STS 4×4 – Super Track System by Exin

Posted on April 23, 2022 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

STS (Super Track System) 4×4 was an electric slot-car racing system made by Exin Lines Brothers of Spain. The track and vehicle operating systems were similar to Scalextric and other brands of the time, using a motor-driven chassis with pick-ups to make contact to an electrical current flowing inside the track.

STS 4×4 tried to do something a little different from its competitors by focusing on 4×4 vehicles and making their tracks a terrain-coloured brown as opposed to the typical black surface tracks of other brands. Extra track pieces were available to buy to expand the basic sets, along with a range of accessories such as obstacles, bridges and jumps.

TVTA is pleased to present catalogue images from the 1988 Spanish Exin catalogue and the 1988 French STS 4×4 catalogue. The images feature the main sets available at the time along with many accessories.

Cover. 1988 STS 4×4 catalogue. France.

Cover. Exin STS 4×4 segment from the Exin Catalogue. 1988. Spain.

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TENTE Construction Toys

Posted on April 5, 2022 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

TVTA is pleased to present further images from the 1988 Exin catalogue featuring TENTE construction toys.

Today we look at the lines Elephant (a range of pre-school bricks similar to Duplo and Mega-Bloks), Variant, Compact and Combi (for early school ages), and then sets for the more advanced young builder featuring typical Tenté themes of helicopters, boats, military vehicles and space craft.

To round off the post we have some examples from the Titanium line… and here there can be no doubt that some of its space vehicles were inspired by certain craft from the early Star Wars franchise (X-Wing and Tie Fighters immediately come to mind).

Enjoy the images!

Selection of Tenté construction toy lines. Composition by TVTA.

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Roblock – transforming robots you build!

Posted on April 2, 2022 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Roblock was introduced around 1984 as part of the TENTE construction toy range by Exin-Lines Bros S.A., probably as a cash-in on the trend for transforming toys such as Go-Bots, Transformers and the like. The difference was that Roblock robots had to be built first – brick by brick, with special hinges enabling the vehicle parts to become robots.

Roblocks might appear as simplistic and cartoonish for a transforming toy robot, but for me they add a special cool factor with their bold colour schemes, striking decals and fun element… I mean, who can resist a sci-fi, earth-moving machine on caterpillar treads, which can transform into a frog? That’s the kooky joy that is Frogster. See pic below…

Tente Roblock featuring the models Defender, Dark Warrior and Frogster. Exin catalogue, 1988, Spain.

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Exin Castles

Posted on March 27, 2022 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Exin Castles, known as ‘Exin Castillos’ in its Spanish country of origin, is an interlocking construction toy similar to its competitor Lego. The sets were based on the concept of medieval and fantasy castles (beating Lego, who would introduce the same themes later on) and were introduced in 1968 by Exin-Lines Bros S.A. of Barcelona, Spain. Exin was also well known for its hugely popular TENTE range of interlocking bricks.

TVTA is pleased to present images from the 1988 English/French language Exin catalogue, printed in Spain, featuring sets from the Exin Castles line as well as sets from the Golden Series line.

Exin Castles. 1988 Exin catalogue. Spain.

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TENTE… interlocking bricks from Spain

Posted on April 30, 2011 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Tenté was a construction brick toy similar to LEGO, and was created in 1972 in Spain by Exin-Lines Bros S.A. Tenté sets differed from their competitor in that their sets were mainly commercial and military vehicles of various scales. The Tenté bricks were also unique in that they had central holes in each “stud” to allow for additional connection points. The sets were manafactured in the USA, Japan and Europe. The product, although very similar to LEGO, is not compatible with its Danish counterpart.