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British Americans

here’s an old saying among collectors that’s more than just an there were trace amounts of other
old saying: “It’s not so much the toys/paintings/table clocks metals, known as impurities,
Tthat matter … it’s the friends you make along the way.” In my present in the mazac, severe
experience, truer words were never uttered. More than 30 years ago, deterioration can occur in the
I had the good fortune to meet and become friends with New York bodies of the cars, resulting in
collector Gates Willard, an avid and generous enthusiast of American, what’s called “fatigue.” This kind These 39 series models, the Studebaker on
British, and European toy cars. Gates had been playing with and of damage takes the form of the right and the Oldsmobile on the left
collecting Tootsietoys, Minics, Bings, and other makes on and off since warped body panels and cracks are early post-war examples of the models
he was a kid in the 1930s, and a visit to his toy room was like walking in roofs and running boards. In first manufactured starting in 1939.
into Aladdin’s Cave. advanced cases, the toy is literally
He surprised me during one such visit when he showed me several crumbling away.
pre-World War II Dinkys. I had a bit of familiarity with these English By the time the 39s made the
toy cars, made by Meccano Ltd. in Liverpool, and I thought of them scene, Meccano seemed to have
as being more or less classic British marques like Austin and Bentley, solved the metal impurities
and Hillman. But the Chrysler Airflow that Gates showed me got my problem, as it’s usually the earlier
attention, not only because it was an Airflow (the shape of which I love) Dinkys that suffer from fatigue.
but also because it was an American marque. And, like many other But several years ago, Andrew
Dinkys, it was a fairly accurate replica of the legendary Chrysler. Reed, who was with Vectis
Auctions in England, told me
Meccano Ltd. Crosses the Pond something that surprised me. He
Meccano included several American cars in the Dinky line before said that a lot of collectors, both
the war, with the Airflow getting things rolling toward the end of 1934, here in the U.S. and elsewhere,
as part of what was called the 30 series. It was the only American entry won’t buy a pre-war Dinky if it
in the 30 group, the others included names like Daimler and Rolls- means shipment by airmail, This 39 series set, despite missing the
Royce. But it paved the way for Meccano to widen the American lens and that’s not because of rough Chrysler and with a sun-faded box,
four or five years later when they debuted the 39 series of Dinky Toys handling by the post office. still sold for $4,100 at
in (fittingly) 1939. “When you send a pre-war that Vectis Auctions in 2011.
The 39 series included a Lincoln Zephyr, an Oldsmobile, way,” he told me, “unless you’ve insulated it, really over-packaged it, as
a Packard, a Buick Viceroy, soon as it goes into the hold of an aircraft, it will expand in the cold,
a Studebaker Commander, and a because of the lead content in the toy. When it gets back down on
Chrysler Royal. They could be the ground again, of course, it gets warmer, and so many pre-wars get
purchased individually from damaged that way. When we send them out, we have to include special
countertop “trade” boxes, and, as insulation to ensure they don’t get cold.”
with other Dinky series, the six That may not be a concern if you do business with an American
cars also were available together as auction house like Lloyd Ralston or Hakes, but know that the vast
a boxed gift set. Unlike the 30 majority of pre-war Dinkys turn up in worn condition. A battered
series Chrysler, each of the 39 39 series model with lots of chipping to the paint will often go begging
models came with a tinplate at the $50 to $75 price level, while an original (no repair or restoration)
baseplate, which had the name of near mint or better example of the same car can bring anywhere from
This detail from an ad that ran in a the car on it. For the time, these $200 to $500. Not surprisingly, reproductions of a couple of the 39
1935 issue of Meccano Magazine were very accurate models, and series models—the Packard and the Studebaker—have been produced,
shows the Chrysler Airflow as
part of the Dinky 30 series. today, they just shout “1930s by an outfit called Atlas Editions, including repro boxes (which the pre-
America,” but with the added twist war Dinkys didn’t have). Made in China, these re-creations are pretty
of somewhat muted paint colors, faithful to the original Dinky 39s and are made to a high standard.
as was Meccano’s (very British) Kids living in the U.K. in the 1930s wouldn’t have seen many
way at that time. Lincolns or Buicks in the flesh, but these American models for the most
part weren’t aimed at the home market. Many were shipped to the
From Lead to Zinc U.S., where American kids naturally gravitated to them in toy shops
Initially, the company used a and department stores.
Meccano introduced the Dinky 30a lead alloy to make Dinkys, then
Chrysler Airflow in 1935, the Douglas R. Kelly is the editor of Marine Technology magazine. His byline has
first American car produced switched to a higher-quality zinc appeared in Antiques Roadshow Insider; Back Issue; Diecast Collector; RetroFan;
by the British company. alloy, called mazac. However, if and Buildings magazines.

36 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles