[Closed] I think many of us have become jaded in regards to a car being an exact replica

Neither is right or wrong. It is what one likes and which model pleases you. No model can ever be perfect, so it is simply a representation that one enjoys.

I agree. If I like it, I buy it. If I still like it, I keep it. If I keep it for very long, I try to find a spot to display it. But I have just about run out of spots. Isn't collecting fun???

I can be more picky now verses 20-30 years ago. Still puchase what catches my eye

Increasingly, my collection is being split into two camps.

I continue to get highly detailed models for which accuracy is paramount. Older models have been replaced when better ones come along, in some cases even though opening features were sacrificed in the exchange.

On the other side, I have a wave of nostalgia when I find a nice old Dinky or Corgi Toy. Recently I've bought some of those to fill the numerous gaps in my collection of the "vintage" stuff.

This leaves what might be called the Middle. Diecasts by Box Model, Solido, early Vitesse etc., which were state-of-the art at the time and eagerly welcomed are now becoming the red-headed stepchildren in my collection.

Tom, the latest model in my collection isn’t an exact replica because it is a car that never made it into a real thing.

Prior to this two old die-cast toy cars were purchased. So my taste is varied.

Regarding opening parts I grew up when a toy car needed these features otherwise it was boring. I am still fascinated by toy cars and model cars that have opening parts.

When it comes to model cars either with or without opening parts if it is advertised as 1:43rd scale I expect it to be so.

Chris

Judging them for looks is what makes us buy them, right? I do remember the Dinky 1950 Ford 4 door Army staff car and its civilian counterpart I think it was beige. Maybe not accurate or in great scale look they were very appealing anyway. I'll bet Harvey still has one too. But we have come a long way in our demand for what rings our bell. Some of us like features while others just want accuracy. Back a few years and some, the Japanese offered a Ferrari F-40 in plastic with all the opening features PLUS the shut lines didn't show. AND it was very accurate. It was amazing. But it was plastic. It didn't sell well. So we learn.

Harv - did you get a Dinky staff car at Phillips Toy Mart? I did - now where is it?

No Karl - Mine came from Austin Electric Shop - and I bought two!

And there are three versions. Pre-1954, the '49 Ford was numbered 139a though no number was on the baseplate. No. 139am was a military version issued for the US market. I had one of these, and it was the only Dinky from my pre-10 year old days that I somehow held onto. It is tattered of course with little decalwork left, and painted a somewhat semigloss olive drab, though that could be from small hands playing with it a lot and thereby giving it a little "polish".

Note that I said "had". This, and my first Matchbox (24 Weatherill Excavator) in a similar used state have been passed on to my two children. They have been made aware that these two are heirlooms from my childhood, and no matter what happens to my collection between now and after my demise these are to be kept as such.

Back to Dinky history. Around 1954 Dinky re-numbered all their catalog items. No. 139a became No. 170, and 139am became 170m. I've never seen a box for 170m, and I'm assuming 139a came in a 6-piece trade pack, gaining a box once numbered 170.

Around 1956, to breathe new life into some dated castings, Dinky offered a bunch of two-tone paint jobs. My 170 Ford is below:

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I'm guessing around this time the military Ford got a third re-numbering, this time as 675 (all the old military British Dinkies from this time have a 600-series number). The color now seems to be a greener olive drab with a flat (matte) finish. I paid the princely sum of 85 cents apiece for the two I cleaned out of a failing model train store. I forgot what I did with the spare, probably a trade I made a few decades ago. I also found an unboxed one at a good price once, and I think I sold it to Chuck Jordan.

Here's the one I kept. This is among the last issued, with treaded tires and a picture-less box:

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PIC Exactly Don and I even have a few plastic model cars in my collection ….

including this one:

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I liked it, had enough cash to buy it, so bought it.

Cheers Chris

Great minds thinking alike Chris. Well, minds anyway - I have it in the same color.

Including later MOYs, sadly.

Surprisingly those MOY are extremely well detailed for the time made. I have a number of them and wouldn't consider selling any one of them,