Hi,

I was randomly Googling the other day, and I came across a forum post I made waaaaaaay back in 2006 answering someone's question about their Ferrari Dino here;

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=159550&highlight=Politoys

Lots of people replied, but it seems that for some reason I never came back, although this forum looks great, so I can't figure out why! That might have been right before I moved house and switched computers and maybe I just had so much going on that I forgot. Either that, or I thought the post was at the Mathchbox Collectors site where I post regularly and that I'd just lost track of it. In any case, if anybody's still interested in these, here's pictures of some more (Um, better late than never?!)

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/jewels.jpg

Opel Kadett, Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III Coupe, Lancia Flavia Zagato & Porsche 912. The Rolls is rare in this colour scheme of silver with matt black hood. Quite why they figured a Rolls would have a matt black hood, I have no idea. Maybe they thought that since it had a V8, it would count as a muscle car?!

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/Quattroporte/Silver.jpg

Maserati Quattroporte

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/Bianchina/Bianchina1.jpg

Autobianchi Bianchina Panoramica

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/Alfas3.jpg

Alfa Romeo Quattroroute Zagato Replica in three colour schemes. The green one is ultra-ultra-rare to the point where before this example showed up, it had never been heard of before.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/MustangB3.jpg

Ford Mustang Bertone

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/eBay%20Nov%2029/PolitoysSSAlfa1.jpg

Alfa Giulia SS

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/eBay%20Nov%2029/PolitoysPantera1.jpg

DeTomaso Pantera (Most Politoys are great models of the actual cars, but this one was an unusual slip in quality! The rear overhang is far too short.)

These are by far my favourite toys! I have about 150 of them.

Very nice models. Thanks for showing them. The 4 in the top picture and the Giulia SS are my favorites. Looks like they got a little heavy handed with the window frames on the Quattroport. I guess they didn't have the technology to make them thinner and still survive on an opening door.

This clearly shows that there are so much more than Corgis and Dinkys in the 1:43 scale. These vintage models are beauties!
Thanks for sharing!

Karl-E. Denmark

I only have about 10 of these , and I must say that with detailed motors, opening hoods & trunks and doors, the quality is unbeatable.I also have this blue Pantera mint and a beat up silver Mustang Bertone along with my childhood Fiat 850 Coupe which has survived with its box.....Joal and Auto pilen ,both from Spain also made similarly high quality castings that sit well alongside Politoys

Thanks everybody, glad you like! I really love how detailled these are too. The Fiat 850 coupe is a hard one to find, SMS88, I have a metallic blue one. It can also be found in lighter blue and red.

Here are a few more;

Fiat 1500 Ghia Coupe
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/Fiat1500Ghia.jpg

Fiat 124 Spyder from the less-detailed Export Series
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/Fiat124Spider.jpg

Iso Grifo x2 (Again, from the Export series. Blue one is a later issue with plastic wheels, but in a rare colour. The decals are original)
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/Grifo1.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/Grifo.jpg

VW 1500TL
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/kadetts/VW1.jpg

Pininfarina Abarth 2000
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/kadetts/AbarthFiat.jpg

Ferrari 250 GT (another one in a rare colour)
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/kadetts/Ferrari.jpg

This lot are from my childhood - the red repainted Fiat 850 coupe has been with me since i was 6 , the VW squareback came a year later and both the blue Fiats are from the year I was 10.At the time I chose the blue Fiat 850 coupe the store also had a stack of cream VW1600 squarebacks but as i already had the reasonable green one but my beloved Fiat was very beaten minus bumpers etc I bought a replacement - it was the only occasion I ever remember seeing Polistil rubber tyre cars in a toyshop
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/sms88/2008-Feb012.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/sms88/2008-Feb013.jpg
These three are all mint and came from a retired collector I know about 2 years ago £18/$36 each - very lovely and I wish he had more - but I do have some nice Joals from him too -I normally get 5 cars from him per year as we meet at 5 toyfairs each year
The Lancia and VW fastback came from another retired collector who is cashing in his collection, both have been detailed with silver and black paint which i may well try to remove.The Lancia was £9 and the VW cost me a 1/50 scale mint boxed Corgi Routemaster - a bargain for these fine cars
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/sms88/2008-Feb015.jpg
Finally 2 toyfair beater box but still presentable finds that cost about $2 each -I am glad the race numbers are different.The opening details on this brand really make them better than cars without opening features for my money :)
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/sms88/2008-Feb014.jpg

