The Italian Connection...

[DeeMiller]

Do you know what I'm talking about?

 

Grtz Dee.

[Bigwheels_inc]

would'nt agree with the body discription though

Body: station wagon ??????????

 

pete

[DeeMiller]

would'nt agree with the body discription though

Body: station wagon ??????????

 

pete

Lol! yes, very odd discription indeed but I was refering to quite another thing.

Where does this picture come from? (wrong answers are: 1. My house, 2. My camera, 3. A box (ok, it is (hint))).

And why do I use the words "Italian connection"? (Quite some wrong answers possible).

Grtz Dee

PS Just to keep you guys busy for the weekend...I'll give the answer on sunday.

[steviedee]

maybe because lamborghini is italian?

[Martin71RS]

The box looks like Robbe to me from the colors/pictures/texts....

but maybe it is one of the below?

. Cheetah

Fundimensions

1/16

09-3000-000

Black

plastic computer controled toy

PICTURE

WANTED

298. Cheetah

Tamiya

1/12

1207

~

plastic kit R.C.

304. Cheetah

Bburago

1/24

0179

Tan

metal rm

PICTURE

WANTED

305. Cheetah Forest

Bburago

1/24

1186

Tan

metal rm

PICTURE

WANTED

306. Cheetah Explorer

Bburago

1/24

1187

Tan

metal rm

PICTURE

WANTED

307. Cheetah Smurfs

Bburago

1/24

1104

Tan

metal rm

PICTURE

WANTED

308. Cheetah Tiger

Bburago

1/24

1188

Tan

metal rm

. Cheetah Beach Patrol

Otaki

1/24

3117

~

plastic kit with lights

PICTURE

WANTED

. Cheetah Polizei

Otaki

1/24

~

~

plastic kit

PICTURE

WANTED

. Cheetah Safari

Otaki

1/24

3130

~

plastic kit

PICTURE

WANTED

302. Cheetah

Grip Technica

1/28

259

~

metal rm

PICTURE

WANTED

. Cheetah

Diapet

1/38

T-40

~

metal rm

PICTURE

WANTED

309. Cheetah

Pyragric

1/48

~

~

metal rm

PICTURE

WANTED

310. Cheetah

Pin-pin-toys

1/48

~

~

metal rm

PICTURE

WANTED

311. Cheetah

Shinsei

1/48

~

~

metal rm

. Cheetah

Tomica

~

F65

White & Black

plastic with metal chassis

[SJoerD]

The box says: Made in Italy...? Also in the French and German description is mentions it has a coupé body style...

The point I understand the least is the use of threads like these... [:S]

[DeeMiller]

The point I understand the least is the use of threads like these... [:S]

Well, if I understand your words correctly, the thread is about vintage discussions and the pics on the box show clearly a Tamiya Cheetah, right?

I think it's worth to mention it here, I'm on to something and tomorrow you'll know why...

 

Grtz Dee

 

[poulpit]

Its a Polistil or Bburrago box from a 1/24 scale model? Isn't it? I owned one when I was child....

 

...and, on these pictures, its not the real Cheetah but the 1/12 rc Tamiya one! []

 

ITALIAN CONNECTION...WITH JAPAN, TAMIYA PRODUCTS!!!!

 

[DeeMiller]

Its a Polistil or Bburrago box from a 1/24 scale model? Isn't it? I owned one when I was child....

 

...and, on these pictures, its not the real Cheetah but the 1/12 rc Tamiya one! []

 

ITALIAN CONNECTION...WITH JAPAN, TAMIYA PRODUCTS!!!!

 

EXACTLY!!!

It's a NIB 1981 1/24 Bburago with pics of the....1/12 Tamiya Cheetah!

Now that's really odd, isn't it???

I think there's no other Tamiya car that has this "connection", does it?

That makes the Cheetah even more interesting for me.

Worth mentioning here, isn't it?[]

Look in my showroom where I first discovered the simularity.

The Bburago model shows clearly the lines of the Tamiya Cheetah.

The real thing is slightly different namely.

Now I got proof...

Was it legal? Violation of copyrights? Who knows?

If someone knows more about this rare relation with Bburago, please let me know.

 

Grtz Dee.

[Hibernaculum]

Not many toy companies have the integrity of Tamiya when it comes to copyright and competing with other brands, that's for sure.

Perhaps Bburago couldn't source or even get the rights to pictures of a real Cheetah, and decided to use a Tamiya.

In a world where we now have Chinese companies cloning Tamiyas part for part and dumping them on the market, or making cheap Tamiya ripoffs that look identical and sell for $40, or copying the Tamiya logo every which way they can..... this just seems like an earlier example of the same kind of behaviour.

Bburago and Polistil (and Maisto) have always put quantity before quality, which is a lot like the Chinese way of modelling, really.... []

cheers,

H.

