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3 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Yeah I think the Majorettes were called Sonic Flashers. I have a few of the Matchbox ones, I think they comprised of the Ford Supervan, XR4i and the Mercedes 500SEC. 

That sounds about right,I've got 2 of the Police XR4i's.I think one even still works ?

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1 hour ago, sierraman said:

Yes they’re called ‘alarm cars’ both in the format of the F40 and the 959. Specials were the racing themed 1/36 scale models. Turbo Specials were the above but with a pull back motor and rubber tyres. Useless fact for you there. What about Graffic Traffics remember those?

Remember me and my Brother getting the Graffic Traffics as a kid from Woolworths. I had the VW Transporter Ambulance. Came with at least a Blue + Black perment marker pens and a sticker set. Safe to say it wasn't my best work! 

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Ok here's the good stuff from the job lots

 

48464939506_531e5f6f9a_k.jpg20190805_162635 by RS, on Flickr

48464955846_57cdecbc2e_k.jpg20190805_162642 by RS, on Flickr

48465106742_bca148ae16_k.jpg20190805_162658 by RS, on Flickr

48464859936_4a5db074a6_k.jpg20190805_162003 by RS, on Flickr

48464773141_1726c24121_k.jpg20190805_161933 by RS, on Flickr

48464994057_091d53bd7f_k.jpg20190805_161942 by RS, on Flickr

48464895632_729e55cdaa_k.jpg20190805_161911 by RS, on Flickr

48464750481_dab7d93ad4_k.jpg20190805_161915 by RS, on Flickr

48464688121_1611fdd29a_k.jpg20190805_161848 by RS, on Flickr

48464731497_fd322cd32a_k.jpg20190805_161741 by RS, on Flickr

48464548301_c8b1e4d529_k.jpg20190805_161729 by RS, on Flickr

48464566792_6863f6efc2_k.jpg20190805_161704 by RS, on Flickr

48464408111_93052ab9fb_k.jpg20190805_161659 by RS, on Flickr

48464257262_5b51f41027_k.jpg20190805_161631 by RS, on Flickr

48464241467_d65aef48b2_k.jpg20190805_161557 by RS, on Flickr

48464066296_a4e00af953_k.jpg20190805_161532 by RS, on Flickr

48464150127_cfd09227f8_k.jpg20190805_161500 by RS, on Flickr

48463896861_49a747abd2_k.jpg20190805_161155 by RS, on Flickr

48463851926_64e570e2eb_k.jpg20190805_160818 by RS, on Flickr

48464024522_bcaac0a941_k.jpg20190805_160833 by RS, on Flickr

48464012792_95940a6b3f_k.jpg20190805_160827 by RS, on Flickr

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Does anyone remember the Matchbox Lightning Wheels series, from the late 80's - early 90's?

The models had printed 'refelctions' on the windows & wheels & were finished in vaious garish bright pastel colours that were in fashion in the late 80's - early 90's. Each model came with a storage tube that had a tech spec printed sheet on the side.

I had the Nissan 300ZX model (not mine in the pic), indeed I might still have it somewhere! There was a series of models, I dont know what the others were though.

91DVOar2oiL._SX425_.jpg.6a8743f8f6a0a666c1355e45d4eb2545.jpg

 

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Another Adventure 2000 has arrived

 

48479389471_f852abd334_k.jpg20190807_115919 by RS, on Flickr

 

Jag XJS turned up...

 

48479405181_411311a309_k.jpg20190807_115950 by RS, on Flickr

 

With the XJC I really wanted!

 

48479413181_585192833f_k.jpg20190807_120006 by RS, on Flickr

 

These are nice - Matchbox Racing Specials. Especially like the "Stock Car" which looks like a Chevy Nova to me;

 

48479571502_9019f3cea6_k.jpg20190807_120056 by RS, on Flickr

48479442566_2434734b13_k.jpg20190807_120119 by RS, on Flickr

48479600532_f92665cb40_k.jpg20190807_120133 by RS, on Flickr

 

Lastly some Majorette

 

48479612667_6203a7f225_z.jpg20190807_120158 by RS, on Flickr

48479622927_b67ddadc64_k.jpg20190807_120225 by RS, on Flickr

48479639647_efbc7839ab_k.jpg20190807_120254 by RS, on Flickr

 

Saved the worst for last - look at the state of this Escort cab - couldn't they have made a plastic roof?

