Japan's Best Postwar Export? Tinplate Cars  July 9th, 2010  In
this interview, “Vintage Slot Cars” author Philippe de Lespinay
talks about his collection of Japanese tinplate automobile toys.
He discusses manufacturers such as Marusan, Bandai, and Alps,
and explains how the export of these tinplate toys gave a major
boost to Japan’s post-World War II economy. De Lespinay can be
reached via his website, tsrfcars.com/toys.html.  I used to have
a huge collection of diecast 1/43rd-scale Dinky Toys, Corgi
Toys, and things like that. I had so many that it got to the
point where the collection was no longer interesting to me. So,
in 1990, I sold all of it to a Los Angeles-based collector of
Dinky Toys. With the money, my wife and I decided to start
investing in tinplate toys. I bought a lot of them, sold some,
and continued to upgrade. Over the past 20 years, we’ve built a
substantial collection.  Most of the pieces in the collection
are tinplate toys made in Japan. Some were made in Germany and a
few in France. Vir