Excellent models! Are you in the UK or the US? I'm in the UK and most of mine have come from mainland Europe via internet purchases, as these are hard to find here.

The Fiat 850 Coupe is rare to find with the plastic box and a Corgi Routemaster in return for the VW + box is an excellent swap! Mine has no box and cost 25 Euros, which people thought was a great bargain! Your Islero and Simca are also great - the Simca is quite hard to find as well. I have it in blue and dark green.

A shame you couldn't have bought ALL the cream VW Squarebacks too, as this colour is rare & very valauble!

It's also a shame your Alpine Renault is missing the left light and not the right one - I have a spare right lens, but not the one for the left!

Is the spare wheel glued onto the Lancia's bootlid? I've never seen one with a spare there before.

I agree that the opening features really make the models - they really took this to extremes with the Quattroporte (6 opening parts) and the Miura (6 opening parts again) and then the Ferrari 250LM with 7 opening features!

Excellent models! Are you in the UK or the US? I'm in the UK and most of mine have come from mainland Europe via internet purchases, as these are hard to find here.

The Fiat 850 Coupe is rare to find with the plastic box and a Corgi Routemaster in return for the VW + box is an excellent swap! Mine has no box and cost 25 Euros, which people thought was a great bargain! Your Islero and Simca are also great - the Simca is quite hard to find as well. I have it in blue and dark green.

A shame you couldn't have bought ALL the cream VW Squarebacks too, as this colour is rare & very valauble!

It's also a shame your Alpine Renault is missing the left light and not the right one - I have a spare right lens, but not the one for the left!

Is the spare wheel glued onto the Lancia's bootlid? I've never seen one with a spare there before.

I agree that the opening features really make the models - they really took this to extremes with the Quattroporte (6 opening parts) and the Miura (6 opening parts again) and then the Ferrari 250LM with 7 opening features!

I live in Copenhagen as do the 2 collectors in their late 60s who are slowly liquidating their collections - no cream squarebacks!.Denmark & Sweden being small markets with no home grown industry following the collapse of Tekno in 1972 means that retailers imported from throughout the european union and the pacifist recycling culture has resulted in a huge quantity of well cared for old toys surviving and getting out into international collections , and I do my bit finding whatever I can.I sell but I buy very little on ebay - I have been outbid 90% of the time I find something worth bidding on so its usually cheaper to buy at fleamarkets and swapmeets
I also have a silver Bertone Mustang without its hood and grill, cracked glass and a few chips in my beater box.And yes, the wheel is glued to the trunk of the lancia by the collector who added silver & black detailing
And I have these which cost only pennies:
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/sms88/2008-Feb016.jpg

Those cream squarebacks were in a store in 1974 or 75, so long ago - I did think hard about which to buy - Fiat V VW then the following week it was VW v Corgi Lions of Longleat set which ended up being my choice and then no more money for a few weeks and they were gone. Is there any on-line resource listing models with rare color variations? We have a toyfair next weekend and I expect there will be 5 - 20 Politoys on offer - i only buy ones I really like for myself unless I know that I can sell a rare color on for a profit

Those are great too - the Saab is quite valuable as all the Saab collectors want one too, and the VW is hard to find without damage to the bumpers.

That's great that you have a supply of well-cared for older models. In the UK, because there was such a healthy diecast-making industry for so long, imported models were more expensive and had a smaller market share, which is why there are so few of them. I have some of the later Politoys E series models mint in boxes that I bought in Cyprus when we lived there from a shop that had a lot of old stock, but unfortunately they didn't have any of the rarer, earlier models.

