Here are some photos of two model cars I have in my collection. I cannot find any information on the manufacturer of these cars - Jolly Roger. As you can see from the photos the cars bear the legend "Made in Wales". * See further information below
Both cars may have been repainted, but this might not be so as there are too many similarities between the finish of both cars despite one having been in my possession for a couple of years and sourced from London and the other a relatively new acquisition via eBay and a dealer based in Shropshire. Both cars have a crude painted surface, probably spray painted, yet both have "runs" showing on the inside around the windows. The two tone model appears to have been overpainted by a former owner but the underlying yellow appears to be original. Both have painted wheels, albeit different colours, and painted grilles and headlights done in the same fashion.
The castings show no signs of the wheels/axles ever having been removed or replaced. There are however differences in the rear bumper. On the yellow model this is a full wrap-round bumper but on the grey model it is a short bumper. Although the photo clearly shows what might be a break in the casting of the rear bumper, the other side is smooth - almost as if the die had been modified but the casting process had left one side smooth and the other rough (Flash?).
If you know anything about the manufacturer or the history behind these toys, please email info@toysnz.com and I would appreciate any photos of other Jolly Roger toys - even if they are the same as these two. I especially seek photos of toys known to be in original condition (for comparison purposes).
* UPDATE Further information that has come to hand indicates they were made in Wales from 1946 to 1948. The line consists of a few modified Gasquy-Septoy castings and includes a Maserati-styled Grand Prix Race Car (1947), a Plymouth 1939 Sedan and a Caravan.
My thanks to David Harries of the UK who has sent me this photo of a lovely Jolly Roger Maserati racer.
The following text and photographs regarding Jolly Roger, its products and the parent company is provided by Vic Davey of the West Wales Museum of Childhood. Should you wish to use this information you must seek permission, as I have done, from the copyright holders.
TREMO UK (WALES)
1937 - 1940
Treforest Trading Estate, Treforest, near Cardiff.
Tremo was a trade mark of Treforest Mouldings. The company was founded by Freidrich Winkler, a Jewish refugee and former employee of Wiking, the German toy-maker, together with toy manufacturer Curt Wennenberg and merchant Cyril C Fletcher with assistance from Lord Nuffield.
When registering the company, Curt gave as the company's registered office the address of a small company in Tidaholm, Sweden. Their products included a large range of lead merchant and war ships of 1/1200 scale. Their models can be identified by a 'T' over 'M' logo and often have 'British Made', rather than 'Made in England' on the inside of the hull. They also made wooden toys, e.g. forts and farms, Stenolite animals and garden gnomes, pliable lead soldiers and the "Tremo Toy" range of pull-along, floating and educational novelties.
The company was wound up during the early part of World War 2 when Winkler was interned as an enemy alien. Circa 1940, a new firm Tremo Mouldings Ltd. was instituted with premises at John Street, Cardiff. In 1941, they were using the trade marks of "Jolly Roger" and "Little Ann." The Jolly Roger products were a small range of motor vehicles, known models are a Plymouth 1939 4 door saloon car and a Maserati Single seater racing car. The company's home trade was handled by Strome & Co. of Bridgewater Square, London, EC1. Circa 1947, their address became Brush House, Edwards Terrace, Cardiff. In 1951, Winkler and Wennenberg emigrated to South Africa and set up a company called Swedish African Engineers (SAE) making HO scale war games figures in solid lead.
This next Jolly Roger was dug up in the garden in early 2013 by Paul Farrell and is in remarkable condition considering. The original red paint is still evident in places and the cast is in very good condition, remarkably all markings and doors are all perfect, the wheels and axle are still present however they are seized, but still attached, all in all a great find!
These Jolly Roger items were sent to me by Alan Foley. Alan tells me the car was very heavily overpainted and looked so sad that he assumed it was heavily pitted, but it cleaned up nicely and he sprayed it red with ordinary aerosol spray paint. The other item is a lovely cap-firing automatic style pistol, clearly showing the Jolly Roger name.
Andrew Minney sent me these photos of an item thought to be Jolly Roger. Andrew found the model and slightly modified it to suit his needs - blackened the fared in lights and added a set of external lights. Voila a Hupmobile/Graham. He thinks it was already a repaint as most of the inside is painted black. A close look at the underside of the roof reveals there is some writing which is difficult to read (and impossible to photograph) because of the paint. He advises it looks like "Treforest" with "1945" underneath... this may mean the model is an earlier casting left over from the pre-war Tremo company (see Vic's information above) and before the company used the Jolly Roger trade name and marked their models "Made in Wales".
