The body lines of the Dinky Corvette are just bad. It must be one of their worst models. They obviously did not see this one if the flesh before the model came out.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a159/matchboxtom/1-43/dinkycorvette.jpg

You are right here matchboxtom. This is one of DT's worse models! I have seen a few recently and cannot bring myself to buy one and I collect Corvettes!

Is the superb yellow peril a Vitesse or Sunstar?

Cheers Chris

Is the superb yellow peril a Vitesse or Sunstar?

Cheers Chris

The yellow one was sold by Matchbox Collectibles. I believe they borrowed the mold from another company, maybe Vitesse

The yellow one was sold by Matchbox Collectibles. I believe they borrowed the mold from another company, maybe Vitesse

They sure didnt need to dig up and use the old Dinky tooling:freak: (matchbox Mattel own the Dinky name and possibly some of the old tooling -Corgi has used some 1960s original tooling in the past 10 years but Dinky hasnt)
Corgi made the t-top ´68 which was a decent effort for those days. Dinky made a lot of rather slab sided castings that look plain wrong from the late 1960s -perhaps complex curves were too expensive to create.Pre-1966 Dinkys generally equal their Corgi competition but 90% of the later ones are very compromised by missing curves,so as a child in the early 1970s I bought very few Dinkys, always prefering Corgi & Matchbox.What a contrast shoddy english Dinkys of the 1970s were compared to the wonderful French Dinkys which I never saw in stores:wave:

I'd like to defend Dinky models of that era.

First of all, England is not America. In England, and especially in a remote place like Liverpool, Corvettes were not sold or likely even seen on the streets. The maker of the master probably had access to plenty of photos but likely had never seen the car in person. That the car upon which the model is based is not familiar to the model maker does make a difference. I bet that the same master modeler did a much better job on contemporary British cars - ones he could see on the streets every day and could have access to if he wanted (say the UK/Ford Corsair).

Second, at the time the master was created it is unlikely that access was available to factory plans. The yellow Corvette, on the other hand, was created in the early '90s by a master model maker in China or Portugal for Vitesse using quite sophisticated computers and likely very detailed plans. To me one is art; the second is simply a mechanical copy.

Finally remember that at the time the Dinky was designed, it was custom in the business to include operating features - doors, hood and in this instance even the hidden headlights. These features were probably thought more important than creation of a correct, accurate curbside model. The accuracy of the model may be compromised by the needs within the casting to incorporate the operating features. The Vitesse Corvette was not burdened with the obligation of creating operating features; it is simply a display model but not a toy with play value.

I think that the old Dinky Corvette is not a good model but it was a good toy and given what the market wanted at the time I do not think that Dinky did such a bad job.

There was a Marklin release of this Corvette and it is a much better model than the Dinky though it still has some operating features. The Marklin Corvette is hard to find and I do not have one in my collection.

- ranchero -

ranchero

Here is a pic of two Marklin Corvettes. The blue one is an original RAK 1800 series from the early '70's and the silver one was issued circa 1990.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a21/Jane58/Cars/Corvette-C3-Marklin-new-old.jpg

Both models feature opening doors, opening bonnet revealing engine and pop up lights operated by a lever from the interior.

The question is how come a German company like Marklin did a far better job than on this Corvette than Dinky Toys?

The British made Corgi Stingray was another superb rendition and equal to Marklin's issue. However, Corgi unlike DT used Gerald Wingrove to produce the master so here lies the reason behind the successful curves replicated in the Corgi model.

BTW Marklin's is a '68 and Corgi's is a '69 C3 coupe.

Cheers Chris

The yellow one was sold by Matchbox Collectibles. I believe they borrowed the mold from another company, maybe Vitesse
Hi matchboxtom

All these models originated from the Vitesse version. Matchbox Collectibles issued a series of Corvette models in 1:43rd scale and they used Vitesse's C3 and C5 models along with Detail Cars C4 to make up this series.

Cheers Chris

Some good points from Ranchero - the Dinky guys almost certainly did see the importance of the art side of toy design - we know from the great book of Corgi that the Corgi design team did, making changes such as adding extra width and adjusting relative scales to fit boxes or standard wheel sizes.
It is a certainty that Dinky product planners and designers went to the London International motor show and saw a real Corvette on display -motorshow visits played a big role in selecting which cars got made and explain why we have so many different companys diecasting Alfa Carabous and De Tomaso Mangustas.
Dinky also used excessive artistic license on British built cars. Some like the Mk2 Ford Cortina or the longwheelbase/shortwheelbase hybrid Ford Transit Mk1 are just a bit weird looking when placed alongside a current Corgi Vanguards but others like the awful Austin London Taxi cannot surely be so distorted purely to accomodate opening doors:wave:

However ,here is Corgi´s superior 1969 effort released in 1970, with solarbrite paint, their answer to Mattel´s spectraflame
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/toys/2008-Oct.jpg

Chris: Why did the German company Marklin do a better job on the Corvette than did the English company Dinky? I think you know the answer.

You can see the fact of the superior German engineering (or maybe it is just more care) in many comparisons of Marklin versus Dinky. See from each company: Volkswagen Karmann Ghia; Mercedes C-111; Ford Capri; VW-Porsche 914; NSU RO-80. Of course all those are German cars and you'd think the Germans would get those right and do them better than the Brits.

Marklin has a long history of superior engineering and their die cast model cars, while a small portion of their business, were among the finest produced by anyone when they were current.

