Budgie Toys have a bit of a tangled history, since these diecasts are firmly linked to the Morestone name; other allied references are Modern Products, Mobile Vehicle and ESSO. The background to Budgie is straightforward enough, though, with Messrs Morris and Stone forming an eponymous company and dealing in the distribution of toys. Time passed and the pair deemed it desirable to market their own line: for this they enlisted the help of Modern Products.

This production was duly added to under the (confusing) name of ESSO: the gimmick here, rather like Benbros with its little television set shaped boxes, was that of petrol pump packaging. Two scales were made, one in 1:72 to get into the Dublo, Lone*Star and Matchbox market whilst a bigger scale was also marketed to retail lorries and trucks.

Budgie Toys finally appeared in 1959 and the earliest models were cunningly enough simply re-issues of Morestone /Modern Products stock. A coupe of years later Morestone was bought out by Guiterman; this company itself went under in the mid-sixties but fortunately Modern Products soldiered on with the Budgie brand. Concurrently, souvenirs were manufactured for London outlets, which helped buoy sales.

When Modern Products finally bit the dust in 1983, a company called Starcourt continued production of the tourist souvenirs and saw to it that the Budgie name did not quite die out.

Today’s notable Budgie models are not unsurprisingly connected with London and you’ll find taxi-cabs, buses and coaches. The range was not extensive, encompassing as it did the more workaday road vehicles, but there’s still enough for the collector. Cars are few and far between, though, but there is a racing Mercedes out there, not to mention the famous Supercar model.

(As a footnote, and just to confuse matters more, Indian-made copies of Budgie also exist: you may turn up the tractor and trailer and possibly an articulated tanker. Milton also made copies of the famous Corgi brand).