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!

K is for Kick-ass Key-ring Kurassiers

I scored this pair for a song of-off that there feebleBay the other day, thinking "They'll go well with that knight" (I have a knight!), but in going to look for the knight A) found he was much smaller, softer and chunkier and B) that I had another from this series, so, as is often the way, the post grew from what might have been one collage into this - enjoy, loyal readers!

So my purchase, which was only a week or so ago - they came yesterday; Two rather over-dressed or flauxy, foppish chaps from the - vaguely - Napoleonic era, in all their finery trotting out to do some hawking or handkerchief-dropping or some such? They would complement the 'Prince' from Exin Castillos or maybe some of the Merten medieval court stuff.

Off to the 'unknown/unbranded pre-20th century military' box for the knight I knew I had and found both another of the 40mm'ish ones and that the knight was actually a bit of a stumpy-runt! The 3rd figure being in the same dense PVC Injectaplastic (and JSP) use while the knight is more of a silicon-rubber? I say that because . . .

. . . the 35/40mm European premiums of Wellintonian types also go quite well with the riders, and also have that Macau-sourced, via-Portugal, look about them! And bases in the style of the Wild West we looked at recently. Mine are both Bonbon-marked Napoleon-brand premiums (small sweets), but Nestle had a set, Kinder have been credited (pinch of salt there?) and Huilor as well.

I seemed to take more shots of the old figure than the two new ones - he was the only one who would stand-up before I took the chains off! After removing the key-chains; I used to cut the loops off as well, but that was when I was a philistine, now I just slip the ring out and leave the key-rings in the bag with the figures.

The funny thing was the seller had them listed separately, so it was 'shopping-cart and see what they look like together when they turn-up', then, when they turned-up, I wondered if they might be (from the colours) an old 1976 [1776] novelty opposing-pair, but after finding the third I'm now just wondering how many more there are in the set and/or; do colours change on the same figure? It's another rabbit-hole!

They would also probably go well with Spencer Smith as a bunch of foppish, Old Etonian, staff officers or ADC's, wot-wot! And they will look good with those cake decoration copies of Airfix's Washinton's Army?