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!
Ed’s note: We had several responses to the Mini Dinky Story. Tick from Planet Diecast also sent in more photos of numbers 21, 60, 61, and 96, which have been placed in the original article. Photos by respective authors.
I appreciated the article about Mini-Dinky models by Kevin Bailey. With its wealth of information and attribution to other sources, this was a model of how such things ought to be done.
I would like to add a comment about U.S. distribution as well as a picture of a rare item from my collection. As Kevin and others are already aware, these models were primarily aimed at the American market. Lines Brothers apparently sold them through the independent distributors known as “rack jobbers,” with the result that they turned up in shops that did not have the larger, real Dinky Toys.
Here in California, they tantalizingly appeared in a Palo Alto hobby shop at a time when other Dinky Toys were unavailable. (In 1967, U.S. distribution was spotty to say the least.) Naturally, I quizzed the proprietor at the time, and she reported that her distributor had no other Dinky Toys, only these.
Several years ago I purchased this rare gift set, unfortunately not for the original marked price of $3.95! The seller reported that the models in the set were never removed from the box. They all came strapped down in their individual garages, obviously unplayed with. And at first, all looked well, but you can see the condition of the Jaguar E-type, which had fallen to bits from fatigue.
Jonathan Angel
I had most of the Mini-Dinky series when I was a kid in the US. I still have them them plus others I’ve gotten over the years. Here are two No. 20 1964 Cadillac Coupe de Ville’s in silver.
The second photo shows a sad end to a once stately and luxurious automobile. This forlorn de Ville sits beaten and neglected in an alley. My second silver Mini-Dinky Cadillac is succumbing to the effects of metal fatigue/zinc pest, so I created a fitting scene.
Robert Brodowski
A very well written article – I learned a lot. The design of the garage box was clearly copied from LEGO who used these from 1960 for Volkswagen cars and split screen buses. Sabra may also have beaten Mini Dinky to the design, I don’t know for sure. The use of spectraflame type paints on the earliest production of Mini Dinky models suggest the colours were chosen after Mattel had debuted Hot Wheels at the New York Toy Fair (May, 1968) unless of course there was an inside connection to Mattel’s HK Hot Wheels producer!
Mick Driver
I think we can find garages that look more like Mini Dinky than those Lego used, from Israel (Sabra as Mick mentions), or Siku in same scale as the Mini Dinky. I guess it’s not a direct copy just because it’s a garage. In that case, we can go at least 5 – 25 years further back to find something similar of tin or cardboard or cast metal. The Lego cars were 1:80. Mini Dinky 1:65. Lego did not use the garages for the VW pick-up, van or bus, because they do not fit in their garages. I do not remember Mini Dinky at all. I do not think they were imported to Denmark?
Hans Jørgen Wagner
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