Thursday, August 5, 2010

United Colors of Benetton. Um, Sort Of!

Citroën- and Checker-like cars are about to be delivered to some lucky little kid. In 1960.

M Y   C O L L E C T I O N — This inexpensive-when-new transporter and its load of 'new' cars, has been in my possession since I was a tiny tyke of three. The entire set is only eight and one-half inches long. I actually had two identical sets, one to play with and one to 'save.' This is the set that was saved, thank goodness! I still have bits and pieces of the other set, packed somewhere, and when I find them I'll restore the one axle of missing wheels on the red car in this set. I can't find a manufacturer's name on it, so I'm not sure how to look it up to find production stats or anything, but I've always loved the various colors—go figure! The cars came in two designs, one looking a bit like a Checker sedan, and the other vaguely Citroën DS-like oddly enough. The probably picked two 'small' car companies that wouldn't bother to ask for royalties...

7 comments:

  1. Ha, does this eBay item look familiar?

    http://cgi.ebay.ph/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200477933011

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  2. UNBELIEVABLE! truly, I can't believe it. Their photo sucks, but that's exactly the same toy. Their description was a bit off. Only the "Checkers" are marked with an "A" after the code, the "Citroens" are marked with a "B" after 3741. And they're missing a car. I wonder who the heck would pay $57.00 for this small set with a missing car?

    thanks so much! i'm always surprised by eBay.

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  3. Love that you kept this toy! and yes, Ebay always surprises!!

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  4. Hey - I'm the eBay queen on this blog! I've been upstaged!
    That's what I get for commenting so late !

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  5. I wouldn't have even known what to search for to find that toy on eBay. I love you guys for watching out for me!

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  6. The checker is actually a Simca Ariane from the 1950s. The model is most likely by Jouef and scaled for use with HO scale model railroads. Simcas were sold in the US through Chrysler dealerships, though the big Simcas like the Ariane were only for a couple of years in the 50s.

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  7. thank you Anonymous! I would never have thought it a Simca, but now that you mention the maker sounds French too, the Citroen makes more sense too. My parents lived in Europe from '55 -'60. I wonder if they actually brought these sets back? My age was 3 when they came back. Very cool, and thanks again!

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