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15/03/2020 11:05 am
Some Rextoys that never happened. (PICs)
Mention has been made recently of Rextoys, and as I started to review the story, I found the internet sending me to Forum 43 in 2009, where several of us wrote back and forth about Rextoys.
The founder and President of Rextoys was Count Antonio Giansanti Coluzzi (1915-2006), owner of a company called Fulgurex (Fulgur x Rex -''The king of the lightning flash''), an enterprise designed to produce and distribute the finest model trains. His primary residence was Switzerland, where he had a large and very selective toy collection. He also was the author of a fine train book. With Rextoys, the count wanted to create a "museum" of cars, living proof of what he considered the great era of the automobile. Launched in 1982, the range was intended to consist of a wide variety of replica Cadillacs, Packards, Fords, Lincolns, Chevrolets, Pierce Arrows, Chryslers, Buicks and Rolls Royce automobiles. Many of the cars had not been made as models and were selected personally by Count Coluzzi. All were in the 1:43 scale, I think.
By the late 1990's Rextoys production was deeply involved and seemingly interlocked with the firm of Vitesse, with the Eligor company also involved. A Vitesse plant in Portugal produced most of the early Rextoys, with some being made in France, perhaps alongside Eligor production. All this ended in 1999 and production stopped.
The 2006 death of Count Antonio Giansanti Coluzzi ended the final chances of any continuation of the Rextoys line. Many of his chosen models were never produced, but colorful brochures were included with some of the Rextoys of the late 1990's that included future production models.
If you are lucky, the next Rextoy model you buy will have the fold-out sheet that came with it originally that displays the count's planned production.
Here are some shots of such a fold-out.
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Please feel free to correct my errors and/or add other information. Enjoy!
15/03/2020 11:09 am
Very interesting David. Would have loved to see the Pierce Arrow
Towncar produced. Pity!
15/03/2020 11:21 am
I have that foldout. Was looking forward to that Buick line up.
That was a very ambitious plan. I have a Vitesse foldout from around the same time, They had an illustration for a 1959 Cadillac 75 limo that was never to be.
15/03/2020 2:34 pm
I also regret that Rex Toys did not continue with the pictured items
I would have been a buyer.
John F. Quilter
Eugene, Oregon USA
16/03/2020 2:58 pm
I wonder if the Rextoys Buicks appeared if we would have ever had the BRK Buick collection?