Frank Hornby established Meccano Ltd. in 1908 to make metal construction sets and model railroads. In the early 1930s, Meccano made many types of tin plate and other metal cars and in 1934 the name "Meccano Dinky Toys" was used for the first time. The name Meccano was dropped and the brand became DINKY TOYS until 1971. Dinky Toys was the brand name for die-cast zinc alloy miniature vehicles. They were made in England from 1934 to 1979, at a factory in Binns Road in Liverpool. They had production lines in several countries over the globe, with some country specific models.
Due to heavy competition of cheap labour countries, the factory closed its doors in November 1979. The Dinky trade-name changed hands many times before ending up as part of Matchbox International in the late 1980s. Later it became part of the US giant Mattel.
In 2008 French publishers, Atlas Editions, began to reissue models previously available as Dinky Toys under license from Mattel.
Diecast metal body with cut out windows and good details of the front and rear hood, door seams and rear oval window with air louvers. Early models featured painted diecast wheels; later models had aluminium wheels. Metal chassis stamped DINKY TOYS 181 VW Made in England. A special Swiss Post PTT version 262 was painted yellow & black.
