Playart - Company History

Company History

Playart (the name was written with an over-sized lower case "a" in "art" and dots in the bowls of the rounded letters) die-cast cars were made in Hong Kong and mostly were distributed as "Peelers", the in-house brand of toy cars for Woolworth. During the late 70s and early 80s, Sears sold blister packaged Playarts as Road Mates. McCrory stores had a line of Playart vehicles called Freewheelers. They were blister-packaged on a blue, white and yellow card. Another Playart blister package stated "Die cast metal - En metal moule", perhaps for the French market. Playart diecast cars were also packaged as Charmerz for New York distributor Charles Merzbach (Johnson p. 187). They were called Charmerz Super Singles and packaged in a blue blister card with many different vehicles listed on the back.

The Playart name, however, did not accompany all toy packaging. Playart was printed, with each letter a separate color, on bright packages marketed as "FASTWHEEL". The phrase "really fast die cast" was also printed on these blister-paks and boxes with the checkered black and white background.

Like Hot Wheels and Matchbox "Superfast", Playart cars had thin axle, fast spinning 'mag' wheels. Models released during the late 1960s and early 1970s had metal bodies as well as metal bases which were usually painted "chrome" with the unmistakable Playart script. Mid 1970s models were most often released with glossy black enamel bases. Late 1970s and early 1980s releases frequently had plastic bases.

Vehicle offerings seem to have been more clever than those of other Hong Kong and Chinese makers of the 1970s and 1980s. Marques such as a 1967 Eldorado, a Fiat X 1/9, a Rolls-Royce Corniche coupe, and a Lotus Elite were not necessarily unique to the diecast world, but taken as a whole the series was creative and unique. One gets the feeling that the makers of Playart models were auto enthusiasts perhaps more than with other toy manufacturers. For example, the Playart Plymouth Barracuda (a former Hot Wheels casting) is realistically labeled a Barracuda Formula S on its base, showing a more refined automotive knowledge by the model creators.