RIBEIRINHO was founded in 1905 by José Teixeira in Guimaraes, Portugal. It is unclear what they produced prior to WWII but after the WWII they produced a very large assortment of cheap plastic products such as toys. They manufactured many household appliances and other products. They also copied some WIKING 1/40 models, like the Volkswagen 1200 (as a Split Window Sedan and also as Oval VW Sedan) and the Volkswagen T1. They furthermore issued a series in 1/60 scale, very much based on the SIKU toy vehicle product line of the time. One of the models is the Oval Window Volkswagen 1200. In 1/87 scale, they copied and modified WIKING models like the Volkswagen 1200 Convertible.
This RIBEIRINHO VW Beetle is similar to the RIBEIRINHO Split Window VW toy but this is the Oval Window VW version. A nice plastic based copy of the WIKING VW constructional kit except all the plastic interior parts are glued to the chassis. Oval VW includes the clear plastic body with small air bubbles, black chassis, driver, seats, wheels, hubcaps, engine and spare tire. May have come in a colored box in the shape of a garage with the text GARAGEM and the RIBEIRINHO insignia.
