Russell "Dusty" Palmer 1929 – 2013

We were very sad to hear of the death, on Friday 15th November, of Russell ‘Dusty’ Palmer, who played a huge part in the diecast industry and within which he was a legend. He would have celebrated his 84th birthday on 29th November.

Susan Pownall, Consultant Editor at Corgi Collector, passed on the sad news:

"Dusty started with Mettoy – the company which was to launch the Corgi brand - in 1944, at a time when the range consisted purely of pressed steel toys.  He was part of the team headed up by Technical Director Howard Fairbairn in a small corner of one of the Swansea factories that developed the first Corgi models that were to take the world by storm in 1956. With an engineering background, Dusty was one of the unsung but indispensable ‘backroom boys’, whose knowledge and expertise were behind the innovations for which Corgi was to become so famous. For all the new product ideas that emanated from the company’s design department, it was Dusty who knew whether the blueprints could become a reality.  Despite all this, he was a very quiet, kind, humble and unassuming character but above all, a perfect gentleman."

"Corgi Collector interviewed Dusty for the Club magazine in January 1986, only two years after the Corgi Toys management buy-out and the year in which Corgi celebrated its 30th Anniversary.  His role at that time was Contracts Manager. We asked him if there was any product he particularly remembered.  Without hesitation, he named the original James Bond car, which had all the features no other die-cast car had at the time. We also asked him where he saw Corgi in the future.  During a period in which Corgi was trying to find its feet in the new adult market, Dusty replied ‘Following the improvements we have made in the latest range, we shall be without a doubt in the position of getting back to be the leading die-cast company in the world’."

"After the takeover by Mattel in the early 1990s, Dusty joined a team of ex-Corgi directors to start an engineering contracts business on the Corgi works site.  Latterly, he was a key figure in Oxford Diecast Ltd, headed by Lyndon Davies. Until relatively recently and despite his advancing years, Dusty would turn up at Oxford’s Swansea offices at 7 am each morning, continuing the habits of his lifetime in a factory environment."

"For those of us who knew and worked with Dusty, his death is a profound loss. He will be sadly missed."


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