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In
an attempt to revitalise the toy industry after the end of World War I, the
American Tootsie Toys company introduced a new range of innovative pocket-sized
diecast toys in 1918. Tootsie's success in the USA
inspired Frank Hornby, one of Britain's
leading toy manufacturers, to try to do the same in Britain. Already a household name
with his pre-war invention 'Mechanics Made Easy' sets (later and more commonly
known as Meccano), in 1920 Hornby turned his attention to developing a new
"O" gauge toy railway system.
From
1924 onwards, to complement this railway system, Hornby introduced a range of
trackside accessories. The next step was to add a range of pocket-sized
vehicles, the first of which appeared in 1933. Although initially marketed by
Hornby as 'Modelled Miniatures', the vehicles became known as Dinky Toys in
April 1934 and were an immediate success.
The
name is believed to have been thought up by a young friend of one of Frank
Hornby's daughters and is probably derived as a diminutive of the Scottish word
"Dink", meaning neat or fine. The vehicles were created with
injection-moulded diecast mazac (a magnesium and zinc alloy), copying the
methods used by Tootsie Toys.
The
onset of World War II saw the company make an essential transition from toy production
to war production. After the war, as with many other companies at the time,
Dinky were not able to make the transition back to toy production quickly. With
no new toys available since 1941, Dinky were under pressure to restart
production and had no choice but to re-issue many of their pre-war range (this
time using thicker axles, a purer form of mazac and new, duller, colours). In
1947, Dinky introduced their new Supertoy range - a fresh concept which
remained unrivalled by other manufacturers throughout this period. The most
notable feature was the much larger size.
Dinky
also began to produce a range of commercial vehicles, racing cars and military
vehicles and aircraft. Initially comprising re-releases of pre-war models, the
military vehicles were re-launched in 1953, with a large number of vehicles
from the recently re-equipped British Army.
As
prosperity returned to Britain, Meccano Limited saw the opportunity to upgrade
their best-selling ranges, particularly Dinky Toys and Hornby-Dublo trains. The
first signs of this new look appeared in 1956 with the use of different paint
variations to enhance ageing models.
The
Dinky Toy commercial vehicle range was revised during this period, and in 1959
a series of BBC Television vehicles was introduced, along with an even rarer
series of ABC Television vehicles derived from the same castings (introduced in
1962). Gift Sets were also introduced during Dinky's "Golden Age"
(1958 - 1964), in a fresh style of display box with a special folding lid.
Although
well-established as successful toymakers by 1960, Dinky Toy production was
still occasionally erratic, with uneconomic product runs involving expensive
set-up costs. The huge cost of re-tooling and marketing their diverse range of
products had also resulted in prohibitively expensive toys. Facing a
liquidity crisis, the board of Meccano Limited, the parent company, agreed to a
takeover by Triang, their main rival, in 1964.
Dinky
continued to flourish for several years under the control of Triang, by implementing
some important changes. Most significantly, they tried to rationalise the
production of simpler saloon models by designing new cars which were less
expensive to produce.
They
even experimented with production in Hong Kong.
Between 1965 and 1966 they experimented with cellophane and card packaging.
This was meant to enhance the appearance of the product, but the boxes were
fragile and easily damaged. From
1967 onwards, they were replaced by practical, although less attractive, hard
plastic cases.
Until
the late 60s, Corgi had been almost unchallenged in their successful
negotiation for the manufacture of licensed products from television of film
programmes. But in 1967 Dinky succeeded in winning the Gerry Anderson
concession! So Dinky ended up making Thunderbirds models, Captain
Scarlet models, Joe 90 models and UFO models (even if the
Interceptor was a horrendous lime green instead of white).
Some
of the other stand-out UFO vehicles were Straker's car ("with
keyless clockwork motor") and the SHADO mobile - great for firing
matchsticks at your younger sister/brother/pet dog/cat.
Other
novelty Anderson
tie-ins included Stripey the Magic Mini (produced in 1967) based on the comic
strip Candy & Andy. Unfortunately, the concept of a banana yellow
panda driving a mini did not catch on with kids and neither the comic or model
car were particularly successful.
1969
saw the advent of Dinky's Speedwheels range. In common with Corgi and Matchbox,
Dinky were forced to rush through this new feature after Mattel introduced
Hotwheels in 1968. In general, the balance of the Dinky Toys range looked
outdated by 1970 compared to the more vigorous Corgi models.
In
1971 the Triang holding company went into receivership, brought down by
competition, the diversity of their product range, and the constant assault
from cheaper overseas manufacturers, particularly those based in the Far East.
Dinky
Toys production was taken over by Airfix who continued to produce current Dinky
models, but only in garish colours. Poorly detailed toy cars were added and the
range was sold in fragile vacuformed plastic packaging. In general, Dinky Toys
from this period, until the closure of their Binns Road factory in Liverpool
in 1979, were poor models and remain infinitely less collectable than earlier
models.
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