SPOT ON #401 VW Variant

[SMS88]

Here are some closeups of this very htf model which oddly lacks the traditional grey painted baseplate

[Fred7A]

Many thanks for posting these pictures. You must be really pleased to have found this gem!

The UK issue was numbered 401 (although the number cast on the base is 304!), and the New Zealand issue was numbered N115. Here are some pictures of my 401 for comparison. As you can see from the initial picture, it was a bit of a wreck when I bought it. The repro part makers didn't make the missing parts, but luckily I was able to find repro bumpers and bonnet for the Marklin VW Variant, and these fit pretty well with a little fiddling. The roof rack isn't the right pattern but I'm happy enough with this example - I think the total cost of repro parts came to more than the initial price of this item!



The headlights shown in this photo are stick-on jewels from a hobby shop, but I have since added chromed ones from a damaged Magicar Ferrari, and they are a pretty good match to the originals.



The baseplate shows the origin text and (incorrect) number, which were removed in New Zealand. Apparently it is normal for New Zealand bases to be unpainted, and the slight oxidation showing on your base is normal too.

[SMS88]

Great photos, thanks Fred ! Note Fred´s car correctly shows the scale as being 1/43 which indeed it was as were many of the last dozen new Spot On tools whereas my example incorrectly shows the scale as 1/42 which makes me wonder if it is an older casting or did New Zealanders go to the trouble of changing the scale?? I suspect that they may not have,perhaps these castings survived the Belfast factory fire and were just painted and assembled in New Zealand??? In those days ´´MADE iN country of origin´´ was required by law, perhaps the lack of country and lack of model number is down to these being pre-production test castings???

[Fred7A]

My Variant states 1/42 on the base - it's just a trick of the light making it look like 43.

It seems that all the New Zealand models had the country of origin removed. On your model you can see a few small bits of the deleted lettering still showing. Model numbers were removed because the New Zealand numbering system was different. The Spot On book makes a reference to machinery being shipped to New Zealand, so the castings would have been made there. It also states that the whole story about the factory fire causing the demise of the Spot On range is incorrect and there was no such fire.

[SMS88]

So just a 100% commercial money decision to shut and cease using all the Irish tooling and machinery in favour of concentrating all production on the Dinky Liverpool factory ?? At least Spot On turned hubs went into the Dinky range....and the Hong Kong 4 yanks look like new Spot On tools not Dinkys....

[Fred7A]

I think that's basically what happened. Sending some of the tools to New Zealand seems quite a logical idea, as Triang had a factory there and toys sold on the NZ market had to have a major local input due to import restrictions. There were lots of British cars in New Zealand back then, so presumably the cars modelled would have been appropriate too.

[SMS88]

I think that's basically what happened. Sending some of the tools to New Zealand seems quite a logical idea, as Triang had a factory there and toys sold on the NZ market had to have a major local input due to import restrictions. There were lots of British cars in New Zealand back then, so presumably the cars modelled would have been appropriate too.

Appropriate ike the VW squareback - the very shortlived production life of the tooling in NZ, like Dinky tooling sent to South Africa about the same time by Triang seems to prove that even with import taxes, local production was less profitable than imports although for BMC later British Leyland their fullsize ckd operations in Commonwealth countries proved profitable until tariffs were lowered and they all ceased circa 1977 - Malta being the last one afaik circa 1980