Corgi Toys (trademark) is the name of a range of die-cast toy vehicles produced by Mettoy Playcraft Ltd. in the United Kingdom. The Mettoy (Metal Toy) company was founded in 1933 by German émigré Philip Ullmann in Northampton, England, where he was later joined by South African-born German Arthur Katz, who had previously worked for Ulmann at his toy company Tipp and Co of Nuremberg. They decided to market a range of toy vehicles as competition to Meccano's Dinky Toys model vehicles which had dominated the British market for many years. Corgi Toys were introduced in the UK in July 1956 and were manufactured in Swansea, Wales, for twenty seven years before the company went into liquidation.
The range was exported worldwide and sold in large numbers. Some of the best known and most popular models were of cars made famous in film and television such as the Batmobile, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 – which remains the largest selling toy car ever produced. Although the largest single vehicle type featured in the Corgi Toys range were models of cars from manufacturers around the world, this article sub-divides vehicles into genres, wherever possible, to allow a more detailed look at the variety of models produced by the company.
Read more about Corgi Toys: Early History, Expansion and Innovation, Road Rover, Corgi Classics, Corgi Major Toys, Circus Vehicle Models, Competition Models, Emergency Vehicle Models, Commercial Vehicles Models, Agricultural Vehicle Models, Military Vehicle Models, Take-Off Wheels and Whizzwheels, Corgi Kits, Corgi Cargoes, Accessories and Catalogues, Packaging, Decline and Demise, Legacy, Corgi Classics Limited, Further Reading
Famous quotes containing the word toys:
“If, during his daily walk, he met any children flying kites, playing marbles, or whirling peg tops, he would buy the toys from them and exhort them not to gamble or indulge in vain sport.”
—For the State of Rhode Island, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)