Front cover for the Meccano S.A. Catalogue Général, 1972, France, showing the new blue and yellow parts colour system.
Originally called ‘Mechanics Made Easy’, Meccano is a popular and enduring toy construction set invented in 1901 by Frank Hornby from Liverpool, England. Due to its huge success and demand, Hornby opened factories around the world, one of which features in today’s post – the Bobigny factory in France, which in 1951 was producing more than half a million Meccano box sets a day!
The following 1972 general catalogue shows the new blue and yellow parts that had become available for Meccano sets, as well as ‘Pocket Meccano’ and ‘Meccano Plastic’.
The catalogue also features other iconic toys to come from the French Bobigny factory such as Scalextric racing, Hornby model trains, and Spirograph. The final page of the catalogue shows a photograph of the Bobigny factory. One can only imagine the amount of toys that passed through the gates during its tenure as one of Frank Hornby’s wordwide factories!
Meccano complimentary sets. 1972.
Pocket Meccano sets. 1972.
Meccano motors. 1972.
Meccano sets. 1972.
Meccano Plastic. 1972.
Other toys shown in the catalogue
Spirograph sets: Spirojunior, Spirostart, Spiro-matic. 1972.
Meccano mini projectors Walt Disney range. 1972.
Meccano Chip Away, Pant’ O’ Mime, Tele & Col. 1972.
Meccano Spiroscope, Junior Jet, Western. 1972.
Jouets enfance. 1972.
Gyrojet
Meccano SA Catalogue 1972. Rear cover. Gyrojet.
Meccano Gyrojet. 1972.
Scalextric
Scalextric. 1972.
Scalextric. 1972.
Scalextric. 1972.
Hornby-AcHO trains
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- Hornby trains. Meccano catalogue général. France. 1972.
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- Hornby trains. Meccano catalogue général. France. 1972.
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- Hornby trains. Meccano catalogue général. France. 1972.
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- Hornby trains. Meccano catalogue général. France. 1972.
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- Hornby trains. Meccano catalogue général. France. 1972.
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- Hornby trains. Meccano catalogue général. France. 1972.
Frog model kits
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- Frog model kits. 1972.
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- Frog model kits. 1972.
The Meccano factory, Bobigny, France, 1972
Meccano factory, Bobigny, France, 1972.
Thanks for looking 🙂
All images scanned by TVTA from the Meccano catalogue général, 1972, France.
Other sources: Meccano France
The Vintage Toy Advertiser 
Wow! Meccano invented in 1901! Cool!
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Very detailed.
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Wow, I didn’t know Meccano had been around quite that long. I never had any, but I think my brother did. I can see a few sets in there that I would have enjoyed, though! When I was a kid, K’Nex was all the rage; it was fun, though our windmill, roller coaster etc. builds were rather ambitious/rarely finished!
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Yes, I remember K’Nex – “The colour-coded construction set”. I had a basic set and a beach buggy type vehicle. It was a pretty cool and inventive toyline now you mention it.
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Yeah, it was good fun. I remember coming back to it over several years. I always loved going into toy shops and seeing the enormous constructions they’d have on show – tower cranes, Ferris wheels, roller coasters and the like. Awesome!
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You’re right about those toy shop displays – what a cool job that would have been building and setting up those!
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I had meccano hornby trains and scalextric. Blast from the past and yet more good memories. This is a post that brings me happiness cheers TVTA
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Brilliant Neil, glad the post brings some happiness. I never had Hornby trains but I did have some Scalextric and had hours of fun playing that, especially getting spare track and making the circuits longer. The cat we had at the time would pounce on the cars as they went along the straights, making the game more a race against the cat than the opposing vehicles 🙂
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Hi TVTA, My dad had those exact Meccano sets! We also had the first electric motor shown in the row of three. As my Grandfather worked around the amusement parks and fairs I built a “Merry-Go-Round” or “Gallopers” and used horses from a medieval action figure playset. It was powered by the motor but unfortunately I wasn’t well versed in engineering back then as a kid and I got the gearing slightly er, wrong. The Merry-Go-Round became a helicopter and launched itself when I set the motor running!
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Lol, I can just imagine a merry-go-round transforming into a helicopter now 🙂 I had a few sets of Meccano as a boy but the ones that I remember fondly are the space themed ones, like these: https://thevintagetoyadvertiser.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/pif-686-1982-meccano-space-post.jpg and https://thevintagetoyadvertiser.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/pif-707_-meccano_-1982-post.jpg
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Hi again, yes but the problem with a Meccano Merry-go-round Helicopter is that it is flipping dangerous! My dad had a difficult time trying to get hold of it to switch it off – those metal strips were like saw blades when they were spinning. And we just had the regular mechanical parts sets not the themed kits, though they looked nice.
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C’est fantastique, mon ami!
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Merci pour les mots gentil!
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