Hinged, extending ladder and chrome-plated
parts, siren and 'fast friction motor' are the main selling points, but really;
it's a bright-red, fire engine and cheaper than Dinky; that's what mattered on a damp, grey Saturday in September,
back in the day!
The two little mounting holes at the back
of the base-plate are a bit of a mystery, but may well be for another motor
housing, they tended to be manufactured by third parties and do differ from
batch-to-batch or brand-to-brand (or: branding-to-branding is more accurate!),
even companies like Japan's Marusan apparently
moving away from branded toys to the supply of sub-assemblies.
Box branded to Guiterman, another of the old-school importers ('well-old' in this
case!) like Fairylite, like Clifford, while the base-plate is
branded to NFIC, who are better known
for smaller-scale copies of Dinky
including the London Taxi, Daimler Ambulance, Quad tractor and a range of different bodied
Humber 1-ton trucks.
You may have noticed (I forgot to mention!)
the difference between Brian's Canadian and the earlier - posted - Telsalda buses motor-housings; the
axles, wheels and tyres were the same, but the housings were quite different
with the Ottawa one having rounded ends, the Telsalda more box-like, although both fitting the same tab-slots.
Previously seen, for the hell of it and
with a couple of comparisons; these are the 'war games' size from NFIC and I cropped the Marx gun out as it would be its third
outing here and I try to keep duplication to a minimum.
Don't forget - it's Potter's Sandown Park Toy Fair today!