Martoys

Martoys was a diecast toy car company founded close to Milan, Italy, in 1974. It specialized in a series of 1:24 scale metal cars with many opening.features After only two years, the brand name was changed to Bburago, thus Martoys amodels re rather rare. today

Martoys was founded by the Besana brothers, Ugo, Martino, and Mario, who sold their first well-known brand Mebetoys to Mattel (Gran Toros website). For this brand new line, only models in 1:24 scale were produced. In 1976, after only two years, the Besanas renamed the brand Bburago (with two 'B's at the beginning of the name). It is said that the change came because of possible confusion with the classic toy maker Marx Toys, where the 'X' in the logo was often not noticed, thus Marx sometimes being referred to as 'Mar Toys' (Gran Toros website; MarXToys website).

According to the 1975 catalog, there were only nine basic models in the Martoys line-up, though most of these were offered in at least a couple of versions (Martoys 1975). These models were: Renault Alpine (and Alpine rally), Porsche 911 (S, Carrera RS, and "Polizei"), FIAT 127 (plain, "vigili urbani", and rally), Lancia Stratos (Marlboro or Alitalia), Range Rover (plain and airport fire), Renault 5, BMW 3.0 CS, Lancia Beta, and Audi 80GT (Martoys 1975; Sinclair's 1976).

In that catalog, the Audi, BMW, Lancia Beta, Renault 5 and Range Rover were portrayed with photographs of real vehicles, not the models, so there is some doubt about whether all the proposed line was produced as Martoys, or if some were as yet under development - to be later introduced after the name change to Bburago. A FIAT 131 (plain and Carabinieri) was also apparently produced, but it was not shown in the 1975 catalog. A newsletter/flyer from David Sinclair, perhaps the earliest importer of Martoys to the United States, reported all of the above were available except the Lancia Beta (listed as available later) and the FIAT 131 (not listed at all, see Sinclairs 1976; Levine 2009). The 131 appears to have been the last model to reach production under the Martoys label.

Models were attractive and well-done but this was when larger scales were just becoming (along with Polistil) popular as toys for easier rending of details - yet before collector and consumer demand for near perfect rendition occurred through the 1990s (Sinclair's 1976). So, some of the Martoys line simply did not look right. The frames on the opening doors of the FIAT 127 were thick, unrefined and appeared toy-like. The BMW 3.0 CS simply could not capture the delicate fender curves of the real car and grille proportions were squarish. The subtle lines that defined the beauty of the real machine that Alexander Calder went on to decorate were lost on the Martoys model.

...
Wikipedia