Following on from my previous post about Frank Hornby’s Meccano toys, here is a Meccano enthusiast magazine sold in France in 1958.
Tag Archives: Meccano
Meccano toy catalogue, France, 1972

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!
SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN / WOMAN
She’s breaking up! She’s breaking up!
“Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster!”
… so went the opening lines from the Six Million Dollar man TV series.
Produced by Kenner in the US in 1975, The ‘Colonel Steve Austin’ 13 inch action doll complete with bionic eye and removable bionic modules was based on the popular TV show character starring Lee Majors.
The doll became an instant toy hit around the world. Additional figures were introduced to the line including a popular Jaime Sommers doll – the Bionic Woman (for which a separate TV series was made). Other characters included Oscar Goldman, Maskatron, Fembot, and a Bionic Bigfoot figure. Clothing, accessories and playsets were also available.
French advertising. Meccano
US advertising. Kenner
Comic Books
- The Bionic Woman. Look-In N°15. 1979. UK.
Thanks for looking 🙂
Post updated Aug 2019 with new images.
MECCANO… mechanics made easy
Meccano has built a strong legacy as one of the oldest construction systems in the world when it was invented in England by Frank Hornby in 1898. In 1913, a very similar construction set was introduced in the US under the brand name Erector. Today, these two great brands have joined forces under one global brand name – Meccano.
Text taken from official website: Meccano