Norev was created in 1946 by the Veron Brothers in Villeurbanne, near Lyon; the company logo is their name spelled backwards.
In September 1945, the first toy watches for children were designed and marketed, while their first real product was a small garage made of stamped sheet metal, equipped with some plastic cars.
In 1953, the first 1/43 scale plastic model car was created: the Simca Aronde, personally approved by the president of the car manufacturer, HT Pigozzi. Other successful models followed, obviously almost all French.
The first factory opened in '55. In '61 Emile Vernon founded Majorette, initially for the production of model railways, followed by model cars. The second factory opened in 1970.
In the early 80s, Norev was acquired by Majorette, as had already happened with Solido. In 1986, Marc Fischer, Joseph Veron's nephew by marriage, took over the company to increase production quality. In 1997, his son Axel continued the company modernization begun by his father and in 2003, supported by his brother, he renewed the partnership with car manufacturers and for the instalment collections.
In 2004, the new headquarters in Vaulx-en-Velin was inaugurated. The following year, production began in Germany and Japan and the 1/18 scale was launched. In 2009, production moved to the new factory in China.
After this historical note, let's move on to the 500 models that the French company has produced. The first is a Giardiniera in 1/43 scale in plastic released in '64, in the colors white, red, light blue, turquoise (photo 1) and various shades of green.
In the early 2000s (I don't remember exactly) some replicas were released in a plastic box, with the poster of an Italian film on the back, in the three colors red, light blue (photo 2) and light green. It seems that an assembly kit of this series was also put on sale.
The 500 N (n° 51) and the R (n° 94) were released for the Hachette “Fiat Story Collection”, both in 1/43 scale (photos 3-4).
A special series Giardiniera in dark blue with a cardboard diorama box and the writing “Viva Italia” was also released (photo 5).
In 2009 the Giardiniera series was released in 1/18 scale in blue (photo 6) and later the other colours including white, red and lastly light green.
For anyone who has more precise information or would like to delve deeper into this and other topics, remember that my email is lorenzo500pc@alice.it
Photos from the collections of L. Achilli and C. Mattioli
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