Grand Prix Racer

This tin-plate toy car emerged from one of the cupboards we've been spring cleaning.

It was mine but I never played with it much because once you've wound it up and let it bounce off the skirting boards a few times you've pretty much exhausted the fun to be had out of it. That's why it's still mostly in one piece. I don't have the key so I don't know if the clockwork still works- but I can't see why it shouldn't.

Stamped on the bottom is "Schuco 1070 Grand Prix Racer Made in US Zone Germany- which dates it nicely. I remember my father bringing it back from a business trip in the '50s.

The Schuco company has been making tin-plate toys since 1912- and is still going. Remarkably a version of my little Mercedes racing car is still in production.