New variation SF19 F1 Lotus

[fixer]

I was sure I saw Nessie whilst out haggis hunting in the misty blue hills of tiree

[motorman]

I was sure I saw Nessie whilst out haggis hunting in the misty blue hills of tiree

Now thats pushing the myth to the limits Reg, it's Nessie the Monster not Mountaineer!!!

Thats enough guys we are way way off topic.

[fixer]

I was sure I saw Nessie whilst out haggis hunting in the misty blue hills of tiree

Now thats pushing the myth to the limits Reg, it's Nessie the Monster not Mountaineer!!!

Thats enough guys we are way way off topic.

again sorry

[SMS88]

I'm thinking these models were color trials as well and my theory is that when they were presented for opinions by R&D department, that someone said, "that looks like Yum Yum Yellow" - which seems was a catch phrase at the time, regarding "shark tests" on the color yellow- I can envision someone going to the label department, coming up with a few labels to slap on them and saying, here ya go, Yum Yum Yellow !
I really don't think they are promotions for a company. Seems if you were doing a promotion, you would want "what it was" you were selling advertised, such as, "Yum Yum Donuts" or "Yum Yum Crisps". "Yum Yum" by itself seems too vague for promotional purposes.

zBret

We have never seen any prior evidence that Lesney in the 1970s used this technique of printing upon clear tape to create labels - popular with other makers particularly the Spanish toy makers but not Lesney. In the mid 1970s there was a brand of chocolate and strawberry flavoured milk called ´´Yumbo´´ and the tv commercials to support this used the slogan ´´YUM YUM YUMBO´´.
I expect these yellow SF19 cars left the factory plain and were decorated by whoever received them which explains why 1 in the auction had no trace of the label. If that happened to be the marketing department or agency for Mars and they only had dozens of them perhaps as gifts for all management & sales reps who attended a presentation for the 1971 planned UK launch of the new ´´Munch´´ bar then the message to their own people would be crystal clear. In comparison to Jaffa cars which were made in thousands and have been known about since release an INTERNAL motivation tool or even a souvenir of a company convention ( Mars for example want their own employees to focus on all their products with the feeling ´´ YUM YUM´´ ) would remain unknown to collectors.

My personal feeling is that with the above we are drifting away from the truth.
To me, the evidence of non-production line painting points to a very limited number of models being produced, almost certainly as a sample, possibly for Lesney’s internal use (testing the new paint), more likely for an external customer (considering a possible promotional issue), or perhaps both. (Note that if the customer wanted this specific colour/paint and it was not present in the then current Lesney palette, the company would have had little choice other than to paint the bodies specially in R&D.) Similarly, the transparent plastic tape labels could have been sourced by the end user or by Lesney (as a trial replacement for paper labels?). It all depends on who had the contacts and just what else had already been prepared bearing the “Yum Yum” slogan. (The customer may well have had rolls of “Yum Yum” tape lying about.) The missing label could have been deliberate (supporting Mick’s theory), or it could have been lost in play. (Children seem to delight in destroying their toys: if a part can be removed, it will be removed, irrespective of whether it is actually supposed to come off or not.) However, the auction photograph appears to show a clean bonnet without adhesive residue, implying that tape was never applied. Furthermore, it looks like the tape label is just a little too wide for the bonnet (Mick, can you please comment). If so, this would point to it not being purpose-made, but something else which has been pressed into service for the purposes of a mock-up/sample and therefore indicates application by the end-user.
Finally, whilst possible, I think it unlikely that an internally-distributed model could remain under the radar for so long, and would point out that the highly-obscure 10c British Sugar Corporation promotional, although only comparatively recently photographed (in a MICA magazine) was known to exist much earlier despite having only been distributed to an extremely limited number of site managers. (I think the MICA article mentions 36 models being manufactured.)

