Y is for the Yanks Are Coming!

Via France!

C is for Citgo Old Crocks

Sticking with the Hong Kong and rack-toy angles, these are petrol premiums, and it's a US brand I think . . . which would make them gasoline premiums . . . but they are made in France which means they are technically 'Primes' with a silent 'e'!

Original opening text (as far as I got?) suggests this post nearly followed some Hong Kong shite? Anyway, we're back with Cle's production, and like the Huilor post the images are pretty self explanatory so light on the blurb again.

These are remarkably common in the UK for a US petrol (gasoline) premium, especially for a brand 'Citgo' (still going, now technically Venezuelan, but it’s all a bit shaky and the fucking Russians are in there somewhere - bothers me, doesn't apparently bother the PSTSM!) which never had UK outlets to my knowledge, certainly; the odd feebleBay purchase doesn't explain how often you see them here?

So I'm guessing it's ex-factory stock from France (despite the 'packed in the USA' message), never delivered to the client (overstock or cancelled order?) brought over - probably to the BP Fairs Sandown Park toy fair - by French dealers? Mine are all series two, series one were packaged more like oversized book-matches in a fold-over card. Also I am missing number seven of eight.

The missing Rolls Royce 1931 is bottom-right.

Two of the above cars were also in the Huilor post; the 1922 Hispano Suiza and 1926 Isotta Fraschini, I'm guessing the others would have been Huilor premiums as well, Cle pretty-much only did premiums for other parties.

O is for Old Fashioned Cars

I finally tricked myself into getting six posts off Picasa, I can't tell you how long these have been ready for publishing, but while needing Blurb, the images have been edited and/collaged for about four+ years!

I announced they were due on a post on Moonbase Central about three years ago, since when they've done them again, twice, I think (I'll try to find the links) and Ed Berg has posted some too. While the article folders have been on the desktop 'ready to go' several times and quietly put back in 'My Pictures'!

But under the most tenuous of links with the previous post, we're kicking off with these Huilor premiums. Huilor is a manufacturer/seller of cooking oil, and issued various premiums back in the day. These were made for them by Cle, Del and Injectaplastic, with one or two still debatable, but the similarity between the vehicles, suggests co-operation of some kind between the three makers/lines, who are all, also, connected to other 'novelty' stuff.

Fully marked on the undersides of the chassis (another connection between them all), and with me not knowing much else, further blurb would be superfluous, and strained, so I've just annotated the images with the base markings . . .

 

Early racing car

 

Paris-Vienna Rally car

 

This is the only Injectaplastic in my sample.

That tenuous link!

 

People will say they are copies of this, that or the other die-cast (Brum, Rio or Matchbox 'Yesteryears') but the fact is these were very popular when I was a kid, along with pictures, posters, printed tiles, crockery & mugs, matchbox/matchbook labels, place-mats, beer-mats and coasters, 3D wall plaques, pipe-rack, ash-try or pen & ink stand ornaments and etc . . . and they were all of real vehicles, so some similarity is always going to ensue!

Not there wasn't a lot of copying, we'll see some in the subsequent posts! I'm not sure if they came assembled or as kits? Another connection all these have is being polystyrene rather than the Polyethylene of some others, or the die-casts just mentioned (which we won't be looking at). And the French for 'Old Fashioned Cars' is Vieux Tacots (old clunkers) . . . Bonux next!