French Dinky Toys
In 1912 Frank Hornby set up an office in Paris on Rue Ambroise Thomas to import
Meccano into France. By 1921 the French market had proved so successful that production
of Meccano began in Paris at the newly opened factory on Rue Rebeval, with another
plant opening in 1929 at Bobigny where production of the Dinky Toys range would
be based. In the early days production consisted mainly of model ships and aeroplanes,
with vehicles gradually increasing in number. During the Second World War the
Meccano factories were commandered by the invading Germans and used in the Nazi
war effort, as well as production of model vehicles in the German Marklin range.
In the early post-war years the model vehicles were forced to be shod with metal
wheels due to Nazi activity during the war which had virtually cut off supplies
of rubber to France, rubber tyres not being fitted on models until 1950. In 1951
the old factory at Rue Rebeval closed and Dinky Toys production was now solely
based at Bobigny.
By the 1950s the French Dinky Toys range had began to diversify from that of
the British parent company, concentrating on the products of the French motor
manufacturers; Citroen, Renault, Peugeot and Simca, along with examples of American
cars which were popular at that time on mainland Europe. Some models such as
the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia were produced both in France as 24m and in Great
Britain at the Binns Road plant in Liverpool as 187. By the 1960s there was
virtually no crossover of products between the two countries resulting in a
fascinating range that complemented the better known UK models. The vast majority
of the French Dinky range were only available in the home market although a
few models did make it across the English Channel to be sold in Britain. The
factory at Bobigny closed in 1970 and production moved to Calais where the range
continued to be manufactured until closure in 1971, although the Spanish company
Pilen produced some models which were originally sold as French Dinky Toys until
the end of the decade. |
