Frank Hornby established Meccano Ltd. in 1908 to make metal construction sets.
The company later moved into model railways with their first O gauge clockwork trains
appearing in 1920.
In the early 1930s, Meccano had made many types of tin plate and other metal cars, like
its Morgan and BSA three-wheelers, mostly in kit form.
In 1933 Meccano Ltd issued a series of railway and trackside accessories to complement their
O scale Hornby Trains model train sets.
These accessories were first called "Hornby Modelled Miniatures", but in 1934 they were
given the name "Meccano Dinky Toys", then just “Dinky Toys”.
The Dinky name was also used for the "Dinky Builder" sets where coloured flat metal pieces
could be hinged together to make buildings and vehicles.
One story is that the "Dinky" name came from a nickname that a friend gave to Frank Hornby's daughter.
Another version is when one of Frank's daughters-in-law first saw the models, she called them "dinky",
a Scottish word meaning neat or fine.
By the mid-1930s, six vehicles had been introduced including a sports car, a sports coupe, a
truck, a delivery van, a farm tractor, and a tank - all cast in toxic lead!
Soon after the MG Magic Midget appeared, followed by a generic ambulance, a grand sport open
two-seater and four-seater, a coupé and a limousine.
Some smaller vehicles were also produced alongside model track workers, passengers, station staff
and other O scale track side accessories.
All of these early cars had die-cast metal bodies, chassis and wheels with rubber tyres.
By August 1935 there were around 200 different products in the Dinky Toys range which included
die-cast ships, aeroplanes and small trains.
Dinky Toys model cars were available in trade packs of 6 cars per pack.
Most models wouldn’t be available in individual boxes until 1952.
The number of commercial vehicles expanded with the addition of Series 28 which included
many delivery vans.
Soon, liveries of well-known companies began to decorate the commercial vehicles.
In 1938, a new Series 36 was introduced, and most of these models were also made after
World War II up to 1948.
Dinkys had acute problems on early models with zinc rot, caused by lead impurities in the zinc alloy.
Metal would then crumble prematurely.
This was much more common between 1938–1941, and it’s rare to find surviving toys in
good condition from this period.
A theory is that lead from Hornby train and Dinky Toys production found their way into
the metal, corrupting it.
Between 1937 and 1939, a number of military vehicles were introduced.
The military offerings were produced through 1941 though a few select models were also
made again in 1946–1955 after the war.
Military models were made up through the end of production in the late 1970s.
A wide variety of military vehicles were produced, like the Jeep-like Austin Champ with driver
and passengers.
No Dinky Toys models were made between 1941 and 1945.
Dinky toys were made in both the UK and France, and the French factory was occupied by the Germans.
The British factory was on war work but every Christmas a few models would be sold from
pre-war stocks.
The first new models released after the war were U.S. military jeeps.
It was the first Dinky Toy made at the scale of 1/43.
The first significant Dinky releases after the war were the 40 series - all British saloons,
and the first new model car released was an Armstrong Siddeley Coupé.
These were the opening chapter of the "golden age" of Dinky Toys in the post-war era and
represented far greater accuracy and detail than their pre-war relatives.
These were very popular and today are often considered by collectors to be the quintessential
Dinky Toys models.
The 40 series cars were manufactured from better quality alloy, meaning that the survival
rate is higher and although originally sold in trade boxes of six, they were one of the
first sold in individual boxes.
In the early days of the Dinky Toys range aeroplanes and ships formed a considerable
part of the output of the Binns Road factory alongside models of cars, vans and trucks.
Both civilian and military aircraft were subjects for the Dinky Toys modellers, and the model
of the Spitfire was also sold in a special presentation box between 1939 and 1941 as
part of The Spitfire Fund in order to raise money for the supply of a real Spitfire to
the Royal Air Force.
Some models were clearly identifiable whereas others re-issued in 1945 had generic names
such as Heavy Bomber and Two-Seater Fighter.
