Hi Everyone,

received today some new Schuco cars for my web site and for me. :)

Here is one of them that I'll be adding to my collection.

Vadim

http://www.apason.com/schuco/0taxi.jpg

Being a fan of the London Taxi, I have to say that is a great looking model. Thanks for the pic.

That doesn't look too bad at all - I've got the Ixo model - comparing the photos, the Schuco looks to be a younger variant of the taxi.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a123/jinxvrs/Austin/P6050071.jpg

Steve

That doesn't look too bad at all - I've got the Ixo model - comparing the photos, the Schuco looks to be a younger variant of the taxi.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a123/jinxvrs/Austin/P6050071.jpg

Steve


Since my web site is back and running now we can compare the photos. :) Its interesting because I compared before some Schuco Junior models to IXO models and both look very close to each other if not identical. So I'm thinking is it possible that the same company in China makes models for IXO and some Schuco Junior castings ?

Vadim

Since my web site is back and running now we can compare the photos. :) Its interesting because I compared before some Schuco Junior models to IXO models and both look very close to each other if not identical. So I'm thinking is it possible that the same company in China makes models for IXO and some Schuco Junior castings ?

Vadim
It is entirely possible that some of the Ixo & Schuco Junior castings are the same, although, I thought the SJ range was made by Cararama.

However, the FX4 Taxis are definitely different castings - the side windows on the Schuco seem to be finer - the Ixo is a bit heavy handed. Also, the rear wings on the Schuco are "shaved" down & don't extend as far as those on the Ixo - I think the Schuco is the facelifted model - the rear lights for which were taken from the Mk II Austin/Morris 1300.

Steve

It is entirely possible that some of the Ixo & Schuco Junior castings are the same, although, I thought the SJ range was made by Cararama.

Steve



Steve,

Yes Hongwell-Cararama used to make the models for Schuco Junior but as of last year they had separated. My distributor told me that Schuco had a big fight with Hongwell, so Schuco no longer uses Hongwell castings. As of last year some were High Speed castings and also an Italian company (forget the name) This year so far looks like its that same Italian company, (but they are made in China, like everything else now days) but this year looks like the quality had improved on the Schuco Junior Line, but so far I only had received 3 new models from their new line up. (London Taxi is one of them)

Vadim

Steve,

Yes Hongwell-Cararama used to make the models for Schuco Junior but as of last year they had separated. My distributor told me that Schuco had a big fight with Hongwell, so Schuco no longer uses Hongwell castings. As of last year some were High Speed castings and also an Italian company (forget the name) This year so far looks like its that same Italian company, (but they are made in China, like everything else now days) but this year looks like the quality had improved on the Schuco Junior Line, but so far I only had received 3 new models from their new line up. (London Taxi is one of them)

Vadim

Vadim,

That's very interesting - I had no idea that Schuco & Hongwell had fallen out. The Italian companies which come to mind are, if I remember the names correctly, Edison or Grani & Partners.

I know both have made models for partworks sold in Italy - wait a minute, the Maserati partwork series, was from one of those companies & some of them have appeared in the Ixo range - I'm thinking of the Mistral, Khamsin & Biturbo...you're probably right about the connection.

Cheers,

Steve

I think the Grani & Partners is responsible for some of the newer, post-Hongwell Schuco Juniors. That would include Italian cars and, as I remember, some of the English roadsters from SJ. Vadim is right that the current supplier of most of the SJ seems to be High Speed - all of that recent series of Porsches and the few Mercedes. And High Speed supplies 1/87 scale toys to both Schuco, Model Power and, in the USA, Malibu. Some of the Ixo releases seem to be derived from, if not the same as, a "partsworks" series called something like Atalaya. This is, I believe, a French or Spanish publisher. Some of the Ixo models seem to be related to old Vitesse releases. And of course some of the old Vitesse castings became Sun Stars ('55 Chevy for one).

Many current Ixo releases originated from an Atalaya release of taxis of the world - probably your sample, Steve. There is a '55 Ford four door sedan that was a Havana, Cuba taxi. That would be a desirable Ixo release if it ever appears. Ixo also had the usual taxi -suspects originating from Atlaya - Ford Crown Vic., Mercedes, various French sedans.

I believe that the current state of the die cast business is much more incestuous than a Mormon family reunion.

Ranchero, Altaya is a Spanish company, which as you say releases partworks for sale in Spain & France. There is an obvious tie up between Altaya & Ixo as several of the Altaya castings have shown up in the Ixo & Ixo Junior ranges - the Austin taxi being one of them, it was originally from their "Taxis of the World" series. Others include the Renault Fuego & Ford Taunus TC3.

The Ixo versions tend to have a little more detail, however, I have bought about 60 Altaya cars and generally, they are very good. I have an Altaya Sauber-Mercedes C9 from their Le Mans series - all it would appear to be missing against the Ixo version are a couple of stubby aerials (antennas) on the roof.

Norev, UH & Solido have also got into the partwork business, supplying models to another publishing house, called DeAgostini. One partwork on sale, in Japan only, is made up of Norev castings, which are now becoming available in the main Norev range - I've picked up a 1978 Honda Accord saloon (sedan) from this series & a 1966 Datsun Sunny in the Norev packaging. This series provides some great (and unusual) Japanese cars from the '50s-"70s.

There would also appear to be some sort of tie up between Ebbro in Japan & Germany's Premium Classixxs - not so much shared castings, but PC models feature on Ebbro's website. The castings are very complementary - PC's Porsche transporters go very well with Ebbro's Porsche racing cars.

Steve

Hi Everyone,

The mystery is finally solved which company makes this casting for Schuco. My friend got one off me today and he took it out of the box. On the base it said "Welly" There is no mention of Schuco anywhere except the box. Now as my memory recalls I have the same one in 1/64 scale made by Welly.

Vadim

Interesting to see that there are more castings of this old taxi about today than there were in the 1970s (Dinky,Budgie,Corgi and Corgi Juniors)
The Ixo model has the 1959 -1968 small rear lights without the roof indicators fitted to these cars mixed with the 1970s-1990s fender indicator and undersized chrome hubcaps.The Schuco would be a clear winner if only the hub caps were chromed.Silver wheel rims were uncommon before the 1990s plastic trims came in, they were normally black or body color as per the Ixo