Images provided by:
Mark Perring
Brian Willoughby
and Doug Breithaupt
Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC in white
Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC in silver
Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC in fire chief form
Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC in police form
Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC in red
Nissan 280Z in yellow |
King Star
Diecast Cars from Korea
by Doug Breithaupt
Few diecast collectors are aware of the only diecast manufacturer to
come out of Korea. King Star appeared in the diecast market during the 1980's
and appears to have vanished almost as quickly. Fortunately for collectors,
they also left us with some delightful little cars.
No one seems to know much about King Star. Their toy cars were mostly sold
at low-priced emporiums, the equal of today's 'dollar' stores. Unlike much
of the cheap diecast available through these outlets, King Star offered
a product of equal quality to competitors like Matchbox or Majorette.
King Star cars were sold in a variety of international markets including
Australia and the United States. They came in single blister packs like
the example above and in six-car sets. Anyone familiar with Hot Wheels of
the mid-80's will recognize the inspiration for the King Star package. It
appears that they hoped that un-suspecting buyers might purchase their product
if it appeared to look like a Mattel package. This technique has been used
by Real Toys more recently. It is a shame that the company felt their toy
cars could not be appreciated in their own right as they are actually very
nicely done.
Four of the five models shown here are reasonably well represented in lines
of other diecast manufacturers. The exception is the Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC.
Many SL models were done but this is one of the few SLC models ever offered
in small-scale. If there are other King Star models, they have not surfaced.
Comments from readers would be welcome. |
Images provided by:
Mark Perring
Brian Willoughby
and Doug Breithaupt
BMW M1 in silver
BMW M1 in blue
Pontiac Firebird in green
Pontiac Firebird in blue
Porsche 930 Turbo in green
Porsche 930 Turbo in red |