The reason for this isn’t clear and it may have been that these weren’t true representations
of particular aircraft types.
Production of model aircraft resumed after the war with a mixture of pre-war re-issues
and new models of civilian airliners and new jet-powered aircraft.
Production of Dinky planes tailed off in 1968 but was resurgent in 1971 with a range of
World War II types complete with battery-powered propellers, modern jet fighters, and even
a Sea King helicopter.
As part of the post-war development and expansion of the range, in 1947 Meccano Ltd introduced
a series of model lorries modelled to the usual Dinky scale of 1:48, and introduced
the altered name of Dinky Supertoys.
Supertoys were commonly packaged in white boxes with thin blue horizontal lines and
were marketed all on their own – no longer were these models solely focused on railroad
accessories.
Still, they didn’t quite reach the commercial marketing level of later diecast brands like
Corgi Toys or Solido.
The Dinky Toys ranges became more sophisticated throughout the 1950s.
Some sporty pre-war cars were carried over such as the Alvis sports tourer, Sunbeam Talbot,
or the Frazer-Nash BMW.
Models of the latest post-war sports cars joined the line-up, both British and American.
Several colourful gift sets of sports and racing cars were offered in the mid-1950s,
usually five cars to a set.
Production of agricultural machinery and implements had occurred since the 1930s, and such offerings
were maintained post-war.
One interesting model was the odd Opperman 3-wheeled Motocart, a tilting flat-bed vehicle
with engine hanging off to the side of its large front wheel.
Dinky offerings at this time were striking, but due to the lack of much competition, development
of new models was perhaps a bit slow at least until July 1956, when Mettoy introduced a
rival line of models under the Corgi brand name.
The most obvious difference was the addition of clear plastic window glazing.
While Corgi Toys called their vehicles, "The Ones With Windows", Meccano Ltd responded
by updating the Dinky Toys range and the models from both companies quickly became more and
more sophisticated featuring such things as working suspension, "fingertip steering",
detailed interiors, and jewelled headlights.
In response to Matchbox, Meccano Ltd introduced the smaller Dublo Dinky range in 1958, designed
to be used with the Hornby railway system.
These were relatively cheap to produce – having a one-piece die-cast metal body, a base plate
and plastic wheels.
Models were well-proportioned and looked similar in style to contemporary Matchbox or Budgie Toys.
Wheels, however, were somewhat flatter and wider than those of Matchbox and their circumference
wasn’t ribbed at the beginning but this feature was added later.
The baseplate, however, was pressed steel with etched lettering (not diecast with moulded
lettering as was the case with Matchbox, Budgie Toys or Lone Star vehicles).
The range met with limited success and the first model was withdrawn in October 1960
having only been on sale for 18 months.
By 1963 all Dublo Dinky’s had been withdrawn.
Rival Tri-ang Toys, produced the “Spot-on” range of model cars.
To compete with Spot-on, the scale of British Dinky Toys was increased to 1:42 in 1963.
In 1964 Tri-ang took over Dinky’s parent Meccano company (which included Hornby trains
as well as Meccano itself).
Since Dinky Toys were more popular, Spot-On Models were phased out in 1967, although a
few cars originally designed for Spot-On were made in Hong Kong and marketed as Dinky Toys.
The Dinky Supertoys name was dropped and the large models were renamed Dinky Toys.
A second series of small-scale models was introduced in 1967.
Called Mini-Dinky Toys, they featured opening bonnets, doors and boots and were produced
in Hong Kong and the Netherlands.
Each model was sold in stackable red plastic garages, with clear removable top and sides.
The model would slide out of a double hinged opening door to one end.
This was in place of the usual cardboard box.
In 1969, two years after appearing in America, Mattel's Hot Wheels entered the U.K. model
car market.
Their low-friction axles and bright paint schemes gave new play value and appeal.
Dinky and other British brands rushed to catch up.
Each manufacturer responded with its own version of Hot Wheels innovations, and Dinky's name
was "Speedwheels".
