T is for Tiny Trucks and Traffic Jams

This post has been slowly growing in Picasa for some time, 2016 I think was when Brian Berke sent the first to the blog, and I've been slowly adding bits to the folder ever since, to the point where some of it got shot twice and there are many more unused pictures, than used, ce la vie!

So Brian sent the red/green five in the first two images, while I was able to add three more much later; the yellow, tan and an alternate green. The vehicles, old 'Dine Store' novelties were made by Empire Plastics, but they may have bought some of this stuff in, certainly the relationship with Lido and Pyro's similar smallies is not as clear as some would have you believe, and the sculpts may have originated elsewhere!

Also the Parent was a Canadian firm; Caldwell Enterprises, and the Canadians often produced copies under license . . . or not! These are all manufactured in hard polystyrene.

These also came from Brian, and are far more interesting to me, as they are Hong Kong copies, another Empire came out of the colony while 'Empire Made' was a common moniker on the products of several other companies at the time (1950-60's). I also love the colours of these, they almost look edible!

Bottom-right is a comparison between the original and copy tow-trucks, the loss of what was already little detail, renders it less than clear what the copy is meant to be! The copies are all softer polyethylene.

The Cabriolet seems to have been much copied in Hong Kong (as a gum-ball machine prize?), and I now have three, different sculpts, each of which is very different from the other two, but clearly sharing the same DNA.

The modern equivalent, but not at dime-store prices, are the Rush Hour games from Binary Arts, and here we have some which came in in a loose lot from a charity-shop purchase or two, they have better engraving as far as detail goes that their 1950's ancestors, but are more cartoony or fictional than the earlier vehicles.

A more advanced version of the game for older players has more realistic vehicles (of smaller size/scale) attached to tiles, so you move the whole section according to a set of rules laid-down in the instructions, which also contains the various scenarios for start positions, which can be solved. The aim - in each case - is to get oe or more of the three emergency vehicles to the front of the queues.

I didn't need all that extra plastic (another charity-shop purchase), so proceeded to remove all the vehicles from their tiles, which started hard, but once I'd got one off, it was easy to see how to pop the others off with a  screwdriver!

They also do a steam-train version, safari animals and a junior variant of the original Rush Hour game, which I will look out for in the same charity shops, now they have their own tub!

And am I right in suggesting they are all based on a earlier Traffic Jam game? The trouble is this game - like Crossbows and Catapults - is much licensed and there are lots of current Gridlock, Rush Hour and Traffic Jam's out there!

Comparison between the full size Traffic Jam lorry (black), Empire truck (green) and civilianised ambulance sculpt (yellow) to the right, the left hand image being the screwdriver's 'harvest'!

I also have this set (part set!) of probably European (East Germany?) ones, marked PmL, they could be Hong Kong, or anywhere, and I can't remember where I got them, and can find nothing on them as a firm?

I actually have the equivalent of 12-liters of these civil mini/micro 'Dime Store' or novelty vehicles, in four of the Really Useful Box Co's 3-litre CD boxes, but what unifies the ones in this post is their integral-moulded wheels, all the others - for an/other day/s - have plug-in axle assemblies or plug-on wheels/tyres, none of the ones in this post do.

To which end these are a few more without working wheels! The upper shot is a set of Cereal premiums from the UK, being seven of ten BMC models from Quaker's Sugar Puffs, full set to be seen here.

The lower shot has a few odds; the orange one is almost a solid lump and possibly Hong Kong, the green truck is supposed to be another Empire one, but it too is a heavier sculpt with little in common with the above examples which have much lighter walls.

The 'old crock' is a Hong Kong copy of one of MPC's Minis, the truck in front is a cracker-toy/capsule-prize also from Hong Kong, while the little yellow truck is technically a half-track, usually glued to another Hong Kong product, the copies of Tri-Ang Minic's harbour wharves, where it's glued to the deck of the plastic copy of Minic's die-cast piece. And many thanks to Brian for both lots!