I also try to keep buying prices down as far as possible - I aim to buy lots of several cars, where I can sell the ones I already have on and neutralize the cost. I've also been lucky with items that have been badly listed on eBay, meaning that fewer other bidders found them and I got them for good prices. Also, I've been able to assemble good examples out of several damaged models in some cases, as they are easy to take apart thanks to having screw-on basplates.

It isn't online (yet) but I have a spreadsheet listing all the M and Export series models, with their details and rare colour variations. If you'd like a copy, I'd be happy to e mail it to you.

Those are great too - the Saab is quite valuable as all the Saab collectors want one too, and the VW is hard to find without damage to the bumpers.

That's great that you have a supply of well-cared for older models. In the UK, because there was such a healthy diecast-making industry for so long, imported models were more expensive and had a smaller market share, which is why there are so few of them. I have some of the later Politoys E series models mint in boxes that I bought in Cyprus when we lived there from a shop that had a lot of old stock, but unfortunately they didn't have any of the rarer, earlier models.

I also try to keep buying prices down as far as possible - I aim to buy lots of several cars, where I can sell the ones I already have on and neutralize the cost. I've also been lucky with items that have been badly listed on eBay, meaning that fewer other bidders found them and I got them for good prices. Also, I've been able to assemble good examples out of several damaged models in some cases, as they are easy to take apart thanks to having screw-on basplates.

It isn't online (yet) but I have a spreadsheet listing all the M and Export series models, with their details and rare colour variations. If you'd like a copy, I'd be happy to e mail it to you.
Thankyou, pm sent with my email address.
It is more enjoyable to hunt out cars and buy them for pocket money prices rather than shellout a days pay for one item on ebay like the high rollers do....
The VW came mint with its box for under a fiver($10), the 2 boxed items came from a flea market at under £4 ($8)each and the Saab cost 90p just before christmas-somethings undervalued by market traders because they are not Matchbox,Corgi or Tekno. I have mixed and matched parts from multiples of Tekno ´66 Olds Tornados, Mercedes 220SE,Jag XKE, Scania buses and tankers to keep the best and sell on the rest but havent found enough Italian diecast to try the same. Do you happen to have a spare bonnet and grill for a silver Mustang Bertone?

I agree - it's much more satisfying to hunt things down. These almost never show up at toyfairs here, though. And when they do, they're usually extortionally overpriced because "they're unusual". As a result, I usually get my bargains through buying and selling on as I posted before. I've had some excellent bargains that way - the green/black Alfa Quattroroute which is a never-before-seen colour scheme came in a lot which consisted of 2 of the same model in red/black, two in cream/black, this model and two Mercury Fiat Balillas, one in red, one in the rarer yellow. I won the lot in an auction, but I already had a cream/black Alfa and red Fiat, so I kept the yellow Fiat, green/black Alfa and one red/black alfa and sold the rest on eBay. I made all my money back and £20 profit into the bargain - although I'm sure I spent the profits again!

Unfortunately, I don't have any spare parts for the Mustang Bertone, but if I come across any, I will let you know. Is the front or rear screen damaged on your example? These are separate mouldings and the model often shows up with one or the other of them (usually the windscreen) missing.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/toys/2008-Feb043.jpg
These 4 cars are made by Intercars of Spain and share the same multi-opening features of Politoys.The Volvos are 1972 & 1975 models,not at all the same as the 1968 Tekno Volvo 144 which also features opening trunk,hood and doors with window edges. The Mustang & Thunderbird looked to be copies of Sabra models until I compared Thunderbirds and found the Intercars to be larger by a fraction with a different shape. Sadly metal fatigue attack baseplates of the Volvos at least and while well designed these do not quite reach politoys levels of quality but they sit fine in the same parking lot!
I only have 1 Mebetoys, this Innocenti Mini Cooper which is nicely made even if it doesnt capture the look of the real deal as well as the Dinky. I also only have 1 Mercury, a Fiat 128 which although lightly playworn is still in fine shape for the pennies it cost - a lucky find because almost any boxed 1960s Mercury with rubber tyres will fetch $100 at a toyfair or online
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/toys/2008-Feb044.jpg

Some Polistil tooling was used by Joal in Spain in the 1970s - here are 2 examples of Spanish made items from those tools

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/toys/2008-Feb045.jpg

Hello Politoys Fans !

