[Closed] 1906 FRANKLIN by Revell Highway Pioneers (pics)

Your pics and models have so much character and personality...keep them coming David

Oh, how rude of me...thank you for them.

I love the Franklin. Very cool. Talk about a forgotten make in models.

Nicely done David - both of them.

I remember putting those together in the 50s...

I was definitely under 10 years old so I'm sure they didn't quite come out as well as yours. LOL

Very well done, David. I did those Chryslers, Lincolns, Chevys of the 50ies in the 50ies

Two more, but not by Revell. (pics) Obviously these were produced using the Gowland & Gowland molds, but they did not come through Revell.

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I have read that other companies produced some of the same models that Revell sold, and these two seem to be part of this. PREMIER lists a Brooklyn mailing address not far from the REVELL home. The gray 1910 Cadillac has no company name on it, neither on the plastic nor on the simple packaging. Something of a mystery?

One more! Gowland & Gowland, it seems, first produced this series as an action toy, and here is one of the Revell products that resulted.

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This pecuiarliar plastic casting of the rear axle enabled the operator to work a hopping action. It still works! I just hopped this Model T Ford across my desk, and the driver bounced right along! These were sold fully painted and assembled by Revell, but the box suggested that company knew otherwise.

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Some of the later kits retained that unusual rear axle!

One last little mystery. . . I have read that Gowland & Gowland was an English firm, sometimes listed as Gowland Bros. Here is what I have seen (from Wikipedia):
the Gowland Brothers in England, a company producing toys since 1932. According to noted collector Cecil Gibson (Gibson 1971, p. 12), these did not sell so well in England, but Revell had much better luck with the series in the U.S. The Revell box said, "By John Gowland?creator of Champ and Chu Chu" ....

David...do you know how old that hopping model T model is?

It seems to be from the early 1950's, and I have seen information that it was preceded by a similar and somewhat larger Maxwell. I also have the same hopping mechanism in the 1900 Packard.

Cecil Gibson wrote the first history book on Dinky Toys.

It is still a valuable reference.

David - The Cadillac is by Minicraft - who used the

Highway Pioneers molds to re-release 16 of the original models. Most are currently available on eBay.

Thanks, Ken. I know of the series, but the lack of a company name stumped me.

And I believe the Minicraft versions will glue together better than the old Revell models. The chemical makeup of the plastic and also the glue to use is much different. The newer product is vastly safer. If safe is even the right way to describe the stuff. Less toxic is an understatement.