Dinky Toys produced three Captain Scarlet vehicles.
These were: Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle (SPV), Maximum Security Vehicle (MSV) and
Spectrum Patrol Car (SPC).
These metal diecast toys were made in the late 1960's. Dinky Toys were part of the larger Meccano toy company - a major British toy producer of the period.Oddly, the childrens comic 'TV 21' carried a regular 'Corgi Club News' section - rather than anything from Dinky Toys. it's odd because the comic's main theme was the Gerry Anderson shows - and Corgi didn't make any Anderson toys - Dinky made quite a few. Personally speaking, I always preferred Corgi rather than Dinky. Corgi seemed to have the edge when it came to quality. There was always something a little inferior about their Dinky counterparts. I did collect many of the t.v. related Dinkys and the Captain Scarlet vehicles are my favourites. |
A particularly irritating thing about Dinky was that they'd often use incorrect, and often horrible, paint schemes on t.v. toys. They painted Thunderbird 2 blue instead of green, and the UFO Interceptor Green instead of white... More on those models later. Fortunately, the Captain Scarlet Dinkies were painted in appropriate colour schemes. The guy that did the peculiar paint jobs must have had the week off when they put the model into production. I still have the models I bought back in the 1960's. They were well played with - but have survived surpisingly well. Like the 'real' Spectrum vehicles these Dinky models were built to last. |
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Captain Scarlet Vehicles by Dinky ToysFrom left to right:Maximum Security Vehicle Spectrum Patrol Car. Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle |
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Dinky Maximum Security Vehicle (MSV)This model has opening 'gull-wing' doors and drop down ramps.It also came with a packing case labeled 'radio-active isotopes'. My crate of isotopes has gone missing - but don't panic... |
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Dinky Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle (SPV)A wealth of operating features on this model. Opening front hatch with firing missile, drop down tracks at rear and fold down roof antenna. Perhaps best of all is the opening side hatch which lowers a seated Captain Scarlet figure to the ground - just as in the t.v. series. |
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Dinky Spectrum Patrol Car (SPC)A nice model of the futuristic patrol car. For some reason Dinky fitted the car with 'jet engine sound'. Push the model down as you move it along and it makes a screeching noise. A silly idea - especially as the car made no such noise on t.v. A gimmick that could have been left out. I would have preferred opening doors. It says 'first again' on the box - it was probably the last time it was used too. Still, luckily the gimmick doesn't impair the car's appearance - unlike a similar treatment applied to the UFO Straker car... There must have been someone at Dinky who made a habit of taking a perfectly good model and spoiling it with gimmicks or peculiar paint finishes.As you can see in the picture, boxes started out simple and got rather large in later years. |
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Extract from the 1969 Dinky catalogueThis is how the toys appeared in the Dinky catalogue.Prices were: MSV 13/9 SPV 22/11 SPC 9/11 At the time the SPV was actually quite expensive - not exactly a pocket money price - had to wait 'til Christmas or a birthday to get something like that. |