Some examples of Lion Car models:
About the history of Lion Car or Lion Toys.
by Huibert
In 1946 Mr Arie van Leeuwen founded the brands Lion Car and Lion Toys. The family name of the founder was therefore reflected in the company name.
They initially started with railway freight rails and some model passenger cars. By the way, the first model car was not a DAF, which would later become so characteristic of this manufacturer, as many think, but a Volkswagen Beetle. Later, it was followed by a Renault, an Opel, a DKW and then the well-known DAFs, among others.
Lion Car produced models of nearly all the vehicles that been made by DAF. From 1958 onwards Mr Arie van Leeuwen designed the models directly using the drawings from the DAF factory in Eindhoven. As a consequence the models are very good and look life like. Because of this the models became known as the Dutch Dinky-toys. The Renault 4, one of the first miniatures, was measured from a real car.
From 1970 Lion Car made a DAF-55c coupé and the DAF-Pony, a little truck which was in real life popular with contractors and as a model by collectors. The DAF-Pony was available in two versions, as pick-up/flatbed truck and as truck with trailer.
DAF designed and made for its passenger cars and the Pony a unique and special very smart type of automatic gear box, which they called variomatic.
Lion Car made several of the same models with different firms decals, each one with a different number. The same trick used by Dinky-Toys, Corgi-Toys years before. Sometimes even the same number and different decals.”
In 1958, founder Mr Van Leeuwen moved from Wassenaar to Nistelrode. There, he invested in the first and modern injection moulding machine. As a result, more orders came in and a second production line was set up in the town of Dinther.
The death of Arie van Leeuwen in 1992 was a major blow to the family. His wife and daughter continued the company, but the inventiveness and ideas of the founder were sorely missed. This was evident, for example, in the operation of the doors of the city buses. In 1994, Mr Peter Vijverberg and Mr Henk van der Muil took over the company Lion Toys and four years later, in 1998, they move the company to Uden. There, new models are developed. Both in the time of the founder and afterwards, the models have a characteristic quality and beautiful appearance and thus become widely known and appreciated. Due to the (heavy) weight, one can recognise miniatures with eyes closed.
In 2009, "Lion Toys" was taken over the company IBN-production in Uden for a very short period, only to change hands again in 2010. Lion Toys, as a Dutch manufacturer of model trucks, cars and buses, was taken over by "Tekno (NL)" based in De Lier.1
Almost all DAF truck models are represented in the Lion range. The scale of production is 1:50. Other marques, such as Mercedes-Benz, Scania, Volvo, Iveco and MAN, are also widely represented. Another métier of "Lion Toys" is the manufacture of buses. For example, the old Hainje city bus {CSA 2}, a Berkhof Jonckheer SB250 bus and the extra-long Phileas bus are manufactured also as miniature models. Meanwhile, a (bus) Berkhof Ambassador 200 has also been added to the palette.
Footnotes:
1 The company Tekno also has a rather distinct history. From Holland and for a long time in Denmark, it was at some point established in the Netherlands. The Tekno models are of excellent quality down to the last detail – just like those from Lion before.
2 CSA stands for ‘Commission Standaardisering Autobusmateriaal’, which was to arrive at one design city bus for the major cities of: Amsterdam [GVB], The Hague [HTM], Rotterdam [RET] and Utrecht [RVU]. Later, a shorter version of that bus was made for medium-sized places like Dordrecht and regions in the province where respectively the public transport companies FRAM, NZH, CN and GADO operated.