Tri-ang did have a factory in South Africa but most of the toys were exported out there from the UK as knocked down kits ( CDK ) The parts were put together by the local workforce.

SA law at that time allowed Tri-ang to buy a factory ( JABULA) but they had to provide work for the local workforce and not import  everything in already made up for distribution. The factory was situated at 10 Bunsen Street Industria, Johannesburg.

My guess would be that Jabula entered into an agreement pre-1955 with

Triang where they bought unlabeled toys from Lines Bros England, and then added their own labels, grill and colours. This was so successful that Lines Bros bought a controlling interest and changed the name of the toys to Tri-angpost 1955. ( I must stress that this is just my guess. We know the year1954/5 is the change over date from Jabula to Tri-ang, but we don't knowif it was the same company or two different companies.

Either way, Jabula South Africa became Tri-ang. That explains the similarities.
 

JABULA TOYS

We don't know much about the toys Jabula produced. Collector Peter Jack, sent us the pictures  below     of a 1931 Jabula plane .

I got with it a very very faded picture of the actual aircraft it may have been modelled on  --  a Fokker Super Universal,  callsign  “2S-ABR”  and the only example of this type seen in South Africa. It was operated by Union Airways from Jan ’30 to December ’31 when it crashed at Kayser’s Beach, East London and did not fly again.

So this toy could be an early one from 1931-ish. It is large - 55 cm long & 56 cm wingspan.

It has the toy callsign ‘J-101’. The paint condition is very good. The propeller looks original and has some insect attack in one tip which I have treated. The Jabula labels are a little faded with age; the other wing & tailplane paint markings are good.

 

BEDFORD Series In South Africa

Hi,
I am like you. I love the tri-ang toys and have been a collector for many years .I like your web site its very good indeed thought you might like to see some photos of two old models which were not produced in England because of the start of W.W.2.

The press tools were sent to South Africa and produced by a company there known as  'Jabula' They are featured in the 1937 catalogue in England but were not made. The model of the ambulance is (as far as I know) is one of only a very few known to exist.
All the very best  Roy Callcut

BEDFORD Series In South Africa (2)

Collector Peter from New Zealand has this information:

I took some pics of the Triang & Jabula trucks –  they are made from identical parts but the Jabula is made with wheels further apart – so the bonnet of the Triang is higher than the Jabula because the front axle (which can turn/steer) of the Jabula is spread further out & so is lower than on the Triang.

Here is a pic of the two front wheels – the Jabula on right has wheel spacing 1cm wider than Triang – maybe Triang had some narrower axles ? though actually the Jabula wheel spacing looks too wide.

Thanks for the pictures Peter.

APPEAL

Do you collect S.A. toys?  – maybe even Canada & Australia collectors – It would be good to make contact, to swap email addresses with other collectors and exchange information.        contact

 

Similarities (?)

In 1936 Tri-ang introduced the "Clockwork Lorries & Vans" series.  The Steam box Van and the Motor delivery Van in this series have similarities with the S.A. Ambulance and the S.A. "Steam" Van.

                                                                                                                                S.A. lorry                                               1937 Tri-ang lorry  

Peter Jack has this theory:

I think I am correct about the 1936’s & Jabula/Triang in South Africa – the tooling for stamping the metal parts has two halves – female & male; you just make the male part a little smaller & then you can stamp thicker steel – I have some experience of this & I am confident this is what happened. The shapes are identical and the timetable is perfect – made in Tinplate in UK in ’36; maybe ’37. Then shipped to South Africa in 38/39 but maybe not used till after 1945 ... ??

                                                                                                                             S.A. Amulance                                                   1937 Van

Junior series in South Africa

The Yellow and   Maroon Junior Diesel (see photo below) is actually already Blue and Red underneath and it has gone into SA and been re sprayed locally. The door transfers were masked off and the South African wheels fitted. All Juniors has a typical transfer on both doors, as shown below

 

300 series in South Africa

The Tri-ang 300 series made in South Africa are different from the U. K. trucks. Enjoy the below fantastic and very rare trucks !  

I received these photo's from three South African collectors :

Tom Southwood , Dallas du Toit and Peter Jack (thank you very much for these pictures)

The grill on the 300 series are similar to the grill Tri-ang had on the Bedford series.

The grill on the S.A. 300 series are similar

to the grill Tri-ang had on the Bedford series.

I restored the paper posters to their former glory. Aren't they beautiful? (no, they are not for sale)

November 2009 the Artic shown below was in auction at Vectors auctioneers in England.

I was surprised to notice that this Van had the regular Tri-ang paper posters at the site instead of the S.A. posters.

 
 

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