EARLY ONYX

a subsiduary of MINIBRI,of portugal.

onyx  began producing formula one models in 1988.they were the first "serious" model makers for the f1 market and were at the forefront of moving this market from toys to adults models .the models produced in the 1/43 scale for the first year were the following;

AX001 McLAREN MP4/4 PROST.(marlboro)         AX002 McLAREN MP4/4 SENNA(marlboro)

AX003 McLAREN MP4/4 PROST(barcode)   AX004 McLAREN MP4/4 SENNA(barcode)

AX005 FERRARI 1988 ALBORETO                     AX006 FERRARI 1988 BERGER

AX007 LOTUS 100T PIQUET(camel)                    AX008 LOTUS 100T NAKAJIMA(camel)

AX009 LOTUS 100T PIQUET(courtaulds)             AX010 LOTUS 100T NAKAJIMA(courtaulds)

AX011 BENETTON B188 NANINNI                   AX012 BENETTON B188 BOUTSEN

these models were all presented in fully liveried boxes which complemented the models perfectly.

pictured above are examples of the liveried boxes from the first two years production of onyx f1 1/43 models.the prost mclaren from 1988 the ferrari from 1989 and an example of the different boxes available for benetton,top box is onyx's own,bottom is a promotional box for the ford motor company(also made by onyx of course).

as already stated,the liveried boxes were only used for the first two years of production after which onyx used a more plain, black box with a colour coded line to denote the year it related to.some of these early models,particularly nigel mansells ferrari of 1989 were re-released using these black boxes and some collectors were concerned the model they had bought was in the wrong box,its not,its simply a re-release.the reason for the change was the ever more complicated licences required to put some companies logo's on the box as well as the car. 

the list of cars for the second year of manufacturer is:

AX021 McLAREN MP4/5 SENNA(two models available,one with barcode,other with tobacco ads on airbox)

AX022 McLAREN MP4/5 PROST(as above)

AX023 AND 024 LEYTON HOUSE MARCH GC891 GUGLEMIN/CAPELLI

AX025 AND AX026 WILLIAMS RENAULT FW12C BOUTSEN/PATRASE

AX027 AND AX028  FERRARI 1989 MANSELL/BERGER

AX029  BENETTON B188 1989 NANNINI

AX030 BENETTON B188 1988 PIRRO

AX031 AND AX032 LOTUS CAMEL JUDD 101 PIQUET/NAKAJIMA

AX031B AND AX032B LOTUS 101(without camel) PIQUET/NAKAJIMA

AX035 AND AX036 BMS-DALLARA FORD 189 DeCESARIS/CAFFI

AX037 AND AX038 LOLA LAMBORGHINI LC89 ALBORETO/ALLIOT

many of these models do feature on ebay from time to time but many are becoming quite rare and difficult to find.

the company continued to expand its catalogue for 1991 and covered all the major teams in formula 1 and a few of the minor ones,remember that at this time there were about 36 cars in f1 but only starting places for 26,nessessitating prequalifying rounds.

                                         here we have examples of onyx packaging from 1991 and 1992,benetton and footwork.

For the models produced from 1993 onwards the models were packaged in the now familiar clear box without cardboard outer packaging,they were to remain true to this type of presentation until production ceased in 1997.the models being produced by this time were sometimes available in an array of different sponsors logo's. i.e.the 1993 releases included five different michael shumacher benetton b193b's as follows:

               AX176A  PRINCE, AX176B ROLLERBLADE, AX176C KASTLE, AX176D KILLER, AX176E NORDICA. 

                                                                           176d killer loop michael shumacher

Over the years onyx models were produced under licence by other companies such as vc,gode and heritage,and also issued several specials in single , two car and four car sets.some of these models are becoming increasingly rare and valuable,well worth adding to your collection if you can find them.they also produced some two car sets with sister company QUARTZO another minibri subsiduary.

          pictured above are the quartzo/onyx models,"the scottish connection","like father,like son","williams fw 17 Portuguese g.p."

                              more detail on these and other specials from minibri in a later guide.

onyx have produced not only 1/43 scale formula one cars,they also produced a range of le mans cars in the same scale using the same type of colourful boxes as for their f1 models from 88/89,these are well worth collecting alongside the f1 models.amongst the models produced were;

 013 JAGUAR XJR9 from the 1988 le mans ,racing numbers1,2(winner),3,21,22.

014 JAGUAR XJR9 CASTROL DAYTONA

015PORSCHE 962C 1988 SHELL/DUNLOP

016PORSCHE 962C 1988 BLAUPUNKT

017PORSCHE 962C 1988 CAMEL (pictured)           

018PORSCHE 962C 1988 LEYTON HOUSE

019PORSCHE 962C 1988 REPSOL

020PORSCHE 962C 1988 TAKEFUJI

SPECIAL PORSCHE 962C MOMO

 the cars released for 1989 were, four models of the JAGUAR XJR12,racing numbers 1-4 inclusive.the race was won by the car number 3.catalogue numbers for these jags were 039 to 042. released for 1990 were several versions of the PORSCHE 962.catalogue numbers ran from 043 to 050,the cars carried sponsorship from such companies as  blaupunkt,primagaz,mizuno,hydro,omron,nisseki,italya.

as well as the above,onyx also involved themselves in the manufactor of many indycar models in the popular 1/43 scale.they also were to produce later f1 models in 1/43,1/24 and 1/18 scale,also a large range of touring cars,motorbikes and driver helmets.

the quality of models may have improved greatly over the last few years but the early onyx can still hold their own in any display with the likes of minichamps,brumm,hotwheels,rba and minibri's own quartzo. 

                                                                GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR COLLECTION