Some examples of JOAL models:
Joal
by Huibert
The Joal history goes back to 1949, A toy factory was started by Bernabeu and Beltrá in the Spanish town Ibi (Alicante).
The name of the brand comes from the initial syllables of the names of the founders: José Boronat and Alejandro Beltrá (JO-AL). Like a lot of diecast car makers, they started by making metal fittings for carpentry and other small items including sewing machines and toy guns.
Joal sometimes uses the brand name Joal Compact on their boxes. They made saloon and sport cars, mostly of less common everyday models of car like the Alfa Romeo Giulia ss, Chrysler 150, and the Rivolta coupé. More recently they added 1:50 scale trucks and construction equipment along with some 1:43 scale cars in the 1970's. Children may have started thier collections with the cars they saw everyday but then moved on into more interesting and unusual cars. Compare the Jaguar E-type in 1:43 scale with a hint of green windows and with other toys that have clear windows, the preference is for the one which was more original. The same comparison be done between the Mercedes-Benz 230SL from Joal and Tekno (DK). Find the differences …..
Still today Joal is a very nice and interesting brand to collect.
Toy production was boosted in 1968, the year in which the diecast cars came on the market. The Joal catalog focused mainly on trucks, forklifts agricultural machinery and construction equipment.
Like most other diecast car makers, they had their heyday in the 60s, when the diecast cars (like Dinky, Corgi, etc.) where more popular than most other things except perhaps model railways (like Märklin).
You could say there are two types of people: The diecast car collector, in my opinion, looking at details and differences of each model and the train collector try to create diversity and movement in the landscape.
Joal was also one of those companies which seemed to love buying other companies old castings. This approach is often used in the car toy world.
Joal car models sold in several types of boxes, both with and without a transparent window, just like their competitors.
Joal made car models for a long time, but the competition was so intense that they changed to concentrate on buses, trucks on construction models. It was hard to compete with other toy makers (like Conrad, NZG, WSI). Joal manufactured a large range of high quality detailed models in various scales. Their range of construction models is particularly impressive. Only a few German manufactorers do the same. For half a century Joal created famous construction models from brands known worldwide, including Caterpillar, DAF, Pegaso, PPM and Volvo. These were at 1:50 and 1:32 scales.
With their line of buses it was easier to earn a reward because one model could be used with diverse decals/stickers. The casting of one bus like Joal 149, of which 2000 were made, could also sell smilar numbers when fitted with each different set of decals.
So there were problems, and solutions, but even these had issues as producion rights also sales rights made the bussiness extra complicated.
After 66 years, in May 2015, the company was liquidated and the factory in the Spanish town Ibi closed.
See all of the Joal models currently on diecastplus.info