. They are listed as nos. 110–114. The photographs make the differences easier to follow than a list alone. Some cars have their roofs off and interiors exposed; others have contrasting roofs, racing numbers…

The driver of Dinky’s Opperman Motocart stands behind a single front wheel, with a broad load bed immediately behind him. There is no enclosed cab. Our museum example combines a green chassis, brown body and red wheel centres. The real Motocart was a compact working vehicle for jobs such as carrying produce around market gardens. It came from S. E. Opperman, an engineering firm with a factory at Stirling Corner…

Albedo’s four-page 1987 catalogue gives a surprisingly large part of its range to the drinks trade. Holsten, Warsteiner, Jever and Martini liveries appear on small lorries and matching trailers. The combinations are worth comparing. Some carry white box bodies; others have a dark canvas-style cover. The green Holsten outfit has the brewery lettering across both the lorry and trailer, while the blue Martini combination uses the familiar striped logo. Even…