A Dinky experimental 'green' painted diecast 354 The 'Pink Panther' Car,

Details

A Dinky experimental 'green' painted diecast 354 The 'Pink Panther' Car,
diecast body, plastic baseplate, rubber front and Pink Panther, finished in military green, in an original 354 box with plastic flexible pull-through rack rod (G-E, box F) (2)

Literature

See Model Collector, April 1995, 'Plastic Dinky Toys', Michael Driver, pp. 25-29
'In June the Ferret Armoured Car, no.680, was announced, with the Pink Panther car being no.354. In August the DUKW, no.681, and the Royal Mail Bedford Van, no.410, were released, followed by the Stalwart Load Carrier, no.682, in September. These are not particularly significant models, but are intereting for the following reason: they were also produced in plastic.
Additionally, no.354 had a prototype made in diecast form. It does seem that for Meccano, producing either die-cast or plastic from the same mould was not a problem'

Lot Essay

It is interesting to note that the plastic versions of this model had four extra injection holes; while a metal model would just drop out of a mould, a plastic model, being much lighter, would had to be ejected.
It is believed that this model would have been too expensive to produce in metal, so it was adapted and issued in plastic.

This model was produced in green and not pink so that it could not be mixed up with the standard production, and would not leave the factory - and this obviously failed.

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