Meccano Supercar 27 in 1- Not your old Meccano Set!

[Gunsmoke]

I'm sure many of you (or your childhood friends) had basic Meccano sets back in the 50's, metal panels, beams and columns, nuts and bolts, etc, pretty basic stuff. Was walking thru the local thrift store yesterday and saw this Meccano Suitcase with a $5Can price tag (about $3.50USD). Opened it up and it was a new Meccano Supercar 27 in 1 kit, never opened, every part still sealed in original packaging. I've since found these sell for circa $40-$50USD.

 

Having done some Meccano back 65-70 years ago, thought I'd give this one a try. Very enjoyable build. The quality of the parts is excellent, and car is quite a technical marvel, it's an EV (LOL) has electric motor that drives a rear differential and forward and reverse. The 4 AAA batteries also operate fiber optics to headlights (white light) and taillights (red lights). Front wheels steer, car is about 12"lx6"w, about 1/12 scale. 

 

The instruction booklet shows full directions for 5 different kits, including a pickup with a dune buggy on board. The kit says for age 10+, but I'm guessing a 10 year old would struggle to do this as there are 200 or so parts, very tight spots for securing many of the bolts, and a lot of fine tuning to get everything symmetrical. Comes with it's own screwdriver and spanner! If you see one around, suggest you take a day back to your childhood and have some fun!

 

Now if they would only make a 1931 Roadster of some sort!

Edited May 16, 2023 by Gunsmoke
added photo (see edit history)

[TerryB]

Never saw any Meccano sets as you describe in my area when I was growing up.  I did build some AC Gilbert Erector set stuff using a kit that had belonged to an uncle of mine.  When you posted Meccano I thought of Dinky toys.  A while back I was the king of Dinky toys as my wife and I bought two collections from her cousins who were looking to get rid of them.  I fixed up and sold most all of them.  However…..this past summer I hit the big 70 and one of the gifts I received was a large Lego Technics McLaren car kit.  My son was the instigator of this gift through a cousin of mine.  I held off building it until after Christmas as that is a slow time for me.  When I decided to get it out and build it, wow was I surprised!  The car kit was over 830 pieces, would be over a foot long when completed and came with an instruction manual (book) that was over 140 pages.  I started slowly to assemble it doing some for a few hours each day.  All totaled I spent about 16 hours on it.  I found it challenging, difficult to follow at times and totally educational in mind and body dexterity testing.  Here is a picture of it.  If you have the time I suggest building one, you won’t regret it.

Edited May 16, 2023 by TerryB (see edit history)

[zepher]

I have not heard of Mecano sets but I had a couple pretty large Erector Sets as a kid.
The more advanced kit had a 3v motor that you could use to power your creation with a couple of C batteries.

Edited May 16, 2023 by zepher (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

Same here. I was weaned on an 'erector set'. Being a 4th generation builder, looking back I think Pop had a greater purpose behind getting me one!!

 

We never had leggos as kids. My aunt and uncle had something similar and during our visits a couple of times a year they would keep me busy for the few hours we were there. I was recently at a store that had a large selection. I was surprised at all of the different types of kits they had. Some of the cars def. look interesting and challenging! I thought for a moment about getting one but I may just wait until this winter when I have a bit more spare time.

[TerryB]

Meccano Dinky toys.  I kept the open wheel race car for my collection.

 

[Gunsmoke]

Nice Dinkys, and the Lego products are quite delightful to build, I've done several with grandkids. I may have the "Erector" and "Meccano" names mixed up, 77 year old memory will do that. I have a few original Meccano Dinkys from circa 1948-55, as shown here (with a couple of Lesneys and a Hubley Studebaker), a lot of them survived, they were well built in those days.  

[Gunsmoke]

Here is photo of the old Meccano Sets I was recalling. I'm sure they influenced the development of lots of Engineers, Mechanics and Builders.

[TerryB]

Never have seen the Meccano kit.  Thanks for posting it.  The Erector sets sometimes show up for sale in antique malls around here.

[JACK M]

20 hours ago, TAKerry said:

My aunt and uncle had something similar

Mine were "Lincoln Logs".

[TAKerry]

I did have Lincoln logs when I was a kid.

[nsbrassnut]

Hi All

 

I spent a lot of time with Mecanno when growing up in the '70s and '80s.

 

For those who may not be as familiar with it Mecanno was originally developed and made in England and sold through most of Europe and Canada, but would not have common in the US. In the US the equivalent is the Erector set which came out about the same time. The two are very similar.

 

In my current second childhood, I have started to again collect some Mecanno items. Here are a picture of an early Mecanno set from the 1920's and the instructions from one of their earlier specific model sets for building airplanes. Unfortunately, I only got about half of the airplane set and haven't yet tried to assemble one of them.

 

Note how the dress code for kids has change over the years.

 

Stay well.

 

Jeff

[Gunsmoke]

Read on Wiki that Meccano eventually purchased Erector Company/Rights (in 1990), and is now owned by a Canadian company, called Spin Master. It is interesting that this Meccano business is over 125 years old and still rolling along.

Edited May 19, 2023 by Gunsmoke (see edit history)