Wednesday, July 22, 2015

#570 POLISTIL MINI - CITROËN 19DS, VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE and AUTOBIANCHI BIANCHINA (Around 1960)


These cars were found in a flea market around one year ago. I immediatly recognised the quality of the cars and decided to buy them: they are marked APS 1/77 Italy, they represent very charismatic models from the 50s and the 60s, and despite the age, they are in very good shape.


Later, at home and to my surprise, I discovered that the cars were manufactured by Polistil, so I guess they were intended to be sold for vey little money, or to be combined with electric trains. I have also read somewhere, that Polistil also had some kind of ferry boat to carry many models from this series.
The cars reproduced are popular Italian and European cars, including many Fiats (500, 600, 600 Multipla, 1100...). The three models I own are:

CITROËN 19DS (French car sold from 1955 to 1975)


VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE (German car sold from 1938 on in several versions)


AUTOBIANCHI BIANCHINA (Italian car sold between 1957-1969)


Note that the Bianchina is not very well finished. One of the windows has not been properly done, and is almost covered by plastic. I am not sure if the chassis has also been mounted in the wrong direction, note that the wheels are not very well centered with the body. The other seem to be ok.
These models belong to a very short, very interesting and very rare series. Maybe because of the plastic, many of the units sold might have been destroyed during play (it would be enough to step on them) or thown in the trash, because their appearance is that of a very cheap toy.


FACTS AND FIGURES:
  • Name: CITROËN 19DS, VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE and AUTOBIANCHI BIANCHINA
  • Scale: 1:77
  • Year: Around 1960
  • Company: Polistil (Italy)
  • Size: approx. 3,5 cm

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