Frank Hornby will always be known for his creation of Hornby trains and Meccano. Trains appeared in 1920. The first vehicles appeared in 1933 selling as Meccano minitures, but the name did not catch on, so in 1934 the name “Dinky Toys” was decided upon. For many years Dinky toys remained Unchallanged in the British market, until the introduction of Corgi Toys in 1956.
Over the years Meccano fell into financial difficulties and were taken over by various organisations, finally in 1979 the factory in Binns road in Liverpool closed it’s door for the last time. This was the end of Dinky toys, as most collectors know them.
Corgi toys was founded by Mettoy in 1956, and was strong competition for dinky toys. In 1983 Mettoy faced financial difficulties, which resulted in a management buyout and there was a second management buyout in 1995. This formed the basis of a new company called Corgi Classics Limited.
Corgi, are now known for their range of cars, buses, lorries and planes, not to mention in 1999 Corgi acquired the brand name and tooling of Lledo. So what will the months and years bring, http://www.corgi.co.uk/ have set a standard that is hard to beat, in the die cast world, lets hope the standards don’t drop off. As we most of us now know, over the last few years, Corgi is now part of the Hornby empire.
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