Gamda Koor Sabra

Gamda Koor, also known as Sabra was an Israeli diecast toy company that specialized in 1:43 scale cars. Most of these seem to have been original offerings, not seen elsewhere and not secondary tooling. The toy company Cragstan marketed Gamda Sabras as "Detroit Juniors" for the American Market.

Gamda was a toy brand name of the parent firm Habonim in Kibbutz Kfar HaNassi (Village of the President) located in Northern Israel, north of the Sea of Galilee and just adjacent to the border to the Golan Heights (Bickford 2013). The name 'Gamda' means 'midget' or 'dwarf' in Hebrew (thus 'Midget' toys)(Zohar 2005). In the 1967 Six Day War with Syria the factory was damaged and repairs were needed - production soon resumed (Model Marque 2010). Koor was a company name added later (see next section). The latter name 'Sabra' was applied to the mid-1960s diecast line of mostly American cars and was a uniquely nationalistic Israeli concept. This word for cactus signifies an Israeli Jew born anywhere in the historical land of Palestine. It is interesting that the name Sabra was also given to the Israeli real car brand from the mid-1960s. Thus the toy brand Gamda Sabra could be translated as "Israeli-born midget toys".

In 1962, the company started recasting old British D.C.M.T. (Lone Star Toys) dies of tractors, trucks and military vehicles (Bickford 2013; Johnson 1998, p. 81; Rixon 2005, p. 36). Gamda vehicles were produced in two series - transport (Jeepsters, Daimler, an American Buick, Ford Prefect, a Standard Vanguard delivery truck, buses, milk trucks, petrol tankers, etc.) or military (Jeeps, tanks, trucks, and trailers, etc.). One of the more popularly seen was a wheeled tank / armored car. One early Gamda offering that has become in demand is a bus in the livery of the Egged Ta'avura Cooperative, which was the main transportation agency in Israel. The bus has been known to sell for more than $1,000 (Zohar 2005).

In about 1966, Gamda partnered with another firm, Koor, which was owned by the Histradrut, the Israeli trade union (Schellekens 2003). This formed a company called Gamda Koor Export (Bickford 2013). The new company mainly existed to introduce a new line of mainly American automobiles aimed at foreign markets. At the time, export taxes had been lowered, helping Israeli businesses to break into international markets (Model Marque 2010). These were called Sabra Super Cars and were mainly unique tooling of vehicles not made by other European model makers. Most Sabras were manufactured between 1969 and 1972, but some perhaps a tad earlier (Richardson 1999, p. 161). There were 24 models in the series and they were numbered from 8100 to 8123 (Schellekens 20003). Models included a 1965 Plymouth Barracuda, a 1966 Charger, a 1965 Chrysler Imperial convertible (Corgi Toys also offered a convertible Imperial, see comparison below), a 1966 Buick Riviera, a 1965 Corvette Coupe (not split window, but the convertible hardtop), a 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle station wagon, a 1966 Olds Toronado, a 1967 Cadillac Eldorado, a 1967 Cadillac Coupe deVille, a 1967 Pontiac GTO, a 1968 Pontiac Firebird, a 1967 Chevy pickup and tow truck, a 1965 Ford Mustang, a Ford GT, a 1967 Ford Torino, a 1966 Chevrolet Impala coupe, a 1967 Camaro, a 1967 Ford Thunderbird, a Volkswagen Beetle and a Jeep Willys. Models were often available in a stock, police, or taxi livery. Some of these, like the Barracuda, Charger, Torino and GTO are more rare and sought after.

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