Soviet Made Mebetoys

[icollectlesney]

Please accept my apologizes if this has been shared by someone before but i made an interesting purchase and very curious about it.

I performed the purchase from ebay and as you can see the item is originally Hot Wheels design and patended in 1967. But it says made in USSR and mebetoys underneath.

Does anyone has information about this item - what is it - what is the story - is it valuable ?

Thank you

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Resized images.





Ghosthunter.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

The vehicle is callled SILHOUETTE as shown on the baseplate. It is based on a real 'Concept Car' from the early 1960's. The model was made for the Gran Toros range of 1/43rd scale models by Mattel and is almost a scaled up version of Mattel's 'Hot Wheels' version which is why 1967 is displayed on the base, as this is the Year the smaller model was introduced.

Mattel, Mebetoys and Donetski (in the USSR), had a program of tool sharing and cross production of various models.

The Italian version of the Silhouette has been priced on auction sites as $40 - $50 but needs to be in mint box condition, yours is still quite good and if it was mine it would be kept and not sold on, as the USSR made version is not so common.

Ghosthunter.

[Fox]

Nice and interesting model. Thank for sharing.

[Diecastmolester]

It's supposed to be a model of Bill Cushenberry's "Silhouette" Show Car, based on a shortened Buick chassis, and it was originally powered by a Buick engine.
Bill entered the Silhouette in the "Tournament of Fame" contest at the 1963 Grand National Roadster Show in Oakland, California.
The "Tournament of Fame" is a strictly professional contest only open to the top customizers and the Silhouette won the trophy.
It was fully operable, not a piece of abstract sculpture mounted on wheels. It was festooned with switches and buttons on the dash and concealed in the exterior trim
to raise and lower the bubble top, open the bonnet and bootlid, start the engine, turn on the lights, and operate the blower fans.

The car was then campaigned on the American show circuit for several years with ever changing liveries. By 1966, the Buick engine had been replaced with a Ford 427.
It was stolen in Bakersfield, California, in 1983, and has not been found since.

Here is a pic of what the car originally looked like:



It was repainted at least trice, once by Larry Watson in a purple and lilac fadeaway scheme, then in a lime green pearl, then in a dark purple pearl.

[ClOwY]

Interesting read thanks
Gary

[Shane]

Just thought I'd add a bit here, a few months late.

When Mattel took over Mebetoys (which I understood was so that they could have an established manufacturing foot hold in Europe) they took various models previously cast/made by Mebetoys and fitted them with piano wire axles and super fast nylon/plastic wheels. The exceptional Mebetoys detail and quality remained virtually untouched except the rubber tires and detailed hubs were replaced with flashy plastic chrome hubs and fast wheels. What they created were big Hot Wheels. They even made the familiar orange track and accessories in a larger scale to accommodate these larger toys.

In the beginning the Mebetoys brand and/or logo were kept on the bases but eventually removed. Variations of the Mattel and/or Hot Wheels brand or logo were on the bases as well as Heisse Radar for the German market. Sputafuoco on the bases for the Italian markets loosely translated to Wheels that Spit Fire, or "Hot Wheels". These new larger Hot Wheels were mostly known and especially in the USA as Gran Toros.

The Russian made versions had white hubs which were in my opinion less attractive and not constructed as well.

Here is a link for more details
http://www.grantoros.com/

Here are a few of mine

Gran Toros 1 smaller.jpg (103.86 KiB) Viewed 3222 times

and here is an example of a Mebetoys model (right) and the exact cast once Mattel took over and made a Gran Toros of it (left)

Gran Toros vs Mebetoys 4 smaller.jpg (88.51 KiB) Viewed 3222 times

Gran Toros vs Mebetoys 5 smaller.jpg (199.58 KiB) Viewed 3222 times

[Shane]

large size so you can see the comparison of the bases

Gran Toros vs Mebetoys 5.jpg (1.92 MiB) Viewed 3222 times

[SuperFast]

Hello,
and please accept my apology: Why are the base plates secured with screws.
I really like the mebetoys and every time I wanted to buy such a mebetoys I went back when I saw the base plate - no rivets.
Has this been factory made?
SF

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Yes, fully factory made with baseplates secured by screws. This does lend itself to variations perhaps we are not familiar with but as long as there are no silly prices being asked for examples on the net, then buy with confidence.

Ghosthunter.