Although eventually the takeover of Matchbox would keep Universal Toys very busy, they still continued to produce and sell their own castings which at the time were made in Hong Kong. They were sold under a large number of different brand names, some owned by Universal such as Kidco, some under the name of various importers and some under old established names such as Dinky.
This Ford Econoline Ambulance is actually sold under the Uniborn name which I believe was another marketing brand for Universal Toys. This casting was seen in many different colours and liveries and the Soma copied casting lives on in 2015!
Part of a 10 vehicle Highway Patrol set sold in Trafalgar Toys packaging just to confuse matters further! LOL
Mint and boxed.
Tags: Ford
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With its crude paper decals and roughly finished paint and casting this typifies a lot of the cheap diecasts which were available at the time this was produced in the early 1980's. Made by Universal Toys before their takeover of the once mighty Matchbox company, it uses their marketing brand of Uniborn. The Ford Econoline was a very popular choice for toy makers especially as the biggest market for their goods was the U.S.
Part of a ten vehicle set sold under the old Trafalgar Toys brand, a toy importer who used Universal Toys castings quite a lot during this period.
Mint and boxed.
Tags: uniborn trafalgar toys universal toys ford econoline diecast
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Possibly based on an old White Freightliner COE is this Uniborn branded Police tow truck dating from the early 1980's. Actually made by Universal Toys the cab itself was usually seen pulling various different types of articulated trailers under the Kidco name which too was a marketing brand for Universal Toys. For ultimate geek overload, this truck was also closely copied by Summer. Part of a ten vehicle set sold under the old Trafalgar Toys name. Mint and boxed.
Tags: uniborn trafalgar toys universal toys diecast white freightliner
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If your pocket money couldn't stretch to a real Matchbox or a Corgi Junior then there was a thousand and one Far Eastern toy makers who would sell you something cheaper if usually a bit cruder.
Universal Toys had massive factories in Hong Kong churning out millions of models just like this Mercedes-Benz 350SL with its slightly rough edges and crudely applied paper decals. This is a Uniborn branded version and is part of a ten vehicle set dating from the early 1980's. Mint and boxed.
Tags: uniborn universal toys mercedes-benz sl diecast
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More commonly seen under the Kidco and Dinky brands is this Chevrolet C-10 Stepside by Universal Toys. This one has the name of Uniborn on its baseplate which I believe was another brand used by Universal Toys. A typical cheap Hong Kong produced casting which flooded Worldwide markets during the 1970's and 80's and whose spirit lives on in the Soma/Realtoy copy. Part of a ten vehicle set sold under the Trafalgar Toys name who i'm guessing were an importer. Mint and boxed.
Tags: uniborn trafalgar toys universal toys chevrolet c-10 diecast
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