Olympic 707 made in Greece

[Tone]

This Olympic 707 was made in Greece probably in the late 1970s. The box shows that the manufacturer used a stylized "AA" logo not unlike that of the one-time South African airline Avna or the Army Airborne insignia.



It is a battery toy with visible interior, which contains much plastic, and even some paper labels stuck on.



The mold used to make this toy plane is similar to that for the Marx 707s of the 60s and 70s. These molds were used in Japan and Hong Kong to make a 707 in various colors (American, TWA, Pan American, Lufthansa, BOAC, Braniff, British Caledonian) with an increasing degree of plastic as time went on. Where the Marx 707s from Hong Kong in Braniff and B-Cal colors had wings made of molded plastic entirely, this Greek toy does revert to the 60s-style "tin on top, plastic on bottom" formula. Speaking of Marx, if you closely inspect the side of the box I have posted above, you can see the slogan "One of the many AA toys, do you have them all?" - same as Marx.



The jet engines are the 70s "high bypass" type with the large fans, and are identical to those on an Alps brand DC-10 that I have dating from 1980.

[MichaelB]

So....is this not a Japanese toy produced for a Greek company, or distribution? ...perhaps by Olympic Airlines?
Could it have been Japanese parts with Greek assembly?
I don't see Greece having this kind of production capability.
Michael

[Tone]

I had not thought of those situations before, Michael. The box does say "Made in Greece" though.

There is a company in Greece called LYRA that is, or was, making tin toys of the Air France Concorde. They have been common for several years now, so that is why they are probably recent or current production.

There are also a few die cast toys from Greece, including some that look much like Matchboxes, though I don't have any in my collection.

[Tone]

I have discovered that "AA" stands for Ananias Ananiadis.

[hovermd]

I have a large Bell 47 battery-operated helicopter toy by Lyra - it is closely modelled after some Modern Toys (Masudaya) examples.

I also have a strange Air Graft helicopter toy that is made in Greece. I've been told the manufacturere is a company called "Priftis" that uses a capital "N" as their logo.

[Tone]

Interesting! Because:

Lyra battery-op Concorde is copy of a Daiya toy.

Lyra battery-op F-111 is copy of Nikko Gangu/Nomura toy.

That firm apparently had a talent for acquiring different tooling from Japanese manufacturers.

Opa !