Husky was a brand name for a line of small die-cast toy vehicles. They were manufactured by Mettoy Playcraft Ltd. which also made larger Corgi Toys. The range was re-branded Corgi Juniors in 1970, and a further range called Corgi Rockets was developed to race on track sets.
The Husky line, introduced in 1964, was designed to compete in size with the "1-75 series" Matchbox, then the market leaders in small-scale toy vehicles. Husky cars and trucks were inexpensive and originally sold only at Woolworth's stores at a price which undercut their rival.
By 1970 the exclusive marketing contract with Woolworth had come to an end and realising that the Husky range could now be sold alongside Matchbox in a variety of outlets the series was re-launched as Corgi Juniors to integrate it into the Corgi Toys family, and the existing Husky models now carried the new name. This was the first time the range had been branded as a Corgi product. Low friction all plastic Whizzwheels were also added to most of the models in 1970 to compete with Mattel's Hot Wheels and Lesney's Matchbox Superfast ranges, and they could be raced on the Corgi Rockets track systems.
The small scale models were produced by Mettoy as either Husky, Corgi Jr., Corgi Rockets or later simply Corgi (the name Corgi Juniors was dropped in the mid 1970s ) until the company was declared insolvent in 1983. Corgi was purchased by Mattel in 1989 before being sold again in a management buyout in 1995. During this time, models were sold in blister packs as the Corgi Auto-City line
98 sélectionné
