Author: KO

101 Thunderbird 2 Matt Green

Dinky Toys

A matt green variant of the first version, with a riveted base, of the 101 Thunderbird 2 has been sold on eBay for £549 ($670). According to the seller it was purchased new in 1967 and then stored carefully until its sale on August 31st 2019. There is an FAO Schwarz (a well known New York toy store) price sticker for $18.69 on the box.

Matt Green1.jpg

A change of paint finish for a model on its first production run is unusual especially as the riveted base version was only sold for a year before the rivets were replaced with screws to enable easier repairs of the thin yellow legs that were very prone to breaking under normal play use.

Has anybody out there got a similar variant? Would love to hear from you and see some pictures.

 

New prop videos and info

Dinky Toys

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OK not strictly Dinky Toys but its always interesting to see the original props and models that the Binns Road designers worked from to produce the toys that then sold in their millions.

Gerry Anderson TV is the official YouTube account of Anderson Entertainment & the Gerry Anderson Estate and has a raft of short background videos looking at different aspects of the GA productions including the vehicles and series featured on this site.

You can either go direct via the link above or via this site’s series and vehicles pages

Thunderbirds Primer
Captain Scarlet Primer
Space 1999 Primer
UFO Primer
FAB 1 C21 Tech
Thunderbird 2 C21 Tech
Candy and Andy Audio FAB Facts

And there are three new USS Enterprise original prop images on the

358: USS Enterprise page

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102 Joe’s Car

Dinky Toys

8th August 2019

Two interesting new variants for the site for the 102 Joe’s Car from the Joe 90 TV series.

The first is a gunmetal base version, possibly an export version or even a factory error, whatever the origin, its certainly a strange colour combination.

Metal underneath 1.jpg

The second newly identified variant is the omission of the on/off switch labelling, next to the double headed arrow and possibly a tooling issue. A short lived change as the very first versions had the text labelling as did later and the last versions of the 102.

On Off battery switch 4-cutout.png

355 ‘Tioxide’ Lunar Rover

Thunderbird 2

There’s an interesting  version of the 355 Lunar Rover on eBay at present (Buy It Now listing ends 28th April 2019).  It’s the ‘Tioxide Paints’ version and priced at £225 – not cheap but they are pretty rare.

But it was not just the Lunar Rover or even Dinky that only caught the marketing people at Tioxide Paints’ eye. A Corgi Concorde and a Spot-On Land Rover were also branded with Tioxide. I am led to  understand that all three toy companies provided unpainted models to the firm who then coated them with a Tioxide based paint (the Tioxide bit is a whitening chemical and still used today) and stickers, and this done was around 1967/68.

There were only a few models produced for senior managers and favoured clients.

TIOXIDE Luner and C and LR Comp.png

Rare Gold 362 Trident Starfighter at auction

Thunderbird 2

Just a few weeks before Dinky’s factory at Binns Road, Liverpool closed, Airfix, who owned Dinky, held their annual dinner dance at  the London Hilton. Today I suppose it would be unthinkable to hold such an event as the company spiralled into bankruptcy but in 1979 it apparently wasn’t.

The guests were all given a memento of the occasion, a specially commissioned gold painted 362 Trident Starfighter, only commercially available in black during its limited production run.

One of these souvenirs is being auctioned at Vectis Auctions on the 16th January 2019

362 Gold Trident Starfighter.jpg
Image: Vectis Auctions

The model comes from Dr Edward Force’s collection, who has written a series of excellent reference books so it has an interesting provenance.

The box label is sadly missing the hand written signature of Ray McNiece, Meccanos’ last Managing Director who had only been in post since May of 1979 but the toy is otherwise a poignant memory of the end of a great brand.

Update: Sold for £120

 

Disclaimer: I have no connection to Vectis Auctions or to the item and as with all auctions please check the details carefully before you bid.

104 SPV with a brown seat

Thunderbird 2

The listing is unfortunately timed  as it ends on January 7th but I suppose if one cancels Xmas and invests the money [c£215 plus postage from the U.S.!] then 2019 would be a very good year for one collector.

The auction is for a late version 104, with stickers and a black bumper, but also with a brown rather than red seat. I have one in my collection and it can be viewed here.

Brown seat in box 1.jpg

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LINK HERE

This variant is rare and it’s hard to find one in this good condition.

Disclaimer: I have no connection to the seller or the item and as with all eBay auctions please check carefully before you bid.