Drive Crazy

 Recent holidays in Cyprus allowed me to extend my search for unusual toys a little further. Although my Spacex Nuclear Ferry arrived from a cypriot ebayer, I was never fortunate enough to find anything vintage or especially rare. However, the gift shops and tobacconists in Paphos did have a good selection of Majorette die cast cars. Amongst the general coupes, lorries and sports cars, I often found models from a sub range called 'Fiction'. Typically french in style, the Fiction range featured futuristic and stylish vehicles including a copter and a bike.  I picked up as many as I could find during my stays and have since seen other futuristic race cars from the same company. I have always loved unusual automotive designs since my first Hot Wheels 'Deora' model way back in '69 and still pick up the odd modern Hot Wheels from time to time too.

 

Prior to Mattels buy out and transformation of Matchbox toys from Lesney and the dumbing down of the line into a shadow of its former glory, Matchbox included a couple of sci fi models in their standard lines. The Planet Scout came out of nowhere and dropped into the range beside hot rods and bulldozers and for me became one of the best models ever made. The chunky green body and robust 4x4 styling was a departure from the usual type of car they made. Since then, I have spotted a similar design by Gorgo called the Moon Patrol, made of tin and plastic and dated around 1970, did this inspire the Planet Scout or vice versa ? Lesney then followed up the space them with the slightly less inspiring Cosmobile.