We have seen with French Dinky Model No. 43 how the Bobiny company dithered in selecting the final color prior to p

roduction.  Meccano France had an industrial logic consisting frequently of proposing two color choices for each model, each color being represented on one side of the individual box.  A simple analysis shows that at Bobigy, the same color was kept as long as possible.  It is only at the point when the company management detects flagging sales that it decides to introduce one or two new colors in order to re-invigorate an aging line of cars.

 Thes

e “second chance” colors are often scarce as they rarely achieve the anticipated success.  One has good reason to doubt the efficiency of this sales policy.  Indeed, one had to be quite delusional to relaunch the Buick Roadmaster of 1954 at the dawn of the 1960’s while making do with just two new body colours: a salmon and black; and an ivory with a metallic blue roofing frame.  This was never going to be enough to reinvigorate sales of this now very outmoded car. In the early 60’s, the policy at Solido, which renewed its colour variants on an ongoing basis, was totally the opposite.  Therefore, over a given period, every car was issued in many of the different co

lours used by the Oulins manufacturer.  This is how a color available from 1963 to 1965 on the production lines has appeared on most of the cars and trucks produced in that period.

To return to our Saratoga, just offering a limited choice of colors implied risk-taking on the part of management: one could not make a mistake.  As we have seen, the choice of color for this car was for Meccano a true soul-searching effort.  We feature here, another trial run proposed by the design desk.  The model’s decoration is finished using a mask and the chassis is riveted.  We think that this color choice was soon abandoned in favor of the green color, which was sent to the illustrator for designing the packaging!  This car also comes from the Chaudey family collection.  The color combination is unusual and was never seen up again.  The silver tint will be re-used for

the Lincoln, however… within the set of “second chance” colors.

Isabelle and Vincent Espinasse. Autojaune.fr

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