Before metal was plastic, before 1:43rd was 1:41st !

Lancia Flaminia coupé PininFarina :

http://www.database43.com/main/images/hobbytalk/aps_1.jpg (http://www.database43.com)
http://www.database43.com/main/images/hobbytalk/aps_2.jpg (http://www.database43.com)
http://www.database43.com/main/images/hobbytalk/aps_3.jpg (http://www.database43.com)

And, of course, fibreglass!


http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/fibreglass%20beetle/Jaguar1.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/fibreglass%20beetle/Jaguar3.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/fibreglass%20beetle/Beetle7.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/fibreglass%20beetle/Beetle1.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/sms88/2008-Feb048.jpg
Not made in Italy, and not made by Corgi either even though it has a dog on the parcel shelf.A fine casting clearly copied from an Italian original -anybody name the brand?

The very first (I think) Politoys-M catalog :

http://www.database43.com/main/images/hobbytalk/cat_pol_1.jpg (http://www.database43.com/)
http://www.database43.com/main/images/hobbytalk/cat_pol_2.jpg (http://www.database43.com/)
http://www.database43.com/main/images/hobbytalk/cat_pol_3.jpg (http://www.database43.com/)

I have that catalog too! Thanks for posting the scans - I almost had a coronary the first time I saw it - actually ENCOURAGING kids to take them to bits and repaint them?!!!!!! What were Politoys thinking?!!!

Great models everyone. I have that Joal Rivolta too, only mine is red. And as for the Fiat Dino, I wonder if it's a scaled-up Playart? Because Mebetoys and Mercury both did the Dino, but it's definitely not a copy of either of those. The mebetoys one has opening bonnet and boot for a start, and the Mercury one has only opening doors, but has the bumpers as part of the body moulding, painted silver, rather than as separate mouldings.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/sms88/2008-Feb053.jpg
Wonderful catalog pix:thumbsup:,I would never have guessed the company sees repainting cars in peices as an added selling point -great to see this stuff and know how the manufacturers looked at playvalue.
As to the Dino - the Tins Toys appears very different to Playart. Perhaps the Dino was given a facelift because these 2 toys have different front grilles (bars v mesh), different wheel arches (flared v beaded),hood corners (angled v curved), Tins Toys has extra below bumper ventilator,larger wing vents and added badges, the Playart has a more exaggerated curve to the top edge of each door.But in favour of Andrew´s suggestion we do have the same moulding cast lines from the roof to the trunk, and both were first made in Hong Kong c1970

Does the Playart have similar door lines? The Mercury's doors don't extend as far beyond the A-pillar.

Or, maybe they made their own original casting from an actual Fiat Dino?:)

Does the Playart have similar door lines? The Mercury's doors don't extend as far beyond the A-pillar.

Or, maybe they made their own original casting from an actual Fiat Dino?:)

I have studied the French pictures and my toys, and I am 99% confident that the Playart is a copy of the Mebetoys.The Mercury has nothing in common with these HK toys,hood louvres give it away.The Playart and Tins Toys seem completely different, even the seats are rather different.Tins Toys did copy and change scales of items like the Dinky VW Beetle and the Matchbox Ford Group 6, others loike the Ferrari P5 appear to be original designs -until I can find another c1970 euro made Dino I will go with original design , BUT its 1/45 scale does point to Japan´s Dandy - perhaps they made a Dino???????????????????????????????????????????

