La Jaguar Di Rita Pavone by Politoys.

The origins of Politoys as a company are somewhat unclear. The Italian company began as "Politoys APS" about 1960, and started production of 100 plastic cars in 1:41 scale. Some of these were contemporary cars and some were veteran vehicles. As the 1960s progressed, some models were produced in fiberglass – tougher than the plastic and less prone to warping. Following trends set by fellow Italian trailblazer Mercury, and Dinky Toys, Corgi Toys, Norev and Solido, the company changed over to diecast metal vehicles in 1964 or 1965. About 1970, the company name was changed to Polistil, possibly because of the similarity with the name of the British Palitoy.

After a 33-year span, and a collaboration with Tonka, Polistil went out of business in 1993, but now is a brand under the May Cheong Group (owner of the brand Maisto), along with the name of former competitor Bburago. Traditionally, the principal Italian competitors to Polistil were Mercury, Mebetoys, and the shorter run Ediltoys.

Here is my favourite Politoys  model in fibreglass, the 1962 issue of the Rita Pavone Jaguar E-Type roaster. This was in 1/41 scale in fibreglass with a metal base. Rita Pavone was an Italian film star. This is number N89. The base is unpainted metal.

The same casting was used for a silver issue with black plastic roof.