Die Cast

Out from the back of the cupboard on the top landing at my Mother's house came the plastic box containing the toy cars and vehicles that I and my two brothers had accumulated since feeling flush with our first pocket monies in the late 1960's and mid to late 1970's.

Not that any excuse is ever required to take a trip down memory lane with the collection of die cast models by Matchbox, Corgi, Dinky and Hot Wheels, but on this occasion it was to entertain the young children of a friend who were showing initial signs of being bored in the company of adults.

Us Thomson boys, ranging in age over 12 years from 1963 to 1975, were regular purchasers of toy cars but ours was not a sterile childhood with one eye on collectable values in the future but a full-on riot of imagination and creativity in which the small models were put to good use in fulfilling role playing, mostly involving a mass vehicle pile up, apocalyptic scenario or an earthquake type natural disaster- this latter event usually involving burying said toys in the flower beds in the garden.

There was no thought of preserving the pristine original quality of the cars, lorries, buses, vans and specialist vehicles and certainly not in their original boxes or packaging. There was just no way that such considerations would be allowed to get in the way of wholehearted and rambunctious childhood activities.

In some way that unfettered upbringing, don't get me wrong- we were well mannered and respected our elders, led each of us brothers to our adult professions in the creative sector (Chris and Mark) and me to being a Chartered Surveyor- well, two out of three ain't bad.

Almost as exciting as coming away from the local toy shop with a new model by the big four UK manufacturers was to have a copy of their latest brochure which could be had for just a few old pennies and later, some low denomination decimal new pence coins.

I have just found an image of an actual issue from around 1970 that I spent hours browsing through and dreaming about, one day, having not one of the real full size sports or saloon cars but just the miniature scale model as show in those well thumbed and not a little jam-sticky pages.

There are some, by modern car design standards, quite plain and boringly designed models shown but remember that this was still quite a primitive era of motor manufacturing in terms of materials and methods and on British roads it was a thrill to see even European made vehicle.

To me, as a small boy of 7 years old the likes of Peugeot, Simca, VW and Mercedes Benz were wonderfully exotic and stylish compared to the dour offerings of home grown manufacturers. Japanese models were not yet featured but it would not be too long before Nissan, Datsun and Toyota were available.

The E Type Jaguar gets a place in this page of another brochure from the early 1970's although it already looks dated against the Ford GT and even the oversized gas guzzlers from the United States.

The young visitors greeted the box of toy cars with amazement. Perhaps when children ourselves growing up in this country we had been spoilt by these being widely available and affordable. I had never really though about that before.

There has certainly been a decline in this once valuable industry over the last 30 years, sadly, following the demise to but a few niche manufacturers of the full sized car market in this country.

Successive generations following that of the Thomson brothers have had many other pastimes and pursuits to follow and playing with cars is just not enough to keep them occupied.

I had not actually seen the box of toy cars for some time as the accumulated offspring of the Thomson's are now across the age ranges of 16 to 26. The newest arrival, Syd, at just one year old is a bit too young at the moment but happy hours of die cast play await him.

As our visitors lifted out and closely examined each of the box's contents in turn before placing them in a neat car-park configuration on the carpet I tried to catch a glimpse of what had played a large part in my formative years.

In my minds eye I seem to have held a notion, in spite of many years of rough and tough handling, that the toy cars were still in pretty good shape.

I could not have been more wrong.

To be honest, I was shocked at the damage to the bodywork, squashed and mis-shapen roofs, shattered plastic windscreens and wonky or missing wheels. These were abused and neglected toys and I was largely responsible.

My worst realisation was however still to come when I saw the paintwork on the majority of the cars that I had personally owned.

It was not the original but a complete mess of Airfix paints and with a bit of a military camouflage theme going on, even on vehicles that had no association whatsoever with the armed forces, such as an ice cream van, cattle truck and a Baja Dune Buggy.

I was embarrassed and ashamed in equal proportions but still with enough wounded pride to appear to carefully study and make nostalgic and appreciative noises before returning the objects, apologetically to their toy box grave.