I just added a whole lot of stuff to my website and invite you gentlemen to have a look. Maybe you can find something you like?

Please CLICK HERE.

T54

Stunning collection - thanks for the 'invitation to view'.

you got quite the collection of Japanese tinplate. how'd you come come across all those? what's your favorite model?

I must admit that I hadn't realized that tin-plate toys were ever made to such high standards. Wonderful!

Beautiful collection. I enjoyed you recollections at Heller, please post more.

Gentlemen,
I am pleased that you like it. To answer your questions:

When I was a kid, I never saw even ONE of these wonderful large German or Japanese tinplate toy cars. None of my favorite toy shops carries them, possibly because they were too expensive for the market (German toys) or had a much fragmented and limited distribution (Japanese toys). I saw my first such toy in a Swiss collection in 1983, and fell in love with them. I sold most of my previous collection of the "usual" toys (Dinkies, Corgi etc.) and turned the money into more and more Japanese and German tinplate cars, boats, aircraft... and lately larger and larger models. I just bought a huge 22" 1960 Cadillac, it is so large that I have no display space for it! The craftsmanship on some of these toys is truly amazing, with every bit of "chrome" being stamped sheet metal and not the "easy way around" of die-casting pot metal. These toys have nobility, that of the truly gifted craftsmen behind them. Compare them to the current Chinese high-production die-cast models that have zero personality or flavor (to me anyway), and I will never disgrace my collection with even one of these mass-marketed ersatz.

I will expand the website to more and more, and there are some local museums exhibits in the planning at this time, where the LA crowd could see the tinplate collection at a well-known automotive museum.
As far as the Heller stuff as well as Cox and other companies I worked for, I plan to scan a lot more stuff and post it. This website of mine will be in constant evolution as I will subdivide categories into more detailed specifics. For example, I just purchased a very rare toy of a 1959 Buick Century from a 66-year old lady who told me the truly fun story of her passion for automobiles, large and small, and told it with a rapid style that shows lots of spunk. I love a human story behind each toy. So this side of the website of story telling will increase.
Also I will be able to relate racing stories on motorcycles and cars as I recall them, and funny anecdotes.

Some of you also know that I am the curator of a private museum in Los Angeles that has the world's largest collection of 1960s slot cars, not the toy kind like Scalextric plastic stuff but the (to me) vastly more interesting sophisticated American kits, the larger 1/24 scale hobby oriented models that were driven on huge commercial racing centers. It also includes an ever-growing collection of the finest hand-built machinery odf the day including the finest of professional period racing cars with famous history. This collection is simply mind boggling, and part of it can be seen on several website, such as THIS ONE. Rummaging specialized forums also give an idea of the extent of this collection that also includes about 50 full-size cars, motorcycles, bicycles and other memorabilia, please CLICK HERE.

To see where all this is housed in, please CLICK HERE and keep scrolling down as it gets better and better...
Regards,

T54

I relate to your recollections because doing my own modeling (I am not a professional like yourself) I know how important and difficult is the research phase and I certainly know what it means to draw a car from scant information. Sometimes the only measure available is the wheelbase and sometimes even that one is wrong! A key advantage today, with respect to the '60s or '70s, is the availability of CAD software: you can import a jpeg picture and make wonders working on perspective principles.

Yep, computers are wonderful. But I will die as a CAD ignoramus... i am too old to learn now.

But I can still draw. Anytime, anything.

enjoyed your site!

Are there any more pictures of the Indy Cooper undergoing restoration that might be posted ??