I don't think Dandy did a Dino, but I've just noticed something on the TinToys version that it has in common with the Mebetoys one.

On the Mebetoys version, the boot opens (I'll post a pic later when I'e had a chance to take one). This meant that in order to fit in the hinge without weakening the casting mebetoys had to make a slight error with their representation of the car: on their model, there is a narrow strip of fixed metal underneath the rear window, between it and the edge of the bootlid. On the real car (as on the Mercury model), this isn't the case - the front edge of the bootlid is flush with the window.

The TinToys version's bootlid lines are the same as the Mebetoys one, so maybe they did copy that, and altered the construction of the front grille?

Pics of the Mebetoys version to follow!

The Tins Toys example does not show any signs on the seat molding of any allowance for boot hinges. here is a baseplate view scalewise it is 1/45 or maybe even 1/46 haing lined it up with my 1/45 Dandy Datsun Bluebird.The wheels on later issue were dumbed down,I suspect this car was issued in all colors in the range ,I have also seen it in mid metallic blue.
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/sms88/2008-Feb036.jpg


Also to show how precise these copies were, here is a blue Dinky VW seen with silver & purple TinsToys examples which had hood & trunk cast shut, although opening door,tilting seats and jewelled headlamps were part of the spec.
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/sms88/2008-Feb038.jpg

Here's the Mebetoys version, with boat (!)

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/MebetoysFiatDino1.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/MebetoysFiatDino2.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/MebetoysFiatDino3.jpg

The Mebetoys seats are much better design than the Tins Toys - I havent shown the rear view but in fact the rear lamps are red plastic inserts and there are no badges on the trunk.There are so many differences from the mebetoys that I cannot see much connection between them except for the heated rear window and hood shape.The Volkswagon Beetle has been copied so faithfully aside from the noticably thicker rear bumper that I cannot buy a link between these 2 Dino castings unless the Mebetoys is c1/46 scale??

I have just done a little online research. All of these Dino castings have the bodyshell of the 1967-69 Fiat Dino 2000 , but the Tins Toys has the radiator grille updated to the 1969-73 Fiat Dino 2400, while the rear lamps are pure imagination not obviously related to the real car
The 1/45 Datsun Bluebird shows the small scale of the Dino, 1/45 or 1/46, not 1/43 thats for sure
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/sms88/2008-Feb041.jpg
Here are 2 Tins Toys Ferrari P5 in 1/60 scale
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/toys/2007-9Sep182.jpg
Anybody here know who made this trio?
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/toys/2007-8Aug017.jpg

Love the whitewall tyres on the second Ferrari! Surprisingly, they really suit it!

The last three are Ferrari MOdulos by Politoys, Pilen and Corgi, aren't they?

Love the whitewall tyres on the second Ferrari! Surprisingly, they really suit it!

The last three are Ferrari MOdulos by Politoys, Pilen and Corgi, aren't they?

Spot -On 3/3 - I forgot about my Modulos - Pilen beats the Politoys handsdown ,not just the wheels but also the hinge mechanism - these 2 cost me £4.50 each and the Corgi was pennies..........
I sold the Ferrari P5 pair on ebay to a Russian guy, buy-it-now £19.99 last year - this casting is also about in the same metallic purple used on the Beetle - perhaps this company like Playart used whatever colours were available on all castings....Only 2 italian scores at today´s toyfair, a Mercury Alfa Carabou and a cream Politoys Citroen DS21 -easily the muddiest toy ever seen at a toyfair but at 40 skr each £3 /$6 I am getting my hands dirty cleaning off mud!!! I left behind a fair politoys Fiat 1500GT in blue (ugly car in a plain colour) and forgot to ask the price due to crowds on a metallic red with white interior(maybe detailed/restored??) Maserati Mistral but I should have a yellow Politoys Iso Grifo in a few weeks if a trade works out with a collector that I met today from whom I bought a Joal Opel Ascona (c1977)

I don't have the Pilen Modulo, but I think it might be a copy of the mercury 1/24 scale one. Politoys did skimp a bit on the front hinge mechanism, with the cheapo unpainted metal clip.