The company continued to make innovative models, with all four opening doors, retractable radio
aerials, new metallic paints, and jeweled headlights.
Such features, however, were expensive to manufacture and toy prices could only be kept
low if the quantity was high, and in the face of the Hot Wheels juggernaut, Dinky faced
an uphill battle.
Tri-ang went into bankruptcy in 1971, and Dinky, along with Meccano and Hornby was sold
to new owners Airfix.
Under the new owners Dinky soldiered on, with their offerings in the 1970s covering the
entire spectrum of vehicles, both real and fictitious.
Besides the normal gamut of passenger, sports and racing cars, buses, farm, emergency and
military vehicles – cars, aeroplanes and spacecraft were also offered from popular
(mostly British) TV shows of the time like Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, UFO, Thunderbirds,
the Pink Panther, The Secret Service, and Joe 90.
It could be argued, though, that it was too little too late, as Corgi Toys had already
been offering for several years vehicles from far more well-known shows and movies like
Batman, The Saint, Daktari, James Bond, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Dinky's seemingly weaker standing made it all the more susceptible to Mattel's unstoppable
Hot Wheels onslaught.
Likely to save money, in the 1970s, many British made Dinky vehicles lost the precision quality
of detailing and proportions seen during the two previous decades.
Models like the Jensen FF or Ford Capri were rather chunky and unrefined with thick metal
door frames, imprecise grilles, and ungainly doors and bonnets painted in separate colours
from the rest of the body.
However others, like the Citroën DS Présidentielle saloon were still impressive–flying French
flags, with driver, and battery-operated lights.
At this time, Dinky also introduced "Action Kits" which were regular models that came
disassembled with build instructions and consisted of about 40 pieces.
On the other hand, French Dinky Toys, which had to compete with Solido since 1957, were
much more accurate with better paint and sharper details than their English counterparts.
Changing fashions in the toy industry, international competition and the switch to cheap labour
in lower wage countries meant that the days of British-made toy vehicles like Dinky Toys
were numbered.
After attempts at simplifying the products as a means of saving costs, the famous Binns
Road factory in Liverpool finally closed its doors in November 1979.
And in 1981 owners Airfix went bankrupt.
Matchbox called in the receiver in 1982, and Corgi went bankrupt in 1983.
Thus ended the era when UK-made die-cast toy models were dominant.
The Dinky trade-name changed hands many times before ending up as part of the new owners
of Matchbox in the late 1980s.
This seemed to be a logical and perhaps synergistic development, uniting two of the most valuable
and venerated names in the British and world die-cast model car market under one roof.
Soon Matchbox began issuing model cars of the 1950s and 1960s through the "Dinky Collection"
– these models were marketed toward adult collectors.
The models, like a Wolseley Hornet or a 1953 Buick Skylark convertible, were attractive
and honoured the tradition of the Dinky name in realism.
In fact these were often even more detailed than original Dinkys, instead resembling something
more like Lledo's Vanguard range.
Still, production stopped after only a few years.
The "Dinky Collection" eventually got absorbed into a themed series offered by Matchbox which
by now was owned by Hot Wheels owner Mattel – who portrayed little interest in any historical
honoring of the Dinky brand.
Mattel has preferred to occasionally re-badge normal Matchbox models with the Dinky name
for some editions in certain markets.
No new "dedicated" Dinky castings have been created in the Mattel era since Matchbox Collectibles
was shut down in 2000.
In 2008 French partworks publishers, Atlas Editions, began to reissue models previously
available as Dinky Toys under licence from Mattel.
These models were only available by subscription in some European countries, initially France.
These models were from brand new tooling as the original Meccano dies had been previously
sold to other toy makers worldwide or were destroyed or lost.
In 2016, DeAgostini, the parent company of Atlas editions, launched another range of
Dinky Toys in The United Kingdom and Italy.
After a test run of 5 issues the range was discontinued in the UK.