[Chris Sweetman]

Top Gear was a Tri-ang brand that emerged in the late '60's as a competitior to Mattel's 'Hot Wheels' and Matchbox's 'Superfast' ranges. This model is based on an earlier model that was part of a Tri-ang range that were branded 'Mini-Dinky's'. Neither ranges were successful and Tri-ang folded in 1971. Their empire being broken up and in most cases re-branded. However, these model cars have to the best of my knowledge not seen production since. Scale of this Corvette is 1:66th scale.

Finding obsolete models like this one is part of the fun in this small scale.

Cheers Chris

 

[miboy62]

Sweet looking car.

 

[69Stang]

cool find!

 

[karl s]

Very shiny! Looks great for an ol' car! Did all the boxes come with Japanese? Were they only sold in the UK and Japan? Never seen one in the US. :hat:

 

[pdxwheels]

I've never heard of them. Pretty cool.

 

[Chris Sweetman]

Very shiny! Looks great for an ol' car! Did all the boxes come with Japanese? Were they only sold in the UK and Japan? Never seen one in the US. :hat:

Hi Karl

If they were ever sold in the UK during the late 1960's I think I would have found them! We had some amazing Toy Shops near where I lived. I bought the earlier non speed wheel Hong Kong Mini-Dinky Corvette (from which this model is based) in the early '70's from a newspaper shop. They must have been dumped because this shop had a couple of dozen on display! Another shop, a hard ware store, just up the road had some Spot-On models for sale in 1973!

I have only seen a couple of boxes and these were identical to the one shown here.

My guess is that they were trailled in Japan first. Then they didn't sell so the brand was discontinued. This example came from a collector in Japan. The Top Gear brand must have been the last one from Tri-ang.

Hope this helps Karl.

Cheers Chris

 

[Chris Sweetman]

I've never heard of them. Pretty cool.

Until a few years ago I never heard of them either pdxwheels! I think they are hard to find.

Cheers Chris

 

[Chris Sweetman]

Thanks milboy62 and 69Stang.

Cheers Chris

 

[streaker]

I have never seen that brand

 

[FLOYDFROG]

Never heard of that one, but what a nice looking car. :thumbsup: