What's in the Van? - 8th March 2023

Warwick & Solihull

Normally I set out with an empty van, not today...

The van is well loaded down with product that Little Wheels does not sell. When I buy in a collection I usually take the lot, especially if a house is being cleared. That means all sorts of things end up in the warehouse that we do not necessarily want: trains (which none of us has the knowledge needed to sell), Days Gone & Yesteryear (where individual values are too low to make then worthwhile) and beaten up unboxed tat.

Two or three times a year I load it into the van and take it to an auctioneer to sell off for me in bulk. Today I am off to Warwick, to drop this lot off at Warwick & Warwick. This is a firm I really like and have done business with for many years.

The snow hadn't started when I took this picture, but by the time I got on the M40 it was coming down thick and fast. After the very kind staff at Warwick had unloaded my van and got thoroughly cold I headed back to the M40, north towards Birmingham through more snow.

My only stop was at Marcus' house to pick up the lovely vintage toys in the picture above. This is a mixture of English and French Dinky Toys, Corgi Toys and some other French vintage diecast. I also bought an assortment of modern 1:43 scale cars and a lot of Oxford Diecast 1:76 scale for us to bundle up in to sets of four. Suzi, our Product Manager, is particularly good at choosing the four models to make a coherent set.

That Studebaker coupe, second row from the back, three from the left, looks like a brand new Atlas Dinky - but it is the real deal. I'm going to enjoy working with these.

Marcus' pal David is a long time friend of Little wheels too and we have bought from him many times, he had left some really interesting and varied product with Marcus for me to collect as well, including some good farming pieces which are staggeringly popular on TikTok. A video Phil made of a Combine has been viewed more than 2 million times. You can see it here: Click to see the combine

This little cattle truck by Budgie is lurking at the back of the photo above. I pick on it because I owned one of these as a child. Marcus had actually owned this one himself since he was a child. It has special significance for me because of a photograph

This is me in 1960, and my hand is on the truck. Also in the picture are a Corgi Austin A40, a Matchbox Wolseley1500 and Dinky Toys Humber Hawk and Triumph Herald. The garage, by the way, is today proudly displayed at the Little Wheels warehouse. My father made it for me and I refurbished it for my own children.

I distinctly remember this photograph being taken and how cross I was (I don't look it). My parents had a professional photographer come to the house and take a set of family photos, I am the youngest of four.

I was cross firstly because one of the three petrol pumps had broken off and the photographer moved the oil can cabinet into its place. I knew that the other pump was inside the garage - you can see the bottom of it, I also knew that piece of Meccano was there and I didn't want it in the photo. The other thing was that the scales of the toys are all mixed up. However I was told to sit down and shut up and the photo got taken anyway.

The fact that I got worked up about mis-matched scales at the age of four, meant I was always on the road to Little Wheels eventually.

I have a Dinky Toys Humber Hawk on my special display shelves at Kingston Bagpuize, I just need the Wolseley, the Herald and the A40 now. I've had them of course, but always sold them. The next ones that come in are staying!

What's in the Van? - Home

2nd February 2023 - Gloucester & Hereford

9th February 2023 - Nottinghamshire & Lincolnshire

16th February 2023 - Devon & Dorset

23rd February 2023 - Little Wheels Museum

5th March 2003 - Huntingdon & Bedford