Jouef

Jouef

Industry	Hobbies
Founded	1944
Headquarters	United Kingdom
Products	Model Railways
Parent	Hornby plc
Website	http://jouef.hornbyinternational.com/

Jouef was a French manufacturer that specialized in model trains and other vehicles. Jouef is one of the world's most famous hobby brands, perhaps only slightly less well-known than Schuco, Marklin, Lines Brothers or Lionel.

History

The first Jouef electric train in HO scale, 1955

Manufacturer Georges Huard founded Jouef in 1944. The traditional home of the company was in Champagnole, France. In the early 1950s, as with many manufacturers, the company abandoned the use of lithographed tinplate for trains in favor of plastic injection moulding.

In 1979, Jouef opened a factory in Limerick, Ireland, but the ill-fated venture closed in 1981. In 2001, Jouef was subsumed by the Italian Lima. After shutting down in January 2004, Jouef was acquired a few months later by Hornby Railways.

An Expert in Trains

Jouef trains were always its primary product and always impressive. Though the company made a variety of commercial and passenger engines and cars, the emphasis always seemed to lean toward passenger coaches. The company's first offering was a passenger train and even today, as a part of Hornby, a main offering has been the French TGV high-speed express train.

Various Cars

Around 1960, Jouef made a series of plastic 1:87 (HO) scale cars and buses mainly for display with its train kits. These were mainly French vehicles including a Peugeot 203 and 403, Simca Chambord, Citroen DS 19, and a few Renaults including the hatchback 16. These were simple one-piece mouldings with simple plastic wheels, but detail was nice.

Jouef made electric slot cars for many years, mainly during the 1960s and 1970s. Earlier models were a Jaguar E-type, Mercedes-Benz 190 roadster and coupe, a '65 Corvette Stingray convertible, Ford GT 40s, a Ford Capri, a Chaparral, a Ferrari F1, a BRM F1, a Ferrari 250 GTO, a Lotus F1, a Renault Alpine 1600, a BMC Mini, a Porsche 911 and a Porsche 904. Some of the earlier F1 cars had steering front wheels that turned as guided around the track. Later models mostly made in the 1970s, were an Alfa Carabo Bertone, a BMW 3.0 CSL, a Ligier JS5, a Matra F1, a Matra DJet, a Matra 650, a Renault F1, a Renault Alpine 3000, a Renault Alpine A310, a Renault 5, a Lancia Stratos, , a Porsche 917, and a Porsche 904.

Jouef Ferrari P41 prototype in 1:43 scale. This model is from about 1995. Note the French flag and 12 star European Union flag to lower right even though the model was made in China.

During the 1990s, Jouef also made die cast cars in 1:18, 1:24, and 1:43 scales under the name JouefEvolution. The car models were most often made in China, though train production continued in France. The 1:43 scale series was called 'Legende' and cars included a P41 Ferrari prototype racer, 250 Ferraris from the 1960s, a Ford GT, a 1965 Mustang, an MGB ragtop, and a Triumph TR-3. These JouefEvolution models were ultra detailed. For example, models were often accurately reproduced from different races, a trait usually seen in much more expensive hand-built white metal models. Window frames in the Ferraris' opening doors were made out of chromed metal - detail not often seen in 1:43 scale - and engine detail was superb, colorful and realistic. It is curious that on the 'Legende' boxes the brand was shown as both 'Jouef' and 'Jouefevolution' and the French flags colors were shown alongside those of the new 12 star flag of the European Union. Ironically, despite the 'European' emphasis, the cars were made in China.

1:18 scale vehicles included Alfa Romeo Pininfarina roadster, Porsche 911s, the 1994 Mustang, Mustang Mach III concept, the Ferrari 250, and the Ford GT 40 Gulf LeMans race winner. These models were very authentic as well as realistic - quite lovely, in fact. This larger size was notable for their bright yellow boxes.

External links

• http://www.joueftrains.com/
• http://www.bw-slot.de/neue-bw-slot/index.php/jouef