Darda Railway

Darda Motor is the name of a toy racing track system, consisting of toy model cars with wind-up motors and matching track elements.

Darda engine

The toy cars and the racetrack were developed by Helmut Darda (1927–2013). The cars are best known for their wind-up motor, they can be opened forwards and backwards and can drive off. The engine for the toy cars, a spring drive, was developed in 1970 by Helmut Darda and in 1984 a patent was filed with the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA) and protected as a patent. The name "darda" was registered in 1970 as a word and picture mark for the brothers Burkhard and Gerhard Darda, the sons of Helmut Darda, at the German Patent and Trademark Office.

From 1971 to around 1993 the products were manufactured by the company Helmut Darda Spielwaren und Maschinenbau GmbH in Blumberg / Black Forest and sold under the name darda Motor . In 1993 the system was transferred to Life-Like Products LLC. sold from the USA and relocated production to China. Sales in Europe were taken over by GWH Spielzeug Handels GmbH and in the USA by DARDA Incorporated . In the USA and Canada, however, the products were sold under the name darda . In 2005, Wm. K. Walthers Incorporated bought the model railroad and toy division of Life-Like Products LLC. and thus also took over darda Motor . In 1999 darda Motor products were sold in Europe by the sales company SIMM Spielwaren GmbH from Roth near Nuremberg. In 2009 the sales company bought darda Motor from Wm. K. Walthers Inc.

vehicles

Fiat Uno
Off-road vehicle
Disassembled buggy

Product range

The vehicles on a scale of about 1:60 consist of a floor plate, a seating area, a metal chassis, a front axle and the exchange engine that can be opened forwards and backwards. The range extends from buggies to off-road vehicles and racing cars to trucks . The original Darda cars had an injection-molded structure and a fairly solid plastic chassis. There is also a track system made of plastic rails in various lengths with banked curves that can be variably plugged together. A Darda cable car works without electricity, but the motor makes the vehicles so fast that they can manage several loops. The railways have largely been supplanted by the Hot Wheels branded toy cars in recent years .