Tony Molay

The commercial vehicle origins displayed so clearly in Hartsmith Models lay with two men, Alan Smith and Anthony Molay, both of whom have made a very comprehensive contribution to this industry.

 

Subject ID: 81078

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The commercial vehicle origins displayed so clearly in Hartsmith Models lay with two men, Alan Smith and Anthony Molay, both of whom have made a very comprehensive contribution to this industry.

 

Tony Molay, like so many of us, built Airfix and Tamiya kits as a child, preferring the military vehicles. Having served his apprenticeship with Denzil Skinner, when the company closed down in 1987, due to Denzil Skinner’s death, his widow had no interest in keeping it on so it was sold.

Tony, having been made redundant, teamed up with friend and fellow employee Bob Herridge, and bought the business. Together they formed Hart models and took on new premises in Hartley Wintney. The name was derived from their local Hart District Council. They did, however, still work with the new owners of the old Phoenix works, suitably transformed back into its former function as a painting works, for spraying their models.

Hart models continued the range of 1:96 scale tanks of all nations, and also developed the 1:48 scale range. Their main customers being the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and British Aerospace, models of guns, Rapier defence systems tended to be the main source of income.

As Hart models obtained commissions for model military vehicles from collectors, parts were being sourced from established companies such as Alan Smith Auto models. This included tyres. Hart continued to have a select group of regular customers including the MOD, and large companies seeking models of buildings etc, but the commercial outlet to traders who sold to the general public began to grow. These still were mostly Second World War military vehicles, fairground, and haulage. Also, some Fords were made for sale through A&H Models, LSR models for Mike Stanton, and others for France and Netherlands.

Tony found that the principal customer, the MOD or company, would agree to fund the major proportion of the setting up/pattern expenses, and then Hart models were able to increase the overall return by continuing to make for the wider public. Patterns were mostly made in house, although two other pattern makers, Glen Thomas and Arthur Trendall also produced them. The workforce was usually about 7 or 8 staff in total, and similarly Tony put some casting out to White Metal Assemblies – Maurice Bozward.

By January 2000, sadly Tony’s partner Bob Herridge had retired and subsequently died of cancer, and Tony was on his own. In a similar position was Alan Smith, whose partner Tony Morel wanted to retire. There was a synergy in the range and quality of their products, and so Tony and Alan decided to merge businesses, and HartSmith was born.

Tony Morel continued to make patterns for the new company, which then built up to over 1000 models and moulds in its range, with both military and commercial vehicles being represented. Both tyres and windscreens are made on the premises, and most casting is also done in house. Combined work force number 14 persons and we were located in North Camp Farnborough.

Corporate customers still feature largely in their order books, which is important, as it enables then to make large and very specialist trucks and vehicles, in which often the mould for the tyres, being a unique design, can cost £1500 - £2000.

Turning now to the other partner in this duo, Alan Smith also collected model aircraft as a teenager. He served in the Merchant Navy for 5 years, before joining Gresham Lion Electronics, developing electronic systems for submarines, in conjunction with Ferranti and Marconi. Whilst working on electronics by day, at weekends Alan began visiting Toy Fairs, and was impressed by some of the truck models. He wrote to DAF proposing some alternative liveries, and they suggested that he might paint some models for them!

In due course Alan became disenchanted with the internal politics of the Ministry of Defence, he decided to follow his hobby into a full time business, and with two friends who were ex-employees of Matchbox, founded A. Smith Automodels in 1977.

For the first 6 months, they worked in a shed in Alan’s garden, and their first customer was Portakabin, who wanted some promotional models of their basic product! Alan approached Tony Morel, who was then an RAE qualified engineer working as a pattern maker, to make the pattern for him, and they were on their way! This partnership lasted for 23 years and still remains active as pattern maker.

After the first 6 months, they moved to premises in 459, London Road Camberley to start our first totally original model of the 275 Ton Girder Trailer with Scammell Contractors front and rear. Ten sets of the 275 Ton Girder Trailer were commissioned. This model opened the door for A Smith Auto Models and they began getting promotional work from large engineering companies, such as Leyland, GKN, Scania, Volvo, Fords & Scammells. We made Warrior & Saxon models for GKN, Scammell S24 & S26 Drops models for Scammell and Roadtrain models for Leyland followed from other truck operators and manufacturers hauliers.   With this ever expanding range of models A Smith Automodels began attending toy fairs and sales of built and kit models followed.

In the early 1990s the company had 100 models of the Leyland T45 Roadtrain coupled to a TEXACO petrol tanker completed ready for delivery to Texaco.   Unfortunately an electrical fault occurred in the paint shed and a fire soon engulfed much of the shed.   The Fire Service was on the scene very quickly.  Alan was returning to the workshop, to see all of the flashing blue lights and sure enough the workshop had been damaged.  The paint shed was gutted but the casting and assembly rooms were intact but badly marked by water and smoke.  
The next day Alan called Texaco to tell them delivery would not be possible at the end of the week as planned.  They then made a remarkable and life saving gesture.  Submit the invoice in that day and they would pay immediately provided Alan could assure them that they could strip, repaint and deliver the models in 4 weeks from then. They did just that and stayed in business. It was almost the termination of A Smith Auto Models.

They then moved to a larger workshop still in Camberley and remained there for 8 years before moving to Badshot Lee, near to Farnham. Here they established themselves for 8 years before finally settling in North Camp, Farnborough.  

2000 brought about the merger of A Smith Automodels and Hart Models, to form HartSmith Models, but whilst the sales were very successful, a major US customer failed to pay his debts, and so at 65 years of age, Alan took the decision to go into voluntary liquidation. The practicalities of this meant that no purchases could be made for a 6-8 week period, but sales were permitted to clear debts. Just two staff stayed with Alan and Tony, and many models were sold at Toy Fairs. In the end, the US customer paid up, the liquidator valued the company, and Alan and Tony were able to buy up the remaining assets. Thus ASAM models were born from these ashes. As luck would have it they were able to retain the same telephone number and web site so existing customers had no difficulty in finding the new company. Just by chance the ASAM name which previously stood for A Smith Auto Models was changed to Alan Smith & Anthony Molay and they were again able to continue with an established identity

Now they have made a conscious decision to reduce the volume of the business, despite there being an increased demand. That part of the range which is US vehicles has been sold to a US customer, including the patterns and moulds. At the time of writing, with Alan now in his 70s and Tony 66 years young, they plan to concentrate on kits only, and work approximately 2 days per week.

Alan feels that his business has survived due to the specialist nature of the vehicles they have concentrated on. Whilst the mainstream market for haulage vehicles made from white metal collapsed when Corgi entered it, heavy haulage and special purpose vehicles will always have a place. The future still looks rosy, with Toy Fair takings up, and with many customers fed up with diecast offerings. Many people either want to build the kits for themselves, or will take on a number of commissions and thus purchase a quantity.

Subject ID: 81078

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