It was in US of A where the buying of type ratings started not in Europe. There where no training organisations other than flight schools and airlines until late 1990's who could provide training. Further airlines would not talk to individuals for type training unlike in US where several airlines and organisations where willing to cater for indivudual needs.
Just to metion a few names, Flight Safety, Aeroservice, Pan Am, NATCO, several small 1 or 2 sim schools spread around US. Some, like NATCO, even advertised in the 90's on Flight International for individual types, impossible in Europe at the time.
Thanks for backing up my point. It was the Europeans who came here to buy types and time. American companies simply saw a business opportunity in European pilots willing to pay for something they couldn't easily get at home. I too had paying European pilots in my right seat back in the day.
Most of those schemes died around 10 years ago. A brief pilot shortage and growing visa hassles for foreigners put an end to it. The few remaining, like Gulfstream Airlines, are loathed in the industry.
Then airline deregulation came to Europe and Ryan, Easy etc. along with European schools took the scam to a whole new (price) level.