The Mebetoys Murat 124 A-16

I remember…my first Politoys miniature.

An Alfa Romeo 33.3 prototype bearing the name of my favorite driver at the time, H. Pescarolo. I would later learn that the latter had even driven the “Politoys” in Formula 1, a modified March 711 renamed after the Milanese toy manufacturer and raced by Frank Williams in 1972. My father had bought me this Alfa Romeo at a charity gala organized by the French Red Cross. A stand was dedicated to toys. I think I remember that there were only Politoys.

I relived this anecdote much later, when I had become a professional and discovered a French Red Cross sticker on the lid of a Politoys model in the collection that I had just acquired.

The Milanese firm must have skillfully negotiated the contract. I appreciate this firm for many reasons. It is like the Italian industry, the one that knew how to get back on its feet very quickly after the war. A conqueror, it intelligently dealt with the miniature market and constantly adapted to it, like few manufacturers have done. A chameleon firm. This explains its dazzling success, a success that was not limited to Europe.

At the beginning of the sixties, it was positioned on its national market. Purchasing power in Italy was low and toys were not a priority for large families. It therefore chose to inject its models into plastic in order to distribute them at low prices. I have the feeling that Norev was its model. Like the latter, the miniature range is reproduced at 1/43, including vans and trucks (impressive series of Fiat 682). If the miniatures are less faithful, more caricatured than those of the Villeurbanne manufacturer, the quality of the plastic used is superior to Norev’s Rhodialite. There is no deformation at the level of the bodies and the rims which also receive removable rubber tires. They are luxuriously equipped: added and chrome bumpers.

We also note the presence of rhinestone headlights of the most beautiful effect, a detail that has always impressed the little buyers.

There is already the desire to offer the customer a beautiful toy with an excellent quality-price ratio.

This week, three cars are scheduled. A Fiat 2300S and a very beautiful and faithful Ford Cortina.

Politoys realized that it had to be more rigorous in the execution of the shapes of its models and the further we advance in the series, the more faithful the models become.

The third Politoys on the menu is a very rare piece.

I had seen it listed in Paolo Rampini’s book but I doubted its existence.

It is a Volkswagen 1200 that is part of the plastic series. It bears the number 84. The model offered has its box which, in this case, is most interesting, logically identical to that of the plastic models. It should not be confused with the same model, made shortly after and which belongs to the “fibre glass” series.

This deserves some explanation. Politoys will realize well before Norev that the standard of living is rising and that customer demand is changing. It understands the need to move to models injected in zamac. It experiments on its latest plastic injected models with a new, original technique, which consists of painting the plastic injected model. Then, in order to give weight to the whole, it injects the chassis in zamac. In addition to the Volkswagen 1200, a Jaguar Type E and a Ferrari 250 Lusso were also produced.

This series was short-lived because the series injected entirely in zamac was soon to follow. Politoys continued to distribute this painted plastic series with a zamac chassis under the name of Fibre Glass. A marking on the chassis and on the “display case” type case then appeared. The latter are rare, but the first ones bearing just the Politoys logo and therefore still belonging to the plastic range are very rare.

It was only recently that I was able to acquire one in a box. I only know this Volkswagen in beige or in this beautiful turquoise dress.

Politoys had understood before Norev the need to get out of plastic. Norev then, would only imitate Politoys by creating the Comtal series which would combine plastic bodywork and zamac chassis before moving on to the Jet Car, all in zamac. Politoys had taken several steps ahead!

 

Some time ago, on Avenue Jean-Jaurès, in the 19th arrondissement, a stone’s throw from my shop, I was surprised to admire a Lada 124 in France blue in superb condition. I got off my bike to look at it. A trip back fifty years. I love these popular cars. I have been taking part in vintage toy fairs in Italy for many years. I know how popular mass-produced models are at fairs.

The Fiat 124 and their derivatives, but also the 1500, the 850. These are our Renault 8, 4L or R12 in France.