 

48479494276_60ad88035c_k.jpg20190807_120318 by RS, on Flickr

48479500271_44c48b522a_k.jpg20190807_120325 by RS, on Flickr

48479650777_8d3b60eb52_k.jpg20190807_120329 by RS, on Flickr

 

 

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I've 3 vans with identical castings. The yellow one is a Corgi Juniors U.S. van, the other two have "Made in Great Britain" on the base in the same place as the yellow van, but no other markings. Does anyone know who made the other two?

1363158855_3Vans001.thumb.JPG.282e4eeeb31a93eb82aafbeab3ea39a2.JPG

567201245_3Vans006.thumb.JPG.a57f342874f37393c9afd1cd519157f2.JPG

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6 hours ago, C1am said:

I've 3 vans with identical castings. The yellow one is a Corgi Juniors U.S. van, the other two have "Made in Great Britain" on the base in the same place as the yellow van, but no other markings. Does anyone know who made the other two?

I'm fairly sure all three are made by Corgi - at some point in the mid 1980s, some of their older 1970s models seem to have had the Corgi Juniors lettering removed from the base moulds. I had some Jaguar XJS and Aston DB6 versions with no lettering, and others that did. No idea why, mind. Some of them may have been promos, though.

I also had a few more recent 1980s castings (like the Vauxhall Nova and Mk3 Transit) where, on some, the make and model had been removed - but it was intact on otherwise identical versions.

Also always thought it weird that the larger 1/35 scale version of your vans said 'Chevrolet Van' on the base - while the smaller Juniors just went with 'U.S. Van'.

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On ‎8‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 10:40 PM, Sausage5000 said:

Does anyone remember a Matchbox series of cars that had weird 'hologramatic' wheels, that where reflective and shiny?

I'm 99% sure they were Matchbox, and they came out late 80's. The car I had may have been a Renault concept (spider?), but I can't find any information anywhere or anything related to any Matchbox cars in the 80's having these wheels.

If you can get your hands on a 1988 Matchbox Catalogue, it gives the complete Superfast Lasers range of 30 different models...

20190807_082457.thumb.jpg.2816e68d2741eb39cba5c926d8363bf9.jpg

20190807_082524.thumb.jpg.e98f7380b6b3fad87d4f12422ae3508b.jpg

20190807_082449.thumb.jpg.e36555bee9d448721b4e0a12297bfd3c.jpg

Some of them also came in different colourways - for example, I had the LW-8 Corvette in a pleasantly naff shade of metallic brown.

In keeping with the Matchbox era under Universal Toys ownership, themed playsets were also launched to provide gift solutions for adults, and to drive additional sales of the individually-packaged cars pitched at pocket-money prices.

20190807_082544.thumb.jpg.40dd519cd2b73bf0c1a3b46cd3d0ae27.jpg

20190807_082534.thumb.jpg.69bd5ad3e5f5752055ed30ac61744858.jpg

20190807_082601.thumb.jpg.34cf289bb5afbd7e8de8b88adba12f64.jpg

Interesting to see that Universal Toys not only revived the Superfast name for this range, but also put the early 1970s Superfast Track System and launcher back into production for the LW-200 'Laser 2000 Race Set' (with bonus added 'space monster', because hey, why not??) . I'm not entirely sure one car constitutes a race, either.

My brother owned the LW-100 Big Bang Launcher blaster thing (which came with basically a miniature till receipt roll, which you stretched across the path of the plunger to make a not-very-big 'bang' upon deployment), and now I look at it, we had a fair number of toys from the range between us - there's ten in the catalogue pages which we had in the toybox.

Weird thing is, I don't remember buying or requesting any of them - they must have all been gifts or summat. Although the laser wheels were pretty eyecatching, I was the kind of boring literal child who tended towards realism if possible...

I can only assume the range never really took off as hoped, since it seems to have disappeared by the time the 1990 catalogue was published.

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I remember it as my bullshitting friend claimed to have a millionaire uncle who owned one of these cars in real life, and it even had the zany mirror wheels.

Bullshitter friends with supposed millionaire uncles are the best entertainment you can have, in retrospect.

I remember a kid at school called Duane who swore to me his 'millionaire uncle' had a Trans-Am like the one out of Smokey and The Bandit, only it was also a stretch limo a hundred feet long, and it was tuned so it could do 500mph.

And, naturally, he'd driven it - despite being only nine.

When challenged on the feasibility of this claim on practical, legal and engineering grounds, he would only admit that this feat had been carried out on his uncle's private runway.

A quick LinkedIn search indicates he now works as a manager for a lettings agency.

Kinda figures...

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