Printed from www.nzmeccano.com
No.1 Car Constructor made as 4-seat tourer
The instruction leaflet for the No.1 car constructor makes explicit mention of 4 different models that can be made with the outfit but the front of the leaflet shows a 5th version, a 4-seater sports tourer, which is the one shown here. The outfit came to me from the USA although the box and instruction sheet are UK and the sheet is dated December 1935. Note the wheels are of the pressed tin-plate variety rather than the solid rubber with bush and wheel disc. In a CQ article of June 1989 Bert Love claims the tin plate wheels were the early ones later to be replaced by the solid rubber type in the late 30s. He uses a 1940 instruction leaflet as evidence of the change and notes the 4 explicitly mentioned models from the outfit are still, none-the-less pictured with the tin-plate wheels and puts this down to typical "economy" of use of printers blocks by Meccano. However, I have problems with this account. All the instruction leaflets I have seen, going back as far as July 1934, show the same printers blocks with the same tin-plate wheels on four models but the solid rubber wheels on the front cover model. Again, all the actual instructions talk of the solid rubber wheel rather than the tin-plate. In Michel L'homme's gallery there are pictures of French made No.1 and No.0 cars all of which have tin-plate wheels, right up to 1939. Can anyone shed more light on the history of these wheel differences?
Log in to the gallery
Total number of messages on this page: 10. This is page 2 of 2. 
Malcolm Hanson (at 12:01pm, Tue 5th Jun, 12) |
I have now moved it to the general pre-war manuals gallery. Fascinating, in 1933 the wheels are tin-plate and numbered A1202 with the tyres A1203. In my 1934 manual the rubber wheels are A1227, bushes A1228 and discs A1229. By 1935 the wheel and bush are now combined as A1227. Your manual does not show the version of the car above and I now see why. Part A1225, cover for folded hood, which is needed for this model, only appears in the 1934 manual onwards. In other words it did not exist in 1933. This seems to make my outfit a real transitional piece with tin-plate wheels but including the cover for folded hood. |
Stuart (at 10:53am, Tue 5th Jun, 12) |
I agree, most if not all the Binns Rd. products I've seen (and the one example I have) have the wheel discs. |
Malcolm Hanson (at 7:57am, Tue 5th Jun, 12) |
Thanks Stuart. It seems that in the UK at least this is the early wheel type and that they only lasted a year at most before being replaced by the solid rubber type. Perhaps the Bobigny factory never made the switch. I notice that there is no No.1 leaflet in the Manuals section of this site. I will scan mine and send it to Charles for inclusion in the gallery. Perhaps you would do the same. I would love to see it. |
Stuart (at 7:18am, Tue 5th Jun, 12) |
I have a May 1933 leaflet 13/533/17.5 (I.P.), this has a plain cover with no model on the front cover. The instructions themselves do show the same 4 seat tourer as above. |