Shite in Miniature II

[Split_Pin]

@Datsuncog I can't believe how your timeline of your approach to model cars was exactly like mine and during the same period.

I think I've mentioned before but I had a best friend from about 1987 to 92 whom was an only child and went to a private school. He had lovely model cars, new ones almost every week too. That was when I first saw a 1/18 Bburago and 1/43 models by early producers of detailed cars in display cases such as Bang, Brum, Best, Eligor, Box and of course Vitesse. I only had a pile of Corgis and Superkings. However there was mutual respect there because his dad had all but one of his cars 'stolen' as a child (I think 'cruelly given away' is more probable) and I had all my Dads and 2 Uncle's Dinky and Corgi cars, some boxed. 

I recall my first ever proper 'model' car was a 1953 2cv in grey. It even had the little speedometer to the left of the steering wheel! 

Anyway, after we drifted apart, when Vanguards, Minichaps and and Trofeu came along, the cars he once had seemed crude in comparison. I am of course nostalgic about all of these cars now and the models I had too!

[155V6]

Not much at the car boot this morning,this was all I came home with

However,I did pick these up from a local Facebook seller,still in the boxes with the cellophane on

I think they go nicely with the recovery truck I got from Junkyarddog

[NorfolkNWeigh]

As a kid, I didn't have that many new cars. Christmas and birthdays would sometimes yield a few - Dinky Jensen FF, Monteverdi and Eldorado , Spring to mind. A few years later I used birthday money to buy Corgi XJ-C, Mazda pickup, Dyane and some others , I can't recall which were mine or my brothers. I rarely had any Matchbox or Corgi Juniors, although for a year or two every present me and my 18 moth younger brother had was Corgi Rockets. A constant was the box of my Dad's mid 50's Dinkies ( which I've still got) 

Anyway , for some reason I stopped buying any diecast at quite an early age , even when in 1976/7( age 12/13). I used to go on the weekly "Penny Bus" to either Lampeter or Tregaron on market day. To spend the day shoplifting ! Because of peer pressure and not wanting to appear childish I never nicked any diecast, concentrating instead on magazines, Top Trumps, penknives and sweets. We even managed to nick some cigars once and made ourselves thoroughly sick, maybe that's why I've never smoked, so could be seen as a positive, I suppose.

I never lost my obsession with cars, just toy ones, maybe that's why I seem to be catching up on lost time now.

[bunglebus]

Dig out your baggy jeans, we're going back to 1991

Rather a lot of the cars seem to be pre-production with grey windows etc

 

Matchbox 1991 01 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 02 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 03 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 04 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 05 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 06 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 07 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 08 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 09 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 10 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 11 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 12 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 13 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 14 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 15 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 16 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 17 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 18 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 19 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 20 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 21 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 22 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 23 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 24 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 25 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 26 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1991 27 by RS, on Flickr

 

It wasn't me that tore out the Models of Yesteryear pages, can't say I'm going to lose any sleep over it though!

[Sudsprint]

I feel someone has to speak up for the poor old Matchbox Yesteryear cars.  I had a several as a boy but recreating The Persuaders with a yellow 1904 Spyker and a red 1914 Stutz Roadster didn't set my 9 year old pulse racing. That said they were well made and I really liked the Lagonda and Hispano-Suiza they came out with.

Lledo and giffer investment purchase just about finished off any affection for these old croakers though.

  

[Split_Pin]

Mc550 thats the Motor City I had, think I got it in about 1991 too.

Interesting that the Ergomatic cab was having one last outing as late as 1991 by serving as the front cowl of the 'Snorkel' turntable. Judging by the fact that the headlights are part of the bumper, I'd say it was part of the same casting that dated back to the 1960s?

[155V6]

The Dodge cattle truck in the twin pack must have been about 20 years old by then too.

[ETCHY]

6 hours ago, C1am said:

Following on from the recent discussion of bodies cut out to accomodate superfast wheels, I've compared my Mercurys to find  the bodies are the same. Apart from the different wheels and the base casting, the superfast car sits slightly higher and its blue light is taller than the original's.

For sale if anyone's interested. £1.50 + £3 UK postage for both.  

 

Has the non superfast got some sort of steering? Just looking at the baseplate & axle cut-out.

[C1am]

Yes, great observation! I hadn't even noticed. Why would they have gone to the trouble?

