Credit: Little Car Youtube Channel
This is a scale drawing of the cab/body of a lorry-mounted Coles crane Dinky Toy. It was drawn by Don Mann in 1953 at Liverpool’s Meccano Factory and donated to our Trust by his son Robert in February 2024. It is now on display next to the Dinky Toy it partly represents.
An imposter?
On display at the FHHC is a 1950s Dinky Toys Austin A40 van
reproduced in the 1990s by Matchbox.
An RAF Tornado aircraft by Dinky Toys. Produced 1974 to 1976 there’s one on display at Maghull’s Frank Hornby Heritage Centre.
Here’s an interesting link to a video of Dinky Toys being made at Liverpool’s
world famous Binns Road Meccano Factory back over 50 years ago in 1967
Our present main Dinky Toys display area at our Maghull Heritage Centre. Separately, we have a display of Dinky milatary vehicles and Dinky ships.
A beautifully refurbished 8 Wheeled Foden Truck - donated Nov ‘23 by Bob Knapmam
This simple application form was donated to our Tust in September 2024 by Keith Jones. It is around 60 years old.
We now have almost the full range of Gerry/Sylvia Anderson TV programme Dinky Toys on Display at our Maghull Heritage Centre
The History of Dinky Toys
In the early 1930s, Meccano made many types of tinplate and other metal cars, such as its Morgan and BSA three-wheelers, mostly in kit form. In 1933, Meccano Ltd issued a series of railway and trackside accessories to complement its O gauge (1/45) Hornby Trains model railway sets. The accessories were first called "Hornby Modelled Miniatures", but in the April 1934 issue of Meccano Magazine, they were given the name "Meccano Dinky Toys" for the first time.
In August 1935, the name Meccano was dropped and the marque became DINKY TOYS, which lasted until 1971.
By December 1934, the Dinky name was also used for the "Dinky Builder" sets, which were coloured flat metal pieces that could be hinged together to make buildings and vehicles.
One story about the origin of the "Dinky" name is that it derived from a nickname that a friend gave to Frank Hornby's daughter. Another version is that when one of Hornby's daughters-in-law first saw the models, she called them "dinky", a Scottish word meaning "neat" or "fine". Please watch the YouTube video linked top left of this page.
Credit: Wikipedia - Dinky toys
A Dinky Toys double-deck bus and road roller that are included in our Education/Memory Box which is available to borrow via Sefton Libraries - see details on our home page.
The link above takes you to an interesting site which covers over 60 Dinky models produced over the period 1964 to 1979 when the Binns Road, Meccano factory in Liverpool, England closed. The genres covered are Dinkys which were licensed from Films, TV shows or other entertainment media, were real or fictional space vehicles or were specials, created for fun rather than modelled on real vehicles.
A heritage Dinky Toys poster photographed at the Frank Hornby Pub in Maghull. Yes, Maghull even has a pub named after the Town’s most famous resident. It’s on Eastway about three-quarters ofa mile from the FHHC.
Donated Dinky Toys (from John Shrigley) in our Heritage Centre
Dinky Toys Electric Dairy Van in our collection
1951 Dinky Toys 63b Mercury Seaplane on loan 01 24 to FHHC
Dinky Toys RAF Search & Rescue Launch with a 2013 woven badge in the background produced as part of a Hornby festival held in that year.
‘Get the Rolls out Parker, we’re going for a drive’, Yes M’Lady.
Dinky models from Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Secret Service, Space 1999, UFO and Joe 90 are now a part of our collection. Many have been loaned to our Trust.
Pictured here is FAB 1 Lady Penelope’s car.