The Maserati MIstral was available in metallic red with white seats, but you need to be careful with this one cos it's fibreglass (which is why it isn't on the spreadsheet I sent you - that only covers metal models) and like all the fibreglass models, the body cracks and breaks very easily and the paint chips off even more easily!

Which version of the DS did you find, the one with plastic or metal wheels? I'll be interested to see the yellow Grifo, as I've never seen it in yellow before - do make sure it's not a repaint.

Is the Joal Ascona the French/Spanish Dinky casting that Pilen also used? I am really pleased with my finds today - I went to Chichester car boot sale and found a Czechoslovakian battery operated 1/20 Ites Skoda 110R Coupe in working order for £5. Got home and found that the last one on eBay went for £125! God knows how it wound up in Chichester! I also found an Israeli Cragstan Chevrolet Impala which looks like it's spent most of the past 20 years at the bottom of a pond, but which should clean up and look OK with a respray. No idea how that got to the UK either!

I don't have the Pilen Modulo, but I think it might be a copy of the mercury 1/24 scale one. Politoys did skimp a bit on the front hinge mechanism, with the cheapo unpainted metal clip.

The Maserati MIstral was available in metallic red with white seats, but you need to be careful with this one cos it's fibreglass (which is why it isn't on the spreadsheet I sent you - that only covers metal models) and like all the fibreglass models, the body cracks and breaks very easily and the paint chips off even more easily!

Which version of the DS did you find, the one with plastic or metal wheels? I'll be interested to see the yellow Grifo, as I've never seen it in yellow before - do make sure it's not a repaint.

Is the Joal Ascona the French/Spanish Dinky casting that Pilen also used? I am really pleased with my finds today - I went to Chichester car boot sale and found a Czechoslovakian battery operated 1/20 Ites Skoda 110R Coupe in working order for £5. Got home and found that the last one on eBay went for £125! God knows how it wound up in Chichester! I also found an Israeli Cragstan Chevrolet Impala which looks like it's spent most of the past 20 years at the bottom of a pond, but which should clean up and look OK with a respray. No idea how that got to the UK either!
Fibreglass, no wonder that Mistral looked like a repaint to me:freak:.That market is not on again until October which will possibly be my next chance to buy it - but the seller probably wants £20-£30 - some chips but not too many - what would it fetch on ebay?
Here is the Sabra Beetle in puppy poop with its major competitors
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/toys/2007-06jun142.jpg
And here is my new trio - mint Ascona bar 1 rub on roof (never seen the Dinky castings so cannot add anything), very heavily used Politoys Citroen DS21 with speedwheels, and aside from missing black engine cover, a very tidy Mercury Alfa Carabou . The guy with the Politoys Iso to trade is colour blind so it may in fact turn out to not be yellow...but seeing as he has supplied all of my boxed Joals,Pilens and 3 Politoys I shall look forward to it being genuine whatever solid color it turns out to be -I hope its yellow or red!!!!!!!!!
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/toys/2008-Feb080.jpg
Lots of those Israeli ´sabra´cars were sold in the Uk in the early 1970s - Impalas and Chevelles are very common castings but some colours like metallic red are htf on any Sabras, and the VW Beetle is probably the most htf item from this range today.They came in a very cool garage box

Yes, that's the French/Spanish Dinky casting, and very nice indeed.

That's the third version of the DS, with speedwheels and cast-in lights. It also has the original racing number decal on the door - it dates from the period when they were shoving racing numbers on everything!

