Paradcar (France)
Paradcar manufactures resin models in France. And, unfortunately, that's pretty much what I've been able to find out.

The model I have is of an Opel Rekord wagon. It has the usual resin attributes: it's light, and the back wheels don't seem to want to turn. But it's a gorgeous shade of red, the front grille is incredibly intricate, and you can actually read the script on the car. The bottom only says "Paradcar, No. 69." The "69," interestingly, seems to have been written on the original mold, or at least made to look as if it were just scratched onto the mold.

Paya (Spain)
Paya is a name that anyone familiar with European tin toys will know. But they made diecast cars as well, specifically locally produced Matchbox cars. The only one I've seen for sale on Ebay (and I rue the day I let it get away from me!) was of a Matchbox #72 Jeep...

Stop the presses! Actually, that was true when I wrote it, but I finally was able to find another one on Ebay (a big hint, guys and girls -- set up Ebay to alert you when a car shows up that's seen rarely!). The car I got is a Ford Galaxie -- I'll have to get the Matchbox version to compare the two. The car is still unopened on its card -- which is probably misread by a lot of people as "Jaya" (in fact, I've seen it listed on Ebay that way) because, well, that's what it looks like the logo says. The front of the card also says "Internacional," but the back of the card and the bottom of the car say "International." Curious. The bottom also has the Paya logo, and the words "Paya, Made in Spain, Ford Galaxie 2108, Jefe Bomberos 2107." I assumes this means that the Fire Chief version (the one I have) is #2107, and the civilian version is #2108. Other companies have used this as a cost-cutting measure -- you can use the same chassis for several models without making any changes.

Overall, its obvious that the car doesn't have the quality of a Matchbox, but I'll let you know what other differences there are when I get the Matchbox version.

Pilen (Spain)
(See Auto-Pilen)

Playart (Hong Kong)
Playart made Matchbox-sized models with varying degrees of success in accuracy. The two models I own, the Porsche 914 and Honda Z GS are obviously not in the same scale: I think it's the Honda that's larger than usual. The Honda is a petty pleasing model, except for being a little too fat, and ruined by damned fast wheels too small for the car. The Porsche has a slightly better look dimensionally, with better looking wheels in a scale more fitting the car.

Take a look at Doug Breithaupt's site for a great article on Playart. Doug mentions that the cars were sold at McCrory's (among other places). I bought my cars at Scott's 5 and 10, a McCrory company.

Plomur/Plom-Ur (Uruguay)
I bought my Chevy Nova 1:43 model on Ebay, not knowing who made it. It's a VERY heavy car, and fairly crude. The base is a very shiny silver, and there is not writing or logo. I had a feeling it was from South America because the Nova was popular there. Now, thanks to Christian Goetz of Germany, I finally have some information on it:

"I own a copy of 'The Golden Book Of Model Cars 1900 - 1975' by Paolo Rampini (Italy). He has a huge collection of model cars (most 1/43, I think) and compiled several books, like Alfa Romeo model cars, Brumm, Ferrari, Bburago, Italian model cars...

"Most of them are very expensive because of their number of pages and photos (golden book has 470 pages color pics and 330 pages with lists). And there I found your Chevy Nova. He calls it Chevrolet Super Sport Coupé, made by a company PLOMUR (or PLOM-UR) from Uruguay, founded around 1965. He says its made of lead, it was produced in red/black and blue/black and in a Red Cross, Army and Police version, around 1975/76."

Thanks, Christian!

Philippe Quidot from Normany sent along some more information about this obscure brand (thanks Philippe!):

" Just a word to indicate (that I had another) model (from) this company, a Chevrolet Camaro (1/43).
I had this model many years ago. It was a very heavy lead model. Lead (is) 'plomo' in spanish (and 'ur" refers to Uruguay)."

Being made of lead, I hope these were for collectors and not kids!

Chevy Super Sport Coupé
Another view of Chevy Super Sport Coupé

Polfi (Greece)
Late 70s, early 80s. Plastic and diecast, 1:43 and 1:66. I have a Ferrari in racing livery. Not my usual kind of model, but Polfi models are hard to come by. Most often (which is to say, a few times over 3 years) I've seen Ford vans for Olympic airways on Ebay (probably purchased at the airport). My Ferrari is very much on the toy side, with a poorly constructed diecast upper body, with everything the interior, chassis and everything below the bumper line made of one-piece black plastic. The bottom says "Made Greece (sic), Ferrari (something looks blanked out here), Scale 1/43, Toys Polfi," followed by the logo.

There are a few links out there to private collections: Range Rover Ambulance, Mercedes, Renault 17TS, Citroen, Citroen Fire Chief, Citroen Police.

I received an email from Thanasis in Rhodes, Greece who has a really nice site about Greek toys (including Polfi) at www.toymuseum.gr. Take a look -- I think you'll enjoy the beautiful pictures! Also keep your eye out from him on Ebay as Ixis; I just bought 9 Polfi cars from him! I'll get pictures up as soon as I can...

Polfi Ferrari bottom

Politoys/Polistil/Penny (Italy)
Politoys/Polistil has a long history in the world of diecast, with versions manufactured in Mexico (see McGregor) , the U.S.S.R. and elsewhere.

Politoys started with plastic models in 1960 with cars that are marked 1:41 scale, of both both European and USA cars. Politoys switched to diecast in 1965, and in 1970 the name was changed to Polistil. Conventional wisdom says the name change was made because rhe UK toy company "Palitoys" was getting concerned about Politoys' international push.

Decast cars were made in 1:43 and 1:25 (possibly larger sizes too?), and in 1:66 under the Penny name (see Doug Breithaupt's article on Penny).

Politoys/Polistil also was a licsensor of Walt Disney toys.

Politoys Innocenti (along with a Russian version) bottom
Polistil Gremlin

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