The German product (including Gama, NZG, Cursor, Conrad, Schuco, etc.) was always superior to the British Dinky or Corgi. Unfortunately they were not as well distributed in the USA as the British product so many of us Americans do not know those German brands as well. But in hindsight, the Germans always made better product than their competitors.

I think UK Dinky did a credible job on the Corvette; it was again just a toy. That Marklin did a better job on the Corvette is to me not remarkable. Rather I think Marklin always did a better job than any competitor.

- ranchero -

The few 1960s Marklins I have handled have been superb.Markilin diesels and steam locos of the 1960s and 70s beat their British rival Hornby too if we take quality and accuracy over subject matter
No matter how good the product, the distribution and pricing of Marklins cars meant that Dinkys sold in much larger volumes, perhaps in part due to the fact that many of us kids had never seen a real Corvette either.The Dinky Capri of the same period is actually a bit more accurate than its Corgi rival but not a patch on the 1971 Solido.

The Dinky Capri of the same period is actually a bit more accurate than its Corgi rival but not a patch on the 1971 Solido.

Hi SMS88

Here are a couple of Solido Capri's:

The original issue:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a21/Jane58/Cars/Solido-Capri-190-b.jpg

Modified casting:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a21/Jane58/Cars/Solido-Capri-26-b.jpg

Both models feature opening doors.

Enjoy!

Cheers Chris

Thanks for the chat guys - Good to "talk" with you, Chris and SMS88, again! :wave:

Here is my contribution (2 of my favs):
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm12/kschnelle/corgi/CorgoCorvelleStingRays2x.jpg
So does this "go go go " version beat the Dinky?

Hi SMS88

Here are a couple of Solido Capri's:

The original issue:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a21/Jane58/Cars/Solido-Capri-190-b.jpg

Modified casting:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a21/Jane58/Cars/Solido-Capri-26-b.jpg

Both models feature opening doors.

Enjoy!

Cheers Chris
Hi Chris:wave:
Solidos with rubber tyres are almost as finely made as Polistils (with less opening parts!) and not that common over here....
The yellow Solido is really a superb representation of the original Camel sponsered racer with minilite wheels fitted with rubber tyres - my own example certainly makes my top 20 favourite diecast of all brands.I have seen the dark blue one but not in mint condition before
Italian-French-German-Spanish toymakers of the late 1960s and early 1970s really did have the drop on Corgi and Dinky in terms of quality of design of toys but never achieved the same sales volumes so they are much harder to track down today and in the eyes of many collectors focusing on recreating childhood feelings, less desirable, but then that means more buying opportunities for all of us:)

Decide for yourselves which casting you like best -Dinky didnt get it completely right but they did beat Corgi in the design stakes IMHO.Where did Corgi conjure that rear window design from???
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/toys/2008-Nov017.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/toys/2008-Nov013.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/toys/2008-Nov018.jpg

Always thought that Dinky Vette was just whore-end-us!
A good artist wouldn't havta see many photos - let alone a 1:1 to get it better than that. And I believe Dinky made many
models that rated much better than "just toys".
There's no excuse...I don't half-@$$ MY job.
You can have the cheapest plasic toy and still should have pride enough to get the proportions correct...Ive seen it happen,
even back then.

I'm sure the quallity is great on those Markins, but the proportions are far from great imo.
I think the Corgi looks the most correct of any of those older models.

Kind of reminds me of the old Japanese tin cars. Had the look right but definetly a toy. I have seen better stuff at the dollar store like Lummox has said.

Decide for yourselves which casting you like best -Dinky didnt get it completely right but they did beat Corgi in the design stakes IMHO.Where did Corgi conjure that rear window design from???
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/SMS369/toys/2008-Nov017.jpg


Hi SMS88

Just love that Dinky Toys Capri! The colour is very 1970's and I like the fact that DT have window frames on the opening doors!

Which is the best? Well for finesse of the casting and detail it has to be the Solido. However, the DT has as the edge over the Corgi one because it is more accurate and the Speedwheels were proper wheels not the horrors that Corgi used for their low friction wheels - Whizzwheels!

Thanks for posting!

Cheers Chris

Hi SMS88

Just love that Dinky Toys Capri! The colour is very 1970's and I like the fact that DT have window frames on the opening doors!

Which is the best? Well for finesse of the casting and detail it has to be the Solido. However, the DT has as the edge over the Corgi one because it is more accurate and the Speedwheels were proper wheels not the horrors that Corgi used for their low friction wheels - Whizzwheels!

Thanks for posting!

Cheers Chris
The Dinky with its big headlamps and double rows of rear lamps looks like the facelift Mk1 and a half from 1972.I agree it beats the Corgi hands down - Dinky also made this in metallic turquoise and as a rally car with black hood on a metallic red body.The Corgi is too wide and slab sided - they won the Vette playoff but clearly lost this round.Best to compare individual cars between brands before automatically assuming that Corgi was better than Dinky although Dinky did lose out to Corgi sales wise. The Dinky E-type is another car that lost out on design to the superb Corgi -I dont own the Dinky, can anbody show us a comparison pic???

Thanks for the chat guys - Good to "talk" with you, Chris and SMS88, again! :wave:

Here is my contribution (2 of my favs):
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm12/kschnelle/corgi/CorgoCorvelleStingRays2x.jpg
So does this "go go go " version beat the Dinky?

Karl in answering your question it sure "does does does"! :thumbsup:

Cheers Chris