I've seen these described as being made by '
Sanchez', but this one is marked
Ruiz, so that's what I'm going with until someone puts me right!
I'd been after one of these since I saw them in - I think - Akela's
Kiosk about six years ago, and a chap had a load at Sandown a couple of years ago (and I mean a 'load'), but - as always - I had no dosh; he said he's bring them next time and I haven't seen him again! Then the last NEC I did another chap had 4 in pretty mint condition so I grabbed a sample colourise; he had no tow-truck bodies.
Although marked as a
Santana, the licence-built Spanish
Land-Rover, these have the same wheel-arches as the UK vehicles and will pass for a basic Series III, and around 28mm are really useful for the larger figure sizes - if wargaming/role-playing...Zombie skittles, anyone? To be honest, I've just Googled them and most Spanish made bodies seem to have rounded wheel-arches, so it must have been the early ones from my childhood that had angular ones.
There were several body types for these toys, apart from the aforementioned Wrecker/Tow-truck and hopefully - now I've started to pick them up - we'll return to them when I encounter others.
The little animals that went in the back of the cage version, there are others, of course, but I like that while well out of scale the Giraffe sticks out of the roof! You can also see the 'spare' hole for the lifting-arm/boom of the tow-truch and other body types.
Hi Hugh!
ReplyDeleteHere's the complete story about these Land Rovers. They were very popular cars in Spain during the 70s and 80s, because, as you say, they were made in Jaén in a time when there were still not so many car brands available. They were also used by the army.
The original casts have their origin in a company based in Zaragoza named VAM. VAM is the acronym of its founder, Valeriano Aguilar Monforte. The company built not only those, but many other vehicles from those days, in different sizes, some containing candies ("anisetes"), other not.
When the company disappeared (why and exactly when is to me unknown), casts were sold to Ruíz and La Ilusión, Ruiz seems to be still active, not sure about La Ilusión. Both were/are also settled in Zaragoza.
Another company that is still active, and that (to my knowledge) got some casts from VAM is JISA (located in Teruel). They even have a webpage:
http://www.ipjisa.com/presen_p.htm
Go to "Catálogo" and then go through the different categories. You'll find some plastic cars in this style.
About "Sánchez", no idea! Never heard that, but I'd be interested in your source of information, if you find it again. Sánchez is probably among the 10 most common second names in Spain ever, so good luck!
Hope you find this interesting. Have a nice day!
Cheers!
Hi Gog
ReplyDeleteRe. 'Sanchez' - that's sort of why I disregarded it!!
Re. Everything else - very useful, I'll follow it up, thanks!
Hugh