It was my visit to the Milan Design Museum that opened my eyes and made me appreciate these cars better. If you expect to find dream cars, sports cars, convertibles, racing cars in this place, you’ve come to the wrong place. On the other hand, I discovered the fantastic advertising campaign orchestrated by Fiat in the mid-sixties/seventies for the launch of models from that period.

All the art of showcasing mass-produced cars with beauty and grace. These are high-quality black and white photos, featuring cars and women’s bodies, in the spirit of ancient Rome and its statuary, very far from today’s vulgarity, all associated with a revisited Fiat typography. In those years, the models were dressed by great transalpine couturiers and more often associated with luxury cars, Lamborghinis or Ferraris.

The photos were in color, with all the Italian sensitivity in the art of assembling them. Later, I had the opportunity to acquire a Fiat 850 box set published by Mercury for Fiat which included the photos and logos that I had seen at the museum. I did not pass up the opportunity to relive this visit.

Then I was able to acquire the “famous” box of the Fiat 500 published by Mebetoys and quickly withdrawn from the market. I’ll let you look at it and understand the reasons for this withdrawal.

I later learned that Mercury and Mebetoys had also reproduced the Murat 124, a Turkish derivative of the Fiat 124, and of course distributed only on the other side of the Bosphorus. I let you imagine the rarity of these objects. Had you ever heard of them? This week we have the Mebetoys version for sale.

This is an exceptional piece. Strangely, the design of the box is the same as the box of the Mercury version. Was it Murat’s wish that he demanded this from Mebetoys? If you prefer the “made in Italy” version of the Fiat 124, we have it, in Mercury and Mebetoys. Two successes.

If the prices of Fiat Mebetoys have tended to soar in recent years to the point of becoming unreasonable, a return to more affordable prices seems to me to be underway. So much the better.

Take advantage, we also have a Fiat 1100R in a beautiful red dress.

Other Mercurys are on the menu. A luxurious Fiat 130 with a V6 engine from 1969… top of the range from Fiat. It sums up the years of lead. I admit to having a ritual for almost 50 years since I started this collection. When I bring Mercurys into a collection, I compare them with mine. It is a pleasure that connects me to my father who appreciated them so much. No miniature manufacturer in the world has known how to combine colors, shades of colors, color associations like Mercury. To this degree it is art.

If you like Mercurys like me, we also have this week three beautiful miniatures, of older manufacture: two Lancia Appia, a first and a third series. The latter, without being rare, is less frequent than the first. Moreover, its color palette is more limited

Women have timeless clothes in their wardrobe. That can be taken out and worn at any time. A Burbery trench coat, a little dress and black pumps, a perfecto, jeans, a sailor top and so on.

It was when I saw these three series 40 from Dinky Toys Liverpool in the program that I made the connection with these “must-have” and “timeless” products. These series 40 are my favorite of the week.

In the field of miniature cars, here are some examples that seem relevant to me. The Renault 1000Kgs “Shell” from C-I-J, the Volkswagen Kombi type 2 “BP” from Tekno, the Cadillac Eldorado from Mercury, the Peugeot 203 from Dinky Toys … No need for rare variants. Just the pleasure of admiring the shapes, colors or design of these miniatures.

The models of the 40 series from Dinky Toys are also part of the timeless miniatures, like the Foden or Guy trucks which are also contemporary to them. They synthesize the golden age of Liverpool which reigned supreme over the world of miniature cars, without much competition, Corgi Toys had not yet arrived.

The quality of reproduction and finish make them icons for the whole generation who were able to play with them, and the one who inherited them afterwards. Parents already had to be able to afford this type of toy, far from being within everyone’s reach. We must therefore take into account the fact that it was a luxury product. They have passed down through the generations and kept this aura. I did not play with them, I was born in 1963, and yet they are among my favorite English Dinky Toys. I looked for the body color variants, then the shades, and the wheel color variants very early in my life as a collector. But the most important thing is that they still give me so much pleasure when I look at them.

Time has no hold on the 40 series