Horseless carriages from the "old Fire" line.
Brumm, this company was created in 1972 in Italy to produce a line of horse
drawn Carriages, the "Carriage" line. In 1976, the "Old
Fire" series of steam powered horseless carriages followed. The "Old Fire"
series at first focused on steam fire engines and other fairly well known
pre-gas engine vehicles such as Richard Trevithick's 1803 steam carriage. Soon,
the line was expanded into a unique set of steam powered vehicles - something
no toy manufacturer had ever done before. This included Cugnot's 1769 steam
tractor from France, proposed for pulling military cannon, and later, two
fantastical steam cars: one supposedly made by Ferdinand Verbiest in 1681, and
another proposed by Newton in 1680 - neither confirmed to have ever been
actually constructed. Such novel choices for steam propulsion did not stop with
European concoctions; for example Oliver Evans' 'Oruktor Amphibolos' was a
steam dredge demonstrated in Philadelphia in 1804. I think that's the one with the paddle.
The Carriage and Old Fire series were produced in detailed
plastic. The Carriage line and Old Fire lines have been out of production for
years, Brumm only produces car models in die cast metal now. But they are
showing up for sale on British ebay.
You Limeys get all the good stuff.
Got to hand it to you Robert, you sure know how to dig up cool items. Good find.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteOh I say, now they are splendid might have to have a punt on those!
ReplyDeleteI'll be disappointed if you don't get that beautiful four horse carriage Michael.
DeleteVery interesting and would look great if you could get one or two to plonk around the table.
ReplyDeleteThe steam carriages are rip for conversion.
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