DINKY 350: Tiny’s Mini Moke (1970-1972):
Tiny’s Mini Moke was licensed from ITV’s pre-school kid’s programme, ‘The Enchanted House’. It was based on the 342 Austin Mini Moke, which had also spawned the 106 Prisoner Mini Moke, nothing like getting your money’s worth. Perfect models are hard to come by as they are fragile with loose parts and the product did not sell well.
TV SERIES AND COMIC STRIP:
The Enchanted House was home to a group of friendly animals who lived there, including Nellyphant the elephant, Joe the kangaroo, Tiny the giraffe, Bob Robin, Leo the lion cub, Sammy seal, Worm and other friends. It was shown at lunchtime on ITV between 1970 and 1972.
Between 1973 and 1975, the characters appeared in the ‘Look and Learn‘ comic in their own comic strip adventures.
VARIATIONS, PROTOTYPES ETC:
No known variations or prototypes.
ODDITIES AND RARITIES:
A salesman’s sample of 350 Tiny’s Mini Moke mounted on a factory made wooden plinth.
Sold at C&T Auctions in September 2017. ‘PALMINA PARODI’ Dymo strip lettering to the front refers to the Parodi family who were the sole importers of Meccano and Dinky products into Italy from 1916 to the closure of the Binns Road factory in 1978.
BOX:
The box was decorated with cut out figures for added play value which was an idea also used by the 477 Parsley’s Car released at around the same time and also linked to a kid’s TV series. There were two packing pieces, one to protect ‘Tiny’ and the foam to stop the model moving in transit.
Here’s a digital mock up of the ‘cut out’ characters on provided on the box.
Nellyphant the elephant, Joe the kangaroo and Leo the lion cub
CATALOGUE:
Tiny made a brief appearance in the 1971 catalogue next to another TV show star, Parsley.
Dinky Toys: TV Shows, Space and Specials 