1. I have always perceived the YUM YUM tape as having been cut from a standard small width roll not made in individual sections.
2. Such tape in the 1970s was commonly used as a security seal on glass jars with tin lids or large tins (for example Quality street chocolates or biscuit tins)
3. We do not know if YUM YUM was (a) a brand
(b) a product
or most likely in my opinion (c) a message to focus recipients attention
4. Lesney had #33 Muira and #75 Carabou baseplate bright yellow paint readily available in 1971 so choosing a new yellow candy coat over white primer was not only more costly but also specified by somebody in R&D for these trays of SF19 bodies
5.Dont forget Nigel telling us about the tray(s) of black #17 Londoner bodies he saw in R&D - there are still small batches of special purpose odd coloured castings to be discovered by the online collector community - these YUM YUM Lotuses are simply 1 of an unknown number of special jobs done by Lesney
6. Lesney had litterally tens of thousands of stickers and water slide decals available in the factory to choose from for these racers and as we know from colour trials and pre-pros they were not shy applying them to factory specials. The fact that no known Lesney stickers or decals were applied to these proves that somebody intended them to carry the YUM YUM message NOT anything random or race themed. The F1 Lotus was a very fast car & race winner so the YUM YUM message was applied to a toy all who saw it would perceive as a ´´RACE WINNER´´ which I personally interpret as a message targeted by a company at its management and sales force NOT CUSTOMERS. I also like MARS over in Slough (or perhaps the canteen brand buscuit maker) as the most likely client for these yellow SF19 because they almost certainly supplied Lesney factory canteen + vending machines so were in a position to ask for favours like a few dozen yellow racers .........

[Idris]

The problem with the security tape idea is that the label in the auction photograph is not behaving as I would expect security tape to behave. It appears to have lifted at the edges but, instead of curling and rolling itself up into a tube, has remained flat. It is therefore not anything akin to Sellotape. It is either a different material or significantly thicker.

[Idris]

Here's the auction photograph. (I thought I should save it for posterity!) I have also extracted photographs of each car.

Yum Yums (resized).jpg (52.93 KiB) Viewed 915 times

Yum Yum (car 1).jpg (118.58 KiB) Viewed 913 times

Yum Yum (car 2).jpg (114.58 KiB) Viewed 913 times

Yum Yum (car 3).jpg (119.74 KiB) Viewed 913 times

Yum Yum (car 4).jpg (103.74 KiB) Viewed 913 times

[mbox75]

Hi Idris

nice Pictures,danks for showing.

Cheers Mathias

[SMS88]

The problem with the security tape idea is that the label in the auction photograph is not behaving as I would expect security tape to behave. It appears to have lifted at the edges but, instead of curling and rolling itself up into a tube, has remained flat. It is therefore not anything akin to Sellotape. It is either a different material or significantly thicker.

Idris is thinking about the cheapest brands (often with yellow tinted glue) that are thin enough to curl at the edges when lifting,so cheap that the adhesive layer separates from the tape remaining on the item taped up - higher quality tape doesnt curl or flake off its glue. Looking at the auction pictures we can see a torn remnant on one nose (looks like a normal bit of torn tape) and on one car with complete label we can see finger grease darkened glue deposit from the scissor cut on the cowl, typical of roll tape but not sheet stickers. Looking at my own car it is easy to see from the photos that the YUM YUM tape is not only torn (quite possibly torn when the YUM YUM was stuck to this specific car rather than in play) but also lifting from the cowl. This tape looks no different, no thicker , no thinner no shinier than that which I use today on boxes of cars to be posted................

[Idris]

I'm thinking these models were color trials as well and my theory is that when they were presented for opinions by R&D department, that someone said, "that looks like Yum Yum Yellow" - which seems was a catch phrase at the time, regarding "shark tests" on the color yellow- I can envision someone going to the label department, coming up with a few labels to slap on them and saying, here ya go, Yum Yum Yellow!

Definitely not!
The SF 19d was deleted very quickly, being replaced by the (horrible) 19e Road Dragster in late 1970. However, the "Yum Yum Yellow" report was only published in 1974.

[fixer]

Where on the production run would these fit in as they all have 4 spiro type wheels (when did the front wheels change) it may narrow down the year that they were made