Eligor #1205 Ford V8 Berline “Tudor” Diecast

Description

Eligor #1205 Ford V8 Berline “Tudor” two door car with inset black rooftop is made of diecast metal with plastic trim and was made in France. This diecast model is 3 5/8” long and has black rubber tires with black plastic base wheels. This model is from wholesale Toy Fair. Included is the original plastic display case and original outer box. There are no cracks, breaks or repairs. Has been in my collection since acquiring at Toy Fair.

Eligor is a brand of collector’s diecast model cars and trucks mostly made in 1:43 scale (though a few early models were offered in 1:20 scale). Models have always been made in France, but the company has gone through several ownership changes. Today, though now focusing on model trucks, Eligor is one of the few diecast modelers still making its vehicles in Europe.

Eligor was established about 1976, in Martignat, France (about 30 miles west of Geneva), by Jacques Greilsamer, who had previously written the Catalogue of Model Cars of the World.The location is interesting as Martignat is just south of Oyonnax, the home of plastic model maker Minialuxe and origin of Norev. Greilsamer used older molds previously used by Norev in making plastic models. Eligor’s models, however, were diecast metal. In an interesting parallel development in Germany, the Danhausen Catalog would eventually give birth to the Minichamps brand in Germany.

In occult circles, Eligor is a powerful demon, but here the name simply reflected Greilsamer’s 1976 combination of the names of two garages of his father – “ELITE” and “VIGOR”.The company was later purchased by Louis Surber, who had reproduced earlier Quiralu model cars and trucks. For a time the company was headquartered in Paris. Early catalogs stated in French that Eligor’s purpose was “Model Production”. Further boxes and catalogs stated that the company made “the Miniature Automobile of the Connoisseur”. Later Eligor was acquired by HobbyCar S.A. in Lausanne, Switzerland. In this period, when stating the name of “Hobbycar S.A.” packaging and catalogs proposed the idea of “Creation – Diffusion”, which sounds more like Christian Evangelicalism instead of model car production.

In 1996 Eligor was bought by Paul and Anne Marie Vullierme, the founder of Vulli and the son of Joseph Vullierme who created Jouets MontBlanc that had made miniature cars in the early 1960s. In 1998, they relocated the company to Izernore, France just to the east of the old home of Martignat Their son John Vullierme operated the U.S. office of the company in Earlysville, Virginia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eligor_Models