Category:Märklin miniature vehicles

1936 artwork [image info]

1936: Open Touring Car from the "5521" range, 5521/4 [image info]

1936: Presentation Set RG/4 [image info]

1936: Presentation Set LG/4 [image info]

1939: KdF-Wagen, the pre-war version of what would later become the Volkswagen Beetle, 5521/9 [image info]

1939: Mercedes W150 High Command Staff Car, 5521/10 [image info]

1939: Fire Engine 5521/35 [image info]

In the 1930s Märklin produced a range of small diecast cars that could be used either as model railway accessories or as stand-alone toys, addressing a similar market to Tri-ang's Minic vehicles, and Meccano Ltd.'s Dinky Toys.

The main range was the "5521" series, with a selected number of models also available as versions fitted with clockwork motors, prefixed "5522/__". Initially focusing on racing cars and consumer vehicles, the range expanded to include a Petrol Tanker and a Fire Truck with ladder. Historically notable items include the 1939 prewar version of what later became the Volkswagen Beetle, and the ominous black Mercedes-Benz W150 "Wagen des Fuhrers" ... the type of car used by Adolf Hitler and his senior staff.

1939 scans

The quality of some of our 1939 Marklin car scans is somewhat lower than that of most of the other scans, with some rather "bitty" edges. This is mostly due to Märklin deciding in 1939 to embrace graduated colour backgrounds for some of their catalogue pages. Depending on the colour(s), this can make background removal hellishly difficult unless one is prepared to basically redraw each outline by hand ... a job further complicated by the fact that the colour registrations in our copy of the catalogue are horribly mispositioned in some of these images, meaning that there's sometimes no polite way to separate the image from the overlapping background (separating a green fire engine ladder from a blotchy sludgy green-grey background is not easy!). Luckily most of the "worst offenders" are duplicated in the 1936 catalogue ... whose illustrations also have nicer colouring ... so we've decided not to worry too much about the 1939 images being a bit "rough".

The bulk of the 1939 Miniatur-Autos range also appears in the 1938 catalogue, with nicer white backgrounds(!). The 1938 seems to be a subset of the 1939 range, apart from the clockwork cars appearing to be shown with slightly different colours, and the fire engine ladders being depicted in grey (for silver?).

1936, 1938 and 1939 listings:

Models that appear in the 1936 English, 1938 German and/or 1939 German Märklin catalogues:

1081 Miniature Tractor with Driver – 3"
1088 Clockwork Tractor – 8½"
1088/00 Clockwork Tractor – 4"

5251 Miniature Motor Car – 5½"
5252 Miniature Racing Car – 5½"

non-clockwork range

5521/1 Mercedes Racing Car – 4" ...
5521/2 Auto Union Racing Car – 4" ...
5521/3 Sports Car – 4" ...
5521/4 Open Touring Car – 4" [[Media:Cabriolet_Car,_Märklin_5521-4_(MarklinCat_1939).jpg|...]
5521/5 Jaray Stromlinienwagen – Paul Jaray-designed Streamlined Car
5521/6 Streamline Car – 4¼" ...
5521/7 Saloon Car – 4" ...
5521/8 Cabriolet Car (Horch)
5521/9 KdF-Wagen – Prewar Beetle
5521/10 Der Wagen des Führers – Mercedes-Benz W150
5521/11 Mercedes Racing Car – 4" ...
5521/12 Auto Union Racing Car – 4" ...
5521/14 Alfa Romeo Racing Car – 4" ...
5521/15 Mercedes-Benz-Rennwagen – Racing Car
5521/16 Auto-Union-Rennwagen – Racing Car
5521/18 Bluebird Racing Car – 4½" ...
5521/19 Open Lorry – 4¼"
5521/20 Lastwagen – Truck
- 5521/21 Anhänger – Trailer for above
5521/24 Schwerer Lastwagen – Heavy Truck
- 5521/25 Schwerer Anhänger – Heavy Trailer for above
5521/24 P Schwerer Lastwagen – Covered Heavy Truck
- 5521/25 P Schwerer Anhänger – Covered Heavy Trailer for above
5521/26 Tankwagen – Petrol Tanker, Benzol-Verband, Aral
5521/31 Omnibus
5521/31 Omnibus (long bonnet)
5521/35 Feuerwehrleiter – Fire Engine ...
5521/36 Hilfswagen – Rescue Truck with Crane
5521/40 Motorrad – Motorcycle
5521/41 Motorrad mit Beiwagen – Motorcycle with Sidecar
5521/51 Cabriolet Car (Adler)
5521/61 Mercedes-Benz-Rennwagen – Racing Car
5521/62 Auto-Union-Rennwagen – Racing Car