Bandai put a guarantee behind its little cars

Long before Gundam kits, Bandai was selling the idea of a toy backed by a guarantee. Its company history dates the launch of a product-guarantee system to November 1955, alongside a model of the 1956 Toyopet Crown.

The initials BC came from Bandai Company. By 1958, the message had reached television: the red box identified a BC-guaranteed toy. Quality was being made part of the brand’s public identity, rather than left for the customer to discover after opening the package.

The Bandai Packard in our museum illustrates the company’s continuing interest in model cars. It belongs to a wider story that began well before the plastic-kit and character ranges now associated with the name.

Has anyone kept an early BC box with its guarantee paperwork?