These two silver record cars are the same vehicle, but Dinky Toys finished them differently over time, one pre-war and one post-war.
The car was called the Thunderbolt speed car and was owned and driven by Capt. George Eyston. In the late 1930’s it held the land speed record for awhile, at something like 350 mph, before John Cobb surpassed it.
The real car was quite interesting: very large and heavy, and quite complex. The men that drove these at Bonneville had to be part crazy!
This Dinky is a bit crude, although a fair representation of the real thing. The pre-war version (shown with its box below) was never imported to the US, to my knowledge, so these are fairly rare over here today.
Dinky brought out their first version, number 23m, around 1938, and it was the most accurate. It had black accents and also had a Union Jack flag painted on the tail fin. The 23m was only made in this color combination. This version was made pre-war; Mike and Sue Richardson (1981) report it was made 1938–41.
The Dinky Toys name was also changed from Thunderbolt to Streamlined Racing Car and the car re-numbered 23s in 1939. They may have done this because the record was already two years old or perhaps because it wasn’t the record holder anymore, so Dinky chose to make it “generic” in name. It was painted either green or blue, with no Union Jack.
After WWII, Dinky decided to re-issue 23s, and at that time they also painted it in silver, with blue, red, or green trim, like the one shown in blue above. When they changed their numbering scheme, it was renumbered again as 222 and lasted until 1957.
The early pre-war version also came in a nice box, with a nice description of the real car and its accomplishments. Here is a closeup of the box end.
