Darda Motor 1986

Posted on August 11, 2018 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

In 1970 Helmut Darda of Germany invented a tiny interchangeable toy car motor and named it the ‘Darda Motor’. The motor could be inserted into a number of different vehicle types and was ‘wound up’ by rolling it back and forth by hand then releasing it. No batteries were required or electricity to power it. Vehicles could run on almost any surface but were given their own special track system called ‘Darda Tracks’ which were sold individually or in sets. Darda designed the system so that elaborate circuits could be created both horizontally and vertically in seemingly endless configurations limited only by your own imagination and how much track you could afford.

Among the typical vehicles you might expect to see such as road, rally and emergency, Darda produced some fun and unique models like dragsters, beach buggies, a mouse(!), a skateboarder, a rocket, and even a replica of Michael Knight’s KITT from the US television series Knight Rider.

The 1986 German catalogue from which these scans are taken show the classic ‘Darda-Motor’ system (red) as well as the updated ‘Darda-Stop-Motor’ (blue) – a new development at the time which allowed vehicles to be wound up but not activated to go until another vehicle had ‘tapped’ them from the rear. This added a new element to racing as cars could now ‘tag’ each other at different points of a race.

Darda is still made and sold to date, and one of the great things about it is that all current vehicles, motors and tracks can be fully integrated with their vintage counterparts. Add to this that no batteries or electricity is ever required, and that there is a seemingly endless combination of track layouts to be made, and Darda takes quite some beating.

Darda Track Sets

Darda Vehicles

Darda Accessories

In other Darda news…

Print adverts

Weird War Tales N°103. 1981. US.

Darda Motor A Team. Pif Gadget. France. 1988.

Darda Motor. Intertoys Speelboek. 1987. Netherlands.

Delta Flyer. France. 1988.

Darda Motor. 1984. France.

Sources:

Darda Motor 1986 catalogue, Germany. Scans made by TVTA.

Vintage print adverts, various.

Website: DardaRacing.com

Thanks for looking 🙂

Tomica die cast vehicles from Japan

Posted on April 18, 2018 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

“Tomica. Little vehicles carrying big dreams.”

Welcome to another new entry at The Vintage Toy Advertiser as we present scans for a 1982 Tomica & Dandy catalogue from Japan, and a Tomica British language Japanese flyer.

Tomica is a line of die cast toy vehicles produced by the Japanese company Tomy since 1970. In 1972 the Tomica & Dandy line was launched. 1976 saw the 100 millionth Tomica product release. Less than a decade later in 1984 Tomica celebrated its 300 millionth product release. The 90s saw the introduction of a battery-operated line (B/O Tomica) and a radio controlled line (R/C Tomica). In 2005 Tomica celebrated its 35th anniversary with the opening of the ‘Tomica Shop’, the first direct retail outlet which opened in the Tokyo Station Complex. In 2010 the line recorded its 40th anniversary. Tomica is still sold to date. Info taken from the Takara Tomy website

Click pics to go bigger.

Tomy Tomica die cast Japanese English language flyer. Front.

Tomy Tomica die cast Japanese English language flyer. Reverse.

Tomica & Dandy product catalogue 1982. Japan.

Tomy & Dandy product catalogue 1982. Japan. Front and reverse covers.

Thanks for looking 🙂

Q: What do you do with nineteen Bburago adverts from 1988?

Posted on September 29, 2016 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

A: Post them up at The Vintage Toy Advertiser!

Bburago was founded by brothers Mario, Ugo, and Martino Besana in 1976. Hailing from the town of Burago in their native Italy, they combined the letter “B” of Burago with the initial “B” of their family surname to create Bburago. You can see my original post for Bburago here In the meantime, here are nineteen brand new ads fresh from 1988 editions of French Pif Gadget, including two special ads showing what the store display boxes would have looked like back in the day.