[Split_Pin]

25 minutes ago, 155V6 said:

The Dodge cattle truck in the twin pack must have been about 20 years old by then too.

Crikey yes I didn't see that! I have or had the remains of an old regular wheels one somewhere.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

4 hours ago, Sudsprint said:

I feel someone has to speak up for the poor old Matchbox Yesteryear cars.  I had a several as a boy but recreating The Persuaders with a yellow 1904 Spyker and a red 1914 Stutz Roadster didn't set my 9 year old pulse racing. That said they were well made and I really liked the Lagonda and Hispano-Suiza they came out with.

Lledo and giffer investment purchase just about finished off any affection for these old croakers though.

  

My Grandad had a shelf of Yesteryears in the early 70's, of course no one was allowed to play with them. Not that we were that bothered , apart from the Lemans type Bentley and a gold 1930's Yank ( Packard? ) that was a it newer than most of the shelf, they stayed U played with, although somehow the red ModelT had a wheel hold together with bluetac- always faced the other way to the others to hide it!

im thinking about getting some 60's70's Yesteryears now, damn you!

[bunglebus]

3 hours ago, ETCHY said:

Has the non superfast got some sort of steering? Just looking at the baseplate & axle cut-out.

 

3 hours ago, C1am said:

Yes, great observation! I hadn't even noticed. Why would they have gone to the trouble?

These and some of the early Superkings have it, you lean the car in the direction you want it to steer. It's a great little feature and better than the Mustang with the lever sticking out of the side not that I don't really want the Mustang...

[Split_Pin]

Called 'Prestomatic' steering by Dinky.

Corgi had the 'Trans-o-lite' head and tail lamps which was just a continuation of the glazing mould down to the front and rear of the car. I think the later Commer PB's had a separate piece of plastic trunking from the roof to facilitate this. I'd need to check mine.

Which is why you should keep the boxes of toys so that the bizarre marketing names they applied to quite prosaic pieces of design are not lost.

[bunglebus]

King size Mercury Police car has the steering system

 

20191030_170741 by Rich Secker, on Flickr

 

Corgi went for a steering wheel on the roof on its Beetles

 

P4240007_zpsegf0lljs by Rich Secker, on Flickr

P4240003_zps6on1zci9 by Rich Secker, on Flickr

 

And the Trans-o-lite headlamps (thanks Split_Pin) are very cool

 

20171209_151236 by Rich Secker, on Flickr

 

[155V6]

I've been trying to find out about the pullback Corgi Juniors Transit which I got last week.All I can find are pictures of these two versions of the Transit,the Mercedes 190E,& the Porsche 935 which Datsuncog said he had seen.Anyone seen any others,maybe they only did those ones?

 

[bunglebus]

Newest Corgi catalogue I have is 1985 and doesn't mention them.

 

 

 

If anyone spots a Corgi with one good wheel on like this, please grab it - my DB5 has one wheel centre missing and it's driving me nuts

 

[morrisoxide]

I do need to catch up on here. I purchased these today.

This was for sale in at the same place, I don't really know this era of Matchbox that well. Did this Cortina hit the shelves in this type of blister pack?

I thought it came in the cardboard box? Anyway for 33 Quid I walked.

[junkyarddog]

That looks like a Bulgarian Matchbox Cortina to me.

Very expensive though!!

In other news,I recently received some cars from C1am,amongst them was this Majorette Sonic Flasher military police car.

Some drilling and 2 new batteries later..........It only works!!!

"What do you think of this one smoll Eddy?"

"Very flashy M8"

 

[eddyramrod]

Oh no, it's Decker!  Hit it BA!

[bunglebus]

That RO80 gives me big want face. Yep agreed that's a Bulgarian Cortina. Nice but it can stay on the peg at £33

 

[Split_Pin]

I have a beige Bulgarian Cortina, bought in 2006. Non opening doors too.  The back of the blister pack depicts an obsolete-looking Playtrack. 

The seller of the one above is exactly why I rarely go to Swapmeets nowadays. Rip-off prices which exist solely to make the seller feel more important. They probably got it from some unsuspecting collector for a few quid on a tip-off from one of their equally evil mates.

[eddyramrod]

Couldn't agree more!

