Model Collector – August 2019

unusual in itself, as Morris was a
marque virtually ignored by toy
companies in the pre-war era.
The Goody Toys Morris is
heavily stylised, with a nice
thin-walled crisp casting. The
construction is an amalgam
of Dinky Toys, Tootsietoy and
Manoil practices of the time.
The wheels are, arguably, a little
too small, but the overall effect
is one of real period charm.
How rare is this model?
Well, In the past 35 years of
collecting I’ve only seen a
handful of examples come up
for sale. Its scarcity, however,
is not reflected by its current
market value and until more
information comes to light it
will probably continue to be
consider no more than
a delightful little curio.

Copies
If you love a good mystery then
collecting lead vehicles, petrol
pumps and figures is definitely
the route to take. Aside from
their immense charm, they can
be quite inexpensive to acquire
and, furthermore, they enliven
a display of diecast or tinplate
models like nothing else.
As a source of reference,
Norman Joplin’s lead figure
book, is invaluable, being
comprehensive enough for
research but not always
conclusive enough to
}spoil the fun.
I also make no apologies

for including a railway item

here; it could have been an oil

cabinet or a road sign. Any way,

many railway layouts feature

vehicles and that’s my excuse!

The Johillco figure of the little

girl is well known and dates

from the late 1920s/early

1930s. A common sight on

platforms at the time, she sits

atop her trunk, complete with

bag and bucket, ready to take

the train to the seaside. The

trunk is brown and there is

some nice detailing touched

in too. The copy (shown to

the right) however is a crude

execution, typical of the

backstreet casting outfits that

flourished in Britain up until

the 1950s. It also dispenses

with some of the luggage

for some reason, maybe in a

nod to austerity? On its own

it seems an odd item to have

copied, so I suspect it was

part of a larger range or set.

Petrol pumps, figures and

signage were all similarly

cribbed from other

manufacturers. It’s known

that some of these copies

were also copied, sometimes

making it impossible to know

who was copying who!

Getting back to the girl on

the trunk, who made her and

when? This one could keep

you occupied for some time!

Friday afternoon specials

We’re on safer ground this

time, but it’s a conundrum

nonetheless... Dinky Toys’

American cars of the late 1950s

were superb models; two-tone

paint schemes, windows, spun

hubs, white tyres and silver

detailing made them very

‘cool’ indeed. Amongst these

was No. 178 Plymouth Plaza,

produced from 1959 to 1963.

It always sported spun hubs

and never featured an interior.

As per Dinky policy, the casting

was expected to earn its keep

and so in 1960 the Plaza was

transformed into an American

taxi. This was achieved by

the addition of a plastic roof

sign, spring suspension and

vac formed interior moulding.

This clocked up lots

more sales and outlasted

its non-commercial

stablemate by three years.

Now, I’ve stated that in

privately owned car guise this

model had never boasted an

interior – that is apart from

the one in the shot shown here!

This appears to have been put

together by a production line

perfectionist, bearing in mind

the interior was an additional

component and not simply

a short cut. It also features

the spring suspension

usually found on the taxi cab.

I think the cream interior

would probably have worked

better with the two-tone blue

exterior paint scheme, but

maybe that’s being a tad

pedantic. I’d still love to

know the story of how it

came about, though!

The original Johillco lead

figurine (right) alongside a

somewhat cruder copy (left).

august 2019 | http://www.modelcollector.com 39

Bet you’ve never seen an example

of Dinky Toys No. 178 Plymouth

Plaza fitted with an interior and spring

suspension before! Was this, we

wonder, an experimental factory

sample produced prior to these

features being included on the

taxi cab version, or perhaps the

result of a production line worker

taking it upon his/herself to make

a couple of improvements?

Many years ago, now, collector and

toy historian Robert Newson pointed

out, in a published in Model Collector,

that there were distinct similarities

between this Goody Toys’ Morris and

the Timpo Toys’ Streamlined Saloon.

We still, however, know very little

about this long obsolete British brand.