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Topic starter
29/10/2023 8:43 pm
In the vast confusion of a recent thread, someone, perhaps @charles-rockett, asked:
Did [Tekno] share dies with Dinky, because several of their models I recognised: Lincoln Continental; E-Type and a Mercedes-Benz. All really nice - and familiar.
Tekno were well advanced in design and manufacturing in the 1950-60s, but could not compete with the other major brands and went bankrupt in 1972. Dinky Toys were readily available in the 60 and 70s in Denmark, and Corgis to a lesser extent. In fact, it has been reported that the Tekno staff was visited by English toy car companies (Corgi and Dinky) to discuss castings. So we know the different diecast toy car companies were talking back then.
However, the short answer is: No, they did not share dies with anyone in England. (They did send certain castings to Dalia of Spain to sell there as well as to WALCO in Germany).
The three models you mention are similar but very different in their execution to the Dinkys - in fact, their Jaguar E-Type was praised as being much more realistic than their English competitors. One company could have been prompted to re-do a competitor's car, but we would have to do a time study on who came first and how much earlier.
The E-Type, Mercedes 230/250/280 SL, and Monza GT were all copied FROM Tekno by Pilen, Joal, etc sometime after they were introduced by the Danish company. These are very close castings and have to be seen face-to-face to see minute differences.
Joal (Spain) Jag and Mercedes:
This topic was modified 2 years ago by Karl Schnelle
29/10/2023 9:19 pm
These are the three I saw that looked similar, to my Dinky's as I remembered.
Topic starter
29/10/2023 10:11 pm
Those are 3 great Dinkys. I do not have them to compare face-to-face, but production dates can help us see who came out first...
Dinky 170 Lincoln, 1964-69 Tekno 829 Lincoln 1963-69
Dinky 120 Jaguar, 1962-67 Tekno Jaguar 1964-72
Dinky 160 Mercedes-Benz 250SE, 1967-73 Tekno 726 Mercedes-Benz 220SE 1962-69
So perhaps they were inspired by each other!
Does anyone have both, to do a quick face-to-face?
Charles Rockett reacted
30/10/2023 4:20 am
I think even from these photographs there are obvious differences that I hadn't noticed when I first asked the question.
1) Mercedes-Benz has no 'fly-pillars', the rear fins are not 'crisp' as in Tekno, and there is a vent on the scuttle, but no hood indentation. The Tekno is much crisper all 'round.
2) The Dinky E-Type has painted headlamps rather than Tekno's lenses and its bootline seems higher and more rounded. It's not svelte like the Tekno's.
3) is more difficult and was my favourite Dinky, which I still have and so I'm more familiar with it. I wonder if the Tekno's boot and rear fenders are fractionally wider than Dinky's? And the leading edge of the Dinky's flip-up bonnet is slightly pointed whereas Tekno's is straight. Though they both missed a trick on not reaching a cost-sharing deal on this, it would seem.
Steve Jacobs reacted
30/10/2023 9:33 am
Certainly no link between the Tekno and Dinky Lincoln Continental castings. Althought the two models are almost the same length, the Dinky is taller and much boxier all round. The Tekno has a properly "curvy" shape to the windscreen/windshield frame, on the Dinky it is much too squared off and not accurate at all. The Tekno represents the original 1961-63 body style with its curved side pillars and glazing with the roof narrowing towards the top. The Dinky represents the revised 1964 model with squared-off roof and vertical side pillars and flat glazing. Although the Tekno looks just a little "squashed" in a way, I think overall it's a rather nicer rendering of the Lincoln.
Graeme.M. Ogg
London U.K.
Steve Jacobs reacted
30/10/2023 10:25 am
Here are the Tekno 927 Jaguar E-Type and the Dinky Toys 120 Jaguar E-Type that I just pulled from my shelves and photographed. These are produced in a variety of colours, with and without the removable hard top.
The Dinky Toy (in red) is much smaller, about 1/50 scale while the Tekno (in white) is 1/43.
The Dinky is much lighter in weight than the Tekno and has no opening features.
Corgi has an E-Type very similar to this Dinky from the same era. Both Dinky and Corgi produced larger 1/43 E-Types at a later date.
Dinky introduced the 120 in 1962 while the more authentic Tekno 927 came out in 1964.
I have Kirk E-Types that are identical to the Tekno except for the base label. My Joel E-Types are very close but not identical castings to the Tekno.
Topic starter
30/10/2023 1:30 pm
Thanks for the replies, @charles-rockett @graeme-ogg @david-green . I love talkin' Teknos!
Kirk made the Jaguar for Tekno, as well as the rest of the 900 series, so it is the same casting. Their contract ended in 1969, so Kirk put their name on the baseplates and continued to sell them. That only lasted a year until a Danish doll maker bought Tekno from the original family and bought Kirk as well. That sadly only lasted a year and the whole thing was bankrupt by 1972.
Here is the Tekno next to a Joal. I think Joal must have reverse engineered it; as David said above, they are similar but different in the small details.
I had no idea the Dinky was so much smaller - thanks for the comparo!
Graeme, it's nice to know the Dinky is a different model year - I had never picked that up from the print or online images!
Charles, I do like the crisp casting and paint on the Tekno 220SE!
30/10/2023 2:26 pm
Very interesting comparisons ! The differences and similarities, as well as sizes are shown well in the images.
Charles Rockett and John Kuvakas reacted
Topic starter
30/10/2023 11:27 pm
@david-green - I'd love to use your comparison photos for a short MAR Online article - would that be OK with you?
John Kuvakas and David Green reacted
31/10/2023 5:42 am