Karl AKA Stroget is an active curator at HobbyDB of many of the 1/43 model car brands. He has been adding model cars to the DB since 2014; some of his favorites are Alfa Romeo and obsolete Tekno from Denmark!
In Part II of this series, we talked about the only Roly Toys catalog produced. So we decided to make our own to cover the Roly Toys not in the original catalog. We were in contact with Mr. Mauricio Nhuch, the former owner of Roly, and he really liked the idea. We even sent him some copies.
Catalog II
The miniature toy car company Roly Toys, that operated in Rio de Janeiro from 1964 to 1970, still has many collectors in Brazil and in the rest of the world. As we have already mentioned in these blog articles, the only known official catalog of their miniatures only showed the miniatures numbered from 01 to 07.
Upon seeing the advertisement for the launch of miniature nr. 8, a Centurion Mark III Tank, we noticed that the factory address was no longer the one from the original catalog: Rua Paula Brito, 586, passing to Rua da Gamboa, 279. That fact caught our attention and, in addition, aroused the idea of creating a new catalog, in which the description of the newer miniatures produced would appear.
Then, based on the design of the original official catalog, we created what we call “Catalog II”, reproducing the description and images of the miniatures from nr. 8 to nr. 12. We believe that this new catalog will be useful and serve as a reference for collectors, so that they can have information about the other miniatures that were manufactured by the company.
The following photos show the Roly miniatures with each catalog page behind them.
Roly Toys nr. 8 – Centurion Mark III tank.
Roly Toys nr. 9 – Karmann-Ghia – Granulated chassis.
Roly Toys nr. 10 – Interlagos – Granulated chassis.
Roly Toys nr 11 – Scania-Vabis L76
Roly Toys nr. 9 – Karmann-Ghia – Bolidos chassis.
Roly Toys nr. 10 – Interlagos – Bolidos chassis.
Roly Toys nr. 11 – Ford Galaxie 500 – Bolidos chassis.
Unfortunately, no prototype of the Galaxie 500 is known. According to stories told by the company’s former Head of Tooling at the time, only plaster molds were made, but they were never cast in zamac. Certainly, if they had been produced, they would be very similar to the Matchbox models number 55 – Ford Galaxie Police Car, and number 59 – Ford Galaxie Fire Chief Car, (Lesney Series 1-75). No further information is available on it.
Roly Toys nr. 12 – Chevrolet Camaro – Bolidos chassis
Regarding the Chevrolet Camaro, as mentioned in “The History of Roly Toys – Part IV”, two zamac prototypes are known, one of which received a light pink paint, and the other is in original, unpainted zamac.
These pieces were preserved by a former employee of the company, along with other known miniatures, in an exceptional state of conservation, for many years, and it was only recently that they became known. One of the most striking features of this model is that it would become the only Roly Toys with opening hood, showing some details of the engine.
It was certainly the last miniature to be produced by the company, along with the possibility of the Ford Galaxie 500. Unfortunately, there was no commercial production of the Camaro. Thus, the question that appeared in Part IV is now answered: the miniature Bólidos of Nº11 would have been the Ford Galaxie 500.
Conclusions
As a collector and researcher of Roly Toys, I hope that the creation of Catalog II will bring more information about these small wonders of Brazil’s miniature industry. From my fellow collectors in Brazil, I received high praise for the catalog design and the preservation of the history of Roly Toys.
We will continue to contribute to the blog, always bringing you new information. Thank You! In fact, a new color variation of the Scania dump truck was discovered – see Part VI!
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