T is for Two...Toy Tractors!

The other side of midnight and a link with the past as I cheat Old Father Time by tying the old year to the new! I nearly called this "T is for Two...Taffy Tractors", but some would have seen vague colonial racism, and the link to Taffy Toys is tenuous to say the lest!

One of the first things I got from volume two of the new Farming in Miniature books I will be reviewing in full in the New Year is the fact that the tractor and accessories I blogged way back, are not as simple as they seemed at the time!

There are in fact; two versions of the tractor, and the implements I showed, don't all belong to the Paramount tractor I was blogging. I suspect the Thomas Toys is the original, purely on the tolerance of the front wheel spigots which are the correct length to hold the wheels tight, the Paramount spigots are longer, so the wheels travel a bit.

Most of the other differences are annotated in the comparison photograph above. I shan't correct the old post yet, as firstly I feel you should go out and purchase the two volumes if you wish to know the differences for yourself, and secondly I need to track-down a few bits before I can do both family's justice!

- Farming in Miniature Volume 1: Airfix to Denzil Skinner: A Review of British-made Toy Farm Vehicles Up to 1980

- Farming in Miniature Volume 2: Dinky to Wend-Al: A Review of British-Made Toy Farm Vehicles Up to 1980

A couple of head-ons to show some of the differences above in greater detail, in my original post on the Paramount tractors you will notice a lack of the two front brackets on the bumper (fender) undersides, as the two bagged ones are the same, it would appear there is an intermediate third design.

The Paramount version was also issued as a premium with Oxydol washing powder, these were sellotaped to the powder boxes (there was ONLY Sellotape in the 1950's!) and then stacked in the stores, so get crushed AND ripped, it's a tough life being a premium!

Tractor fans might enjoy this collection pictured in Tasmania...few too-many row-crops for my liking! And thanks again to Adrian Little (one of the co-authors of the above books) for the opportunity to photograph these together.