Lincoln International is or was a New Zealand business that manufactured, assembled or marketed toys and other products in New Zealand and Australia.
There are numerous snippets of information on the business around the web. My interest is in the toy cars generally made in the 1960’s and some of these are marked as Empire Made (British Empire) out of Hong Kong by Lincoln International. As a marketing business Lincoln apparently did a lot, and the two promotional Morris Mini Coopers that I recall from my childhood were petrol station give-aways (or maybe subsidised sale with petrol purchase).
The Replicar Series which states on the box “An Empire Made Lincoln International Product” are around 1:32 scale (approx. based on my calculations) but designed to compete with the market leaders in Corgi Toys and Dinky Toys in the 1960’s.
As with much of my collecting, there is a Mini link. The Mini Cooper service station give-aways from my child-hood. The Shell Petrol white plastic Mini Cooper and the blue Neptune Petrol equivalent have been a part of my collection for a number of years. I recently acquired a boxed Neptune Mini which had previously eluded me and within a week I happened to purchase a Lincoln made Mini Cooper which turns out to be the same casting / mould as the Shell and Neptune. Friction drives and some minor modifications to the base plate are the only differences.
This is the front of the blue Neptune and white Shell Petrol give-aways from the mid to later 1960's. They are the same casting or moulding from Lincoln International.
Stylised as Graham Hills Mini Cooper, this version is battery operated and has a window style box.
The model is missing two small pieces from the bumper bars, a common moulding flaw issue. Otherwise it is in mint condition and has had minimal play wear.
There is also apparently a yellow version of this car which I am chasing to include in my collection.
The front of the box states "with photograph and signature" which are featured on the rear of the box.
Base plate view of the battery box and motor support. Different from the friction drive models.
There are two of these models in my collection. This unboxed model is missing some parts and decals but was the only example I had until 2014.
The blue plastic body has white stripes added and a Neptune Petrol decal to the passenger door.
Issued around the same time as the Shell Petrol Mini Cooper the base plates are identical.
This boxed model is close to mint with minor decal loss. It is was added to my collection in 2014.
The drivers side (RHS in Australia) has the racing number 18 while the passenger / LHS has the Neptune Petrol logo of a red trident.
The front of the mini and the box end flap with a description of the model. Both this model and the Shell model were give-aways with a certain level of petrol purchase and probably some cash at the time.
This is the best of the 4 Shell Petrol mini's that are in my collection. The others vary from good to spare parts only, but all are missing the grill and bumpers.
The box is colourful and in great condition. This one has been in my collection for many years.
A cream plastic body with black plastic baseplate. The yellow and red stripes in Shell colours and racing number 8 on the drivers door. The "Shell Racing Team" decals have some minor damage.
The same base plate as the Neptune Petrol model the markings are "No. 715" and "Made in Hong Kong" which implies these are a later issue than the Lincoln Replicar Series which are marked as "Empire Made".
The box end flap is simply titled "Shell Racing Team Mini Cooper".
The passenger door left hand side of the mini cooper features the Shell logo and this is the same setup as on the Neptune mini with the racing number and logo on the doors.