I really am going to have to do some photos today... a neighbour recently told me of "some police cars" that had fallen into his lap.  I gave him a few days, then idly mentioned that I have a collection of police cars.  Immediately he showed me a carrier bag full - and I do mean full - of Atlas 1/43s, all boxed and sealed.  Roughly a 50/50 split between the Sports Car collection and the Police set.  I took two of each, at a fiver a go.  I'd have paid that on ebay with postage on top, and this way I only had to cross the street!  I might have to go back for more yet.

[Tenmil Socket]

RE; 1991 Matchbox Catalogue

Gee wiz, that brings back some memories... I was around 10 then...

Cheers @bunglebus

[Datsuncog]

On ‎12‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 3:27 PM, bunglebus said:

Dig out your baggy jeans, we're going back to 1991

Fantastic!

On ‎12‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 4:30 PM, Split_Pin said:

Interesting that the Ergomatic cab was having one last outing as late as 1991 by serving as the front cowl of the 'Snorkel' turntable. Judging by the fact that the headlights are part of the bumper, I'd say it was part of the same casting that dated back to the 1960s?

Because I'm rather tragic, I actually trawled through some old catalogues last night to see just what was the oldest casting in the 1991 Matchbox catalogue...

The MB13 Snorkel Fire Engine does indeed appear to be a direct reworking of the old MB35 Merryweather Fire Engine, first seen in 1970.

The Merryweather made it through to 1974, but then, shamefully, this detailed scale replica was retired from active service - in favour of the rather lurid MB22 Blaze Buster, which looked like nothing I'd ever seen.

Meanwhile, the GMC-based MB13 Snorkel Fire Engine from 1977 featured an extendable plastic boom, complete with firefighter...

...and unusually both the Blaze Buster and Snorkel were effectively replaced in 1983 by this reworking of the older Merryweather casting, whereby much of the roof had been cut away and the back end modified to accept the GMC's movable turntable.

I'm not sure whether this retrograde step was something Lesney already had planned, or merely an opportunity taken by new owners Universal Toys to rationalise the Matchbox range while saving money.

An all-new fire engine - the MB 18 Fire Engine, seemingly based on an Oshkosh design - did show up the following year in 1984, but still the old Snorkel didn't go away.

Even though the MB 18 was clearly more of a US-style rescue appliance, the very British Snorkel continued to be sold in the US - possibly because its flanks leant themselves to tampo-printing much better than the Oshkosh.

But they didn't just make them until 1991 - seems they were still appearing on and off in the UK range until at least 2002, now marked as the MB14 Flame Chaser.

Even after the model disappeared from the mainline range, it appears the casting continued to put in playset appearances until even more recently.

What a trouper. Many many variants are listed here, should you wish to lose an hour of your life...

http://www.diecastfire.co.uk/New/mb63_snorkel_fire_engine.htm

 

I never had the original Merryweather version of the fire engine, but I bought the Snorkel in a 20-car gift pack from Woolworths probably about 1990.

It annoyed me slightly as I'd never seen a fire engine with the main cab open; in fact, it seemed a bit stupid. And I'd been to our local fire station with the Cubs, so obviously I knew all about firefighting technology.

I think I'd quite like to find an early Merryweather version now.
 

Apparently some very rare pre-production versions with non-superfast wheels exist, as shown on the first run of boxes, but the vast majority were fitted with five-spoke Superfast wheels.

I also find it interesting that Lesney went to the trouble of basing this casting on an AEC, even though they had several Leyland versions of the shared Ergomatic cab already in the range.

So there we go. Introduced 1970, still showing in the catalogue in 1991, and kept going to 2002... but is it the oldest?

 

23 hours ago, 155V6 said:

The Dodge cattle truck in the twin pack must have been about 20 years old by then too.

Ah, I think we have a winner...

The Dodge Cattle Truck made its debut all the way back in 1966, although rather confusingly it wasn't quite the same model.

The Dodge K-series chassis proved a versatile one, however, soon appearing with an extra axle as the MB4 Dodge Stake Truck, in 1967...

...and as the MB63 Crane Truck in 1968.

The Stake Truck bowed out in 1971, with the Cattle Truck and Crane Truck getting the chop in 1972.

 

But stay!

In 1976, the Dodge Stake Truck returned - but was now retooled with only a single rear axle, and slightly confusingly renamed as the MB71 Cattle Truck, along with the same plastic livestock as before

Rather incredibly, this stayed on as a mainline model until 1981, and then lived on for a further twelve years in two-packs and in gift sets.

