MERCURY was founded in 1932 by Attilo Clemente and Antonio Cravero in Turin, Italy. Between 1953 and 1962 they produced a line of 1/48 scale models, which became a huge success. Among them, the Mercury oval VW.
Diecast metal body with cut out windows and good details of front and rear hood, door seams and rear oval window with air louvers. Metal chassis with axles and metal rims with grey or black rubber tires. No motor and chassis stamped MERCURY NO 15 VOLKSWAGEN MADE IN ITALY.
The first release (1955) had silver coloured rims, grey wheels (initially) and later black wheels.. The headlights and the bumpers were always silver. The backlights were painted red.
In 1958, the original model was changed in the way that the wheels were chromed and the base was painted.
The boxes came in 3 different versions: the first version is plain white with blue lettering and logo of Mercury and “Volkswagen, art. 15”. The second version in blue/red shows a larger beetle with large black shadows on the car and the number 15 in the upper left. The box is also slightly larger than the later red/blue box. The third version had a slightly distorted beetle with less shadows on the car and with the letters “Art.” preceding the number 15. Both the second and the third version featured a round hole in the side of the box, so it was easy to see the colour of the car included.
A version for the Swiss market only featured a Swiss PTT (postal) VW Beetle with the characteristic yellow body with black fenders. The PTT decal is small on the 1956 version and larger on the 1957 version. Please be aware that a reproduction of this PTT model exists by an Italian dealer Hachette including a box. These are still for sale for a small amount.
A version for the Japanese market did not carry the MERCURY name on the chassis (it was visibly erased) nor on the (red) box.
