Volvo PV544 by MPC

Amazon65, a long-time Volvo collector from the Netherlands informed me about this small Volvo PV544 scale model.

It is a plastic scale model that the American company MPC (Multiple Products Company) produced back in 1961. The scale is close to 1:87 but I have not been able to verify this information.

The model has been produced in the following four colours : red, green, blue and yellow. But it seems that you can find models in various shades of each colour.

Volvo PV544 in red by MPC :

Photos used with permission.

Courtesy of Toycardave

Volvo PV544 in green by MPC :

Photos used with permission.

Quote from an article by Dave B. Reeves :

A Brief History:
A few brief notes that may prove helpful to you in collecting these cars: They were made by the Multiple Products Company (MPC) in New York City between approximately 1954 and 1970. They were frequently sold in bags of 40 or 100, for either 49 or 99 cents, and were originally called "Cars of All Nations". In later years they also appeared in cellophane boxes, and renamed such things as “Detroit in Miniature” and other names. Usually sold in 5 & 10 stores such as Woolworth’s, they also appeared in the toy aisles of many drug stores and grocery stores. Some of you may even be old enough to remember when they were sold through advertisements in the back pages of comic books ... cars sold this way came in the mail in a square box (I have three sets in their original shipping boxes, and a copy of the ad itself, in my own collection).
Note that the MPC Company that produced them has no relation to the MPC Company that later produced plastic model kits. The little cars appear to have disappeared from stores in the early 1970’s although occasionally a complete bagged set still turns up (I have six or seven different sets in unopened bags).
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(click on the link below to read the entire article)

Source & copyright  : www.87thscale.info/mpc.htm