Model: Joy Toy Bedford TK
Release: part of a play set from the 1970s
Where to get it: search through the Joy Toy listings on eBay.
Why I am featuring it: I’m on holiday at the moment, currently in Athens, Greece so naturally I have been searching for scale souvenirs. I had heard about Joy Toy when I visited the toy museum on the island of Rhodes last year. They’re a Greek manufacturer from the 1970s with a varied catalogue of buses, trucks and cars and these Bedford tractor units were in the toyboxes of many Greek children. I found this one in a box in an antique store. It’s missing a trailer but being Greek made and costing the paltry sum of €1 I couldn’t say no. It may seem out of place in among the diecasts that are the norm with this hobby but it’s an interesting part of the history of European toys and one I find rather charming. Apologies for the quality of some of the photographs, they were taken on the table in a restaurant!
Definitely a new one to me. Is the scale 1/64?
Poor signal…. I don’t know if this message would send or be sent many.times!!…. Sorry. Joy toys!… I had some of these as a child. The ford unit above had a car transport trailer … Also a white vw scirocco. They were hollow plastic and kind of Mbx size. The plastic was kind of kinder egg plastic. I think they were a holiday present. I wish I respected and kept them now….. Blast from the past and great write up.
Doh…….BEDford unit ………!!!!
Gorgeous photos!
The molding quality and detail is quite good. It’s not like my Gordy-Mite Matchbox copies that have lots of mold flash and blobby detail.
I enjoy a lot of weird European brands. If the price is good, I’ll pick it up even if it does not necessarily fit my parameters (which are mostly emergency vehicles and heavy trucks//equipment). I have seen these on eBay before, and they are a little pricey. Given a mint condition, in-box Bedford with trailer (apparently, yours came with a matching blue/yellow trailer with a load of green pipe) is $40, you did great! One Euro was a steal!
The Spanish brand Guisval may interest you. I have some of those weird mix match. A Spanish waiter when I was child gave me some toy cars as we were stranded at the hotel… Bad weather 1987 storm in the UK. I wouldn’t have known of this brand also….. Not widely available or probably not that heard of……?….