V is for Volkseigener Betrieb (VEB) Part 2; History & Boxes

Various boxes illustrating the passage of the company/companies involved, after the heliotrope-pink Minicar graphics they switched to the pink and yellow Plasticart, although these boxes are far more common with the Espewemodelle trade name. Item 72, the BTR-50P actually has a metal superstructure and heralds the final E.German incarnation prior to sub-summation by the West. The Minicar boxes differentiate between contents with the aid of paper labels, while Plasticart boxes are dedicated to their contents, like Matchbox 1-75 series. The MK-modelle box is designed with multi-lingual product information for export to other Warsaw Pact states, while the pink & blue box of the Icarus 260 bus are less common. Variants of box-ends, with or without over-printing or paper labels, note how the BTR makes a feature of it's die-cast parts with the 'Zinkguss' moniker, translating literally as "good zink", this would continue with MAB Mobile. Model 82, an Icarus 31 omnibus, the only real difference between the un-doctored box and the doctored one is that the price is no longer on display, presumably this was the less than subtle way they put up state prices (which in a glorious 'Peoples Democracy' - that is of course a 'social' democracy!!!) weren't supposed to rise, inflation being a Western weakness! Russian and Czechoslovak wording on the export packaging, as we will see further down the page, the E.German stuff was far closer to Western qualities than Russian production, so these would probably have been quite sought after in the neighbouring states. The final incarnation; this packaging was in use in 1990/91 when I was the sole importer of these models to the UK for a short while. The same box was also used for three versions of the Opel Kaddet (Vauxhall Astra) in 1:43 scale, a clear attempt to tap into the West German market.