During the 1930's Meccano Ltd was not only making Meccano and Hornby Railways, but also expanding into accessories for their O Gauge Trains. In 1931 the introduced a range of Diecast Models called, 'Modeled Miniatures,' these where sets of accessories mostly railwaymen, and passengers however Set 22 was six vehicles. These where more a representation rather than a scale model, however from these six vehicles a large range would grow in the next few decade.

In the early 1930's a range of toy vehicles from America named, 'Tootsie Toys,' where proving popular in Britain. This fact was not lost on Frank Hornby who could see a market for toy vehicles, the name of these sets where changed to, 'Meccano Dinky Toys,' with set 22 becoming the first Dinky Cars. By 1935 the range had expanded to over 200 vehicles including, ships and aircraft.

World War 2 interrupted the flow of Dinky Cars from the Binns Road factory. In the 1940's and 50's the range continued to expand, with some notable commercial vehicles being produced.The take over by Lines Brothers made little difference to the Dinky Range, Lines Brothers even dropped there own Spot-On brand in favour of Dinky. By the time the Binns Road factory closed in 1979 there had been well over a thousand different Dinky Cars that had been made. In 1987 the Dinky name was sold to Matchbox who made the Dinky Collection starting in 1988.

MAIN EVENTS OF THIS COMPANY

• 1931 Modeled Miniatures Launched including 6 vehicles
• 1933 Dinky name makes its first appearance
• 1979 Binns Road Factory closure stops production of Dinky Cars
• 1987 Dinky name sold to Matchbox
• 1988 Matchbox introduce Dinky Collection

 

 

 

 

 

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