That's what he said. It was only the later plastic "super detailed" wagons which were insulated. However, local Hornby dealers had a lot of old stock on their shelves and towards the end very seldom ordered the new releases. I've long maintained the introduction of two-rail by Hornby hastened their decline rather than delayed it.
And I vaguely remember Hornby's horse-box did too but was only a partial solution to the problem
(kim)
Ditto here. The Mini showroom has just been rebuilt a few yards further away from the BMW showroom and both are alongside the factory which makes the famous London taxicab.
(kim)
A purist would argue an Austin is not a true "mini" either as the original designation was "Morris Mini Minor".
(kim)
"Kevin" wrote
Our local BMW dealer in Hull was told that they were required to have a separate showroom for the Mini, and that it was not acceptable to sell them through the BMW dealership. So they no have two dedicated showrooms alongside each other. I've no idea whether that applies elsewhere in the UK.
John.
"kim" wrote
I thought the original Mini was branded as an 'Austin 7', which I suppose would be contemporary with the 'Mini Minor'?
John.
"MartinS" wrote
Dapol also purchased the tooling for a number of ex-Airfix (GMR) model railway locomotives and rolling stock, most of which was also subsequently sold on to Hornby.
John.
Austin didn't use the name "mini" until two years after Morris. Neither made any money and in 1964 BMC seriously considered scrapping it altogether in favour of the Morris Minor. The publicity surrounding the mini-skirt in that year settled the matter in the Mini's favour.
(kim)
After the Tri-ang/Hornby Dublo merger of 1965, Tri-ang Hornby produced a converter wagon that could operate with the Hornby Dublo rolling stock. This was based on the R123 Horse Box. The Tri-ang coupling was a type IIIc, the wheels SS and the body carried the number B547.
Wrenn AFAIK, produced a converter wagon in the form of a mineral wagon.
Wilson
A further note to my message above; If I'm not mistaken, Tri-ang Hornby included R123 the Horse Box converter wagon (for free ?) with certain Hornby Dublo engines.
Wilson
Ps; The Dublo name which had NOT been registered until 1957, is still owned by Hornby Hobbies (formerly Rovex). Info from the book "The Story of Rovex" Vol.1 1950-1965 ISBN: 0-904568-57-1
Sorry to be pedantic, but I had a metal 4 wheel vent van with plastic wheels - though it is possible the shop (in the "high street" in Weymouth
- still there though not many trains these days) swapped them I suppose, in an attempt to off-load stock. I seem to remember my Grandfather always being quite pleased with himself getting them "at the right price", so maybe that's what they did. The van got the chop fairly quickly though as even at that tender age I thought it was unrealistic. The others were mostly tank wagons (later Wrenn if I remember right), which were quite nice - so nice they got stolen!
The hosre box does ring a bell - I know we had a long wait to get the converter wagons, and my father was a bit miffed when he had to fork out for them!
Richard
There must have been something right about the Beetle for it to have been in production for 64 years!!! The design was not "borrowed" from CZ, although originally a considerable number of parts and the basic engine design were from NSU.
Jeff
Didn't the Italian Job have something to do with the publicity as well :-)
My father in law had the first registered Morris Mini in Worcestershire IIRC, and I inherited an Austin one when I married :-) I later got a Mini Cooper from my F-I-L (his second Mini) and couldn't keep my own father out of it :-) My daughter's first car was a Mini and she definitely didn't like me driving it back home in the traditional Mini way :-)
Jim.
Alledegedly the Mini never made money - but that's accountants for you ;-) By the end of production (before it's demised was announced) most production went to...... Japan! I loved my little 850 (first car), and am definately in the "New Mini isn't a Mini" camp - the whole point of them was that they were basic, and the handling was second to none. Izigonis (sp?) refused to believe that the rims were being ripped off the wheels during pre-production testing during cornering, and indeed the whole project nearly died when Dunlop threatened to stop development of the new type of tyres required for it. It's one of the few cars that can still be regarded as truly revolutionary - a lot of the so-called revoloutionary cars, e.g. the Beetle , were dead-ends (the Beetle actually being a CZ design "borrowed" by VW anyway).
Richard
Actually even before the Italian Job had raised there profile, it was the rally mini Cooper that put it on the map.
It's MINI [ALL CAPS] to avoid confusion. And it's built at Cowley in the former Pressed Steel Company plant, next to where the Morris Motors/BMC factory used to be. The new MINI was designed BMC successor, the Rover Group, before it was bought out by BMW, so it's basically a British car.
You mean like a bat out of Hell? Is there any other way?
Yes, the ones made after Hornby Dublo went over to 2-rail had plastic wheels. The convertor wagon wouldn't look too good in a passenger train!
A convertor horesebox would look less out-of-place, which was the reason for choosing it, I suppose.
Something like that :-)
Jim
Nah! he means "MEATLOAF" :-)
Wilson
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