Polistil

Polistil (initially called Politoys) was a toy company headquartered in Milan, Italy, with production center in Chiari, near Brescia. Polistil specialized in diecast metal and plastic vehicles of all sizes. The company also made toy and model tanks, dolls, robots and TV tie-ins. After a 33-year span, and a collaboration with Tonka, Polistil went out of business in 1993, but now is a brand under the May Cheong (Maisto) Group, along with the name of former competitor Bburago. Traditionally, the principal Italian competitors to Polistil were Mercury, Mebetoys, and the shorter run Ediltoys.

The origins of Politoys as a company are somewhat unclear. The company began as Politoys APS about 1960, and started production of 100 plastic cars in 1:41 scale (Sinclair 1979, pp. 387–388). Some of these were contemporary cars and some were veteran vehicles - like an Alfa racing car from the late 'teens and an 1899 French Gobron Brillie (Smeed 1980, p. 35). As the 1960s progressed, some models were produced in fiberglass - tougher than the plastic and less prone to warping. Following trends set by fellow Italian trailblazer Mercury, and Corgi Toys, Dinky Toys, Norev, and Solido, the company changed over to diecast metal vehicles in 1964 or 1965 (Rixon 2005, p. 36, Sinclair 1979, p. 387). About 1970, the company name was changed to Polistil, possibly because of the similarity with the name of the British Palitoy (Breithaupt No Date; Force 1992, 208-209). Still, some early toy boxes had the names 'APS', 'Polistil'. 'Politoys', and 'Policar' all on the box simultaneously (as seen on the blue Penny series boxes and in that order).

The company's main research and design center was in Milan. Larger toys for children were produced here, including large trucks and dolls. Most vehicles were made at the Chiari, Brescia manufacturing center which focused on the production of diecast vehicles (Polistil 1975).

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