[Live Steam Mad]

Well I appreciated it Dee, interesting reading.

This is the right place for anything about Vintage Tamiya, after all.

Cheers,

Ali.G.

[fatboyslim]

But how can you be sure it is Tamiyas Cheetah??

[DeeMiller]

But how can you be sure it is Tamiyas Cheetah??

Well, it's defenately NOT the car in the box and the pics speak for themselves (if you got a Tamiya Cheetah yourself of course).

Grtz Dee.

[DeeMiller]

Not many toy companies have the integrity of Tamiya when it comes to copyright and competing with other brands, that's for sure.

Perhaps Bburago couldn't source or even get the rights to pictures of a real Cheetah, and decided to use a Tamiya.

In a world where we now have Chinese companies cloning Tamiyas part for part and dumping them on the market, or making cheap Tamiya ripoffs that look identical and sell for $40, or copying the Tamiya logo every which way they can..... this just seems like an earlier example of the same kind of behaviour.

Bburago and Polistil (and Maisto) have always put quantity before quality, which is a lot like the Chinese way of modelling, really.... []

cheers,

H.

Well, we still don't know if Tamiya gave permission so let's not jump into conclusions.

I agree some other Japanse manufacturers have copied Tamiya before but that's not as obvious as this one.

I personaly think there must have been an agreement.

Maybe even an agreement between Lamborghini and Bburago.

I think Lamborghini itself had the final word on this using common sence to please both sides, don't you think?

 

Grtz Dee.

 

[Hibernaculum]

It's a reasonable theory Dee []

Personally I doubt there was an agreement. The further back in time you go, the more relaxed toy companies were when it came to getting permission to model real world vehicles. Until the early 80s, even cheap toy racing cars would be sold using the model names and sponsors of real world racing cars. These days, even Chinese scammers are often too scared to call a Porsche a "Porsche" and they stick to words like "Racer!" and use all kinds of terrible Engrish to sidestep any legal issues. The world is copyright crazy in some respects. Times have changed.

Bburago didn't really copy the model itself, just pinched some pictures. So call it a hunch, but I doubt Bburago would have talked to Tamiya. I suspect they just went ahead and did it, perhaps due to lack of access to a real Lamborghini Cheetah (or pictures of one), and hoped Tamiya would never know. Maybe Bburago toys were so rare in Japan that Tamiya still don't know about it. In my memory, Bburago only became really widespread in stores here (Australia) in the

mid to late 1980s, due to their cheap price vs large scale.

Just speculating anyway. I'd be happy to be wrong, and hear a story about how Tamiya made a little deal with Bburago. But we may never know I guess.

Well spotted anyway!

cheers,

H.

(who in 1992 walked into a hobby store, and later walked out, passing up the opportunity to buy a new-built Tamiya Cheetah for $70 [:$].....)

[DJTheo]

Also the Otaki plastic model kit of the Cheetah has a similar arrangement of the parts you have posted pics of, so if Bburago copied anybody, it could just as well have been Otaki. My personal opinion is that nobody copied the others. "Distance" to Japan was much larger at that time (and short from St.Agatha

to Burago di Molgora) and the parts breakdowns of the Otaki and T Cheetah are similar just because it's logical and the mold makers and kit designers knew what they were doing. The breakdown of the Bburago is quite different although there are similarities, so if they copied T or Otaki (with approval or not), it would surely be more like them.

Cheers

[DeeMiller]

The pics clearly show a Tamiya Cheetah on a Bburago box (look at the bumper and Jerrycans, the Bburago Cheetah doesn't even have those!).

The Bburago car only looks like Tamiya's and not like the real thing.

That means the Tamiya also doesn't look like the real thing but I already knew that (windowshape, roof line etc.).

All companies have a © so who's copying who?

I guess we'll never know...

Still, the fact is: Bburago used pics of the Tamiya Cheetah on their box and that is what's this topic is about.[]

 

Grtz Dee

 

[Alfaman]

Interesting topic, just a quick question - how many of these boxes do you think were printed before somebody noticed the vehicle is described as '4 whell drive' .......!!

[DJTheo]

Interestingly now for the first time the box pics appeared, thats why I interpreted till yesterday only the interior ones...

Cheers

[DeeMiller]

Ah ok!

The topic was old so I closed the pics, that's why.

The interiour pic is on the TC server, that's why it was still there.

On the other hand (besides the pics on the box, the Bburago model still looks very very alike).

Well, interesting, isn't it?

I've never seen this kind of copyright violation before, that's why I wondered if there was an agreement...

[DeeMiller]

Interesting topic, just a quick question - how many of these boxes do you think were printed before somebody noticed the vehicle is described as '4 whell drive' .......!!

I think till today...lol!

I didn't noticed it till you spotted this!

We have been galavinsed, I guess...