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Introduction of Light Red and Green (1958)

As early as the end of 1957, there was a move to liven up Meccano's image with a brighter colour scheme.  The Meccano historians say that the first evidence of this came with the dealers' leaflet of August 1958, but I have an all-products booklet of July 1958 which shows the new colour sets one month earlier.  It is also known that a full set of manuals printed as early as February of that year, also show the new colours (see Print Refs.).

There is a theory that the colour change came about as a result of the regulations to introduce lead-free paint in the mid 1950s, particularly in childrens' toys.  As Meccano probably had to change their paint formulation anyway, they may have taken this opportunity to brighten the shades.  No announcement of the change of colour scheme was made in Meccano Magazine.  Although it is not possible to accurately judge the shades of red and green from Meccano's printed leaflets, the colours of the 2" and 3" Pulleys unmistakably changed from black to blue, and the Road Wheel was shown with a blue centre and grey tyre.  The 6" Pulley was changed from medium red to light red, rather than to blue, which is something of a mystery.

Before the change of colours, both the Conical Disc and the centre of the Road Wheel (which are basically the same part) were in medium red.  However, in 1958 the Road Wheel was changed to blue, but the Conical Disc was changed from medium red to light red.  Consequently, these parts no longer matched each other.  This seems to have been a mistake, as the colour of the Conical Disc was changed to blue to match the Road Wheel in 1960  See here.  One theory is that the Binns Road paint shop followed a general instruction to convert all medium red parts to light red, and it took two years for those stocks of Conical Discs to become exhausted.

Apart from the introduction of the new colours, no other changes were made to the unexciting packaging, or to the manuals.  The parts were still strung onto cardboard inserts.  The No.10 set was still packed in the wooden presentation chest.

The colour of the Pulleys and Road Wheel changed to blue at the start of the light red and green period.

The shade of red remained pretty consistent throughout the period, but at least three different shades of light green have been seen.  The top shade in the photo shows the medium green from the previous period up to 1958.  The bottom two shades are from the light red and green period.  There is one shade of green from this period that is a lovely shade of bright green, and this is a particular favourite of many Meccanomen.

Another unusual colour change at the start of the period was the Windmill Sail.  This was already in a two-tone shade of light green on medium green (top photo).  In 1958 both shades were lightened even further (bottom photo). (Photo courtesy G. Illingworth)

Other Changes in 1958
The E15R motor and T15 transformer were introduced, and marketed alongside the existing E20R motor for a time.  E15R stood for Electric motor, 15 volts, with Reversing switch.

Two wooden storage boxes for Meccano parts were made available to dealers and customers.  The larger one was destined to become the 4-Drawer cabinet for outfit 10.

The small yellow cardboard boxes in which spare parts were sold, now had green instead of yellow printed labels.  However, this change only affected the parts in the new colours, for identification purposes.  Unpainted parts were still packed in boxes with yellow labels.  See the pages on Spare Parts Packaging.

1958 Sales Leaflets

This all-products booklet from July 1958 showed the first appearance of the new colours.

New T15 Transformer
The T15 transformer had two independent 15v AC outputs: 9VA for motors, and 6VA for lighting and accessories.

1958  Outfits

The sales photographs are taken from the July 1958 Sales Booklet.  The 1958 outfits were still strung onto card in the plain red boxes.  

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