THE TRIANG MINIC TOY VESPA

The name won’t mean anything to children now, but for earlier generations a large proportion of their toys would have had “Triang” stamped on them. Triang was the trading name of Lines Brothers ltd, the Merton factory churning out a vast quantity of pedal cars, dolls prams, train sets and thousands of other items for decades. In the ‘thirties the Triang Minic range of road vehicles was introduced. Originally they were tinplate and clockwork, but by the ‘fifties they were becoming plastic with “push and go” mechanisms. The Vespa scooter is of the latter type. It can be firmly identified as a Vespa despite the rear being slightly elongated and the engine being on the wrong side. What is more, the position of the headlight makes it the only contemporary toy of a Douglas-Vespa. This toy is not cheap to buy now, a mint and boxed example fetching a three-figure sum these days.