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When
I was a kid, growing up back in the 1950s in my home country of
England, it seemed that all my friends were into collecting Dinky Toys,
diecast model cars, costing about two shillings and six pence.
Every
week when I got my 'pocket money' I would rush up to Bakers, the
wondrous toy shop in Canterbury Street, Gillingham, sadly LONG since
defunct, to buy the latest Dinky Toy. Whether it was a military Dinky,
an armored car, a Dinky police car, or even a farm vehicle, they were
all eagerly added to my collection, but my greatest pride and joy was
collecting Dinky models of American cars, those big-finned gas-guzzlers
like the Dodge Royal, the Plymouth Plaza, the Cadillac Eldorado or the
Ford Thunderbird.
In
the 60s Dinky Toys got a serious rival, the new kids on the block,
Corgi Toys, complete with, (gasp!) windows! Dinky Toys soon followed and
then innovations followed nearly every month, as the two big boys of
the model car industry fought to get the upper hand. We had new features
like 'independent suspension', 'interiors' 'GB' stickers, number plates
and 'steering'. My friends and I greeted every new invention with glee
and not a little awe.
My collection, at its height, was around
450 models, many of them duplicates, as I loved the Studebaker land
Cruisers, and the Citroen DS19s, for example, and needed them in several
different colors! Most of my collection, to my horror, was destroyed in
a flood, but a few prize specimens still sit proudly in a display case
in my Californian home, lovingly restored to their original condition.
Of
course, there were other diecast model car makers, like Solido,
Vanguard, Majorette and the American Tootsie Toys, but Dinky Toys remain
my favorite. The Dinky brand disappeared many years ago and are no
longer made but this increases the value of those remaining and some
rare mint condition models from the 1930s onwards are very valuable,
especially if they are in an original mint box. Beware of the boxes
though as many are fakes, built because few boxes survive from the
heyday of the Dinky. Spare parts are also in demand. High prices are
paid for Dinky tires (or tyres as we spell it in England).
Vintage
Dinky Toys change hands for some incredible amounts on eBay, and at
specialist toy auctions, so take a look in your attic, or the garden
shed just in case you still have a mint Dinky sitting there waiting to
be re-discovered!





See the categories on the left for Dinky, Corgi and dozens of other collectible diecast model cars!