I've had a few brushes with Sabras in the past - I didn't realise they were sold here when new, though. The Impala does seem to be the most common. hey're nice enough models, but I've never been particularly drawn to the series - I just felt sorry for this one! The exception to that is actually the Beetle, which I'm on the lookout for. When I was little, a friend of my mother's gave me one which was very playworn, with no bonnet and no bumpers, but I always thought it was a very interesting model. It's long gone, but the funny thing is that I could swear it had no maker's name on the baseplate (which is not the case, as I've seen photos since) and for years afterwards, I wondered who the maker was, until I finally figured out it was Sabra! Mine had no paint on it by the time I got it, so I've no idea what colour it was originally!

Having looked at the colour samples on Wikipedia that show how colour blind people view colours, I suspect your Grifo is either yellow-orange or red. The yellow-orange was one of Politoys' favourite paint colours; they used it on a lot of their models. In this picture (sorry about the rubbish quality, it was taken a while ago with my old and not-very-good camera), it's the colour of the Ferrari P4 in the centre of the pic. (Other models in the pic are Ferrari P5, Iso Rivolta, Fiat 500 like yours x2, Lamborghini Islero and Ferrari 250GT Berlinetta.)

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w140/Original_Baskingshark/Italians1.jpg

ETA: The Mistral, with a few chips and no box is likely worth about £20-£30. On eBay, it would probably sell for that, or a little less.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/toys/2007-06jun146.jpg
The car belly up is my spare Sabra Beetle without bumpers, trunk lid or paint but otherwise complete (seen with my tidy one) I can let it go for fiver if you want it....it is in my beater box with a Dinky trunk lid for a planned custom which may never get done....
As a child I didnt like the Sabra plastic baseplates which quickly lost their silvering and easily suffered suspension collapses, so I never owned any until the last 5 years when I picked up a couple or three good´uns
To get the Iso I have to do tidy paint jobs on 2 white metal kits, the first one is sitting beside me awaiting attention.The collector is 70 years old with what was a superb vintage collection 10 years ago but is now reduced to 2000 mostly British and American white metal or Auto Art peices with maybe 2-300 vintage peices left including one of only 2 known examples of a black/red Tekno VW van promo livery which has sold for over £3000/$6000 here at auction

Tempting, and thanks, but I must pass for right now - for one thing I've spent far too much money on toy cars this month and for another, it would go right into my To Be Restored beater box along with the Chevy, all the Playarts that arrived this morning and about 50 other cars!

On dismantling and disinfecting my Sabra Chevy, I've discovered that the windows have some sort of glue on them, so will need to be polished clean, which is annoying. It does, however, look great when sat on Mebetoys wheels, so it's getting a set of those. Now I just have to strip it and repaint it, so that'll only take another 5 years or so...

Incidentally, my lot of playworn Playarts that arrived this morning included a Fiat Dino, and it is most definitely a copy of the Mebetoys model, from the door shapes down to the grille.

Tempting, and thanks, but I must pass for right now - for one thing I've spent far too much money on toy cars this month and for another, it would go right into my To Be Restored beater box along with the Chevy, all the Playarts that arrived this morning and about 50 other cars!

On dismantling and disinfecting my Sabra Chevy, I've discovered that the windows have some sort of glue on them, so will need to be polished clean, which is annoying. It does, however, look great when sat on Mebetoys wheels, so it's getting a set of those. Now I just have to strip it and repaint it, so that'll only take another 5 years or so...

Incidentally, my lot of playworn Playarts that arrived this morning included a Fiat Dino, and it is most definitely a copy of the Mebetoys model, from the door shapes down to the grille.
Nice we agree on the Playart-Mebetoys link.About half the Playart range is easily identifiable with major brand original castings -I wonder if the others, which are Toyotas,Datsuns and Mazdas are original or from obscure Japanese original toys???
I would like to see a picture of your Playarts - each casting was issued in upto 15 different paint/seat color variations but some colors like all spectraflames,metallic red,gray ,purple and pink are much less common than most.A couple of years ago I posed all my Playarts together, now its time to do it again i think...maybe we should make a Playart thread in the Vintage section, more folks in the US collect them than in Europe, there are some awesome US collections that maybe belong to a forum member or two....