In fact, the whole 1991 Farm Set contains some ancient castings - the MB17 Pony Trailer casting dates from 1968, while the MB40 Hay Trailer matches the Dodge as a 1967 release.

But even after the Dodge appeared to be finally pensioned off in 1993, it unexpectedly returned, still basically unchanged from 1976, as a mainline model for 1999.

Before putting in yet another encore as a US special edition - in 2002.

35 years (on and off) in the Matchbox lineup is pretty impressive for any casting.

Possibly its ongoing popularity was due to it looking more 'American' (its real-life counterpart was actually styled by Ghia), and the more familiar Dodge name finding ready acceptance in the US market? The vehicle it was based on, the Dodge K-series, was sold in the US too - although marketed under the Fargo and De Soto badges.

It's a bit surprising though, as the Dodge was never as common a truck on UK roads as the Bedford TK, Leyland Ergomatic or Ford D-series - all of which Lesney also modelled, but none of which lasted very long

Have we seen the last of it?

Never say never...

 

The other mainline castings still hanging on past their tenth birthday in 1991 were:

• MB03 Porsche 911 Turbo, unchanged bar colourways since its casting debut in 1978 - though, as an earlier restoration showed, the tooling was utterly knackered by the time the last models were churned out in 1993.
• MB09 Caterpillar D9 Bulldozer, introduced 1979 and kept ploughing right through to 1999
• MB21, Chevrolet Breakdown Van, based on a cut-down version of the 1979 Chevy Van -  and would run through to 2001 in this format, though the 4x4 panel van version would keep going until 2007
• MB25 Ambulance, introduced for 1977, this Chevrolet truck based unit would appear sporadically until 1999
• MB29 Tractor Shovel, surely also worthy of a longevity award, having first appeared in 1976 and remained in the range until 2014 - 38 years!!
• MB34 Dodge Challenger, now a hopped-up version of the road car which first showed up in 1976, and which would hang around in the US market until 1998
• MB36 Refuse Truck, calmly plying its necessary trade since 1979 and would appear as a mainline until 2006
• MB43 '57 Chevy, introduced in 1979 and still with a wonky front end with a tendency to come loose - impressively this stayed a mainline until 1995, after which it spent three more years as special edition casting
• MB56 4x4 Jeep, with its body casting derived from the Hot Rod Jeep of 1970, this came tantalisingly close to its 30th birthday, only being deleted in 1999.

And there's also some other relics lurking in the two-packs, plus US-market-only oddities in the gift-packs, but that's maybe quite enough for one afternoon...

Phew!

[ETCHY]

I do like the Leyland Ergomatic cab, it was a cool design & represented pretty advanced Truck cab ergonomic thinking  back in the 1960's.

It did however have one big problem. To make it spacious & comfortable for the driver they off-set the engine hump inside.. great for right hand drive not so good in LHD export markets though whereby the driver ended up cramped thus costing sales..

Not Leyland's smartest move !

[egg]

33 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

The Merryweather made it through to 1974, but then, shamefully, this detailed scale replica was retired from active service - in favour of the rather lurid MB22 Blaze Buster, which looked like nothing I'd ever seen.

Thanks for the post. I have to agree about the Blazer Buster, I never liked it - it didn't seem to make any sense to me as a child!

[quicksilver]

I had a surprising number of the models in that 1991 catalogue and I remember Graffic Traffic and Connectables too. Lightning and Matchbox 2000 are unfamiliar though, what was that 'invisible magnetic forcefield' all about?

[bunglebus]

Charidee shops have provided some minishite today;

 

Funny enough 1st up is a Matchbox fire engine - the Fire Pumper

 

20191202_150911 by RS, on Flickr

 

Mercedes trailer, not sure what it's from

 

20191202_150934 by RS, on Flickr

 

Rod Roller (again) with working tiller steering

 

20191202_150830 by RS, on Flickr

 

HW Thing that hasn't lost its roof

 

20191202_150805 by RS, on Flickr

 

Maisto copy/re-used casting of the Matchbox version. This is a "VW Champer" apparently

 

20191202_150639 by RS, on Flickr

20191202_150703 by RS, on Flickr

 

Kidco Lock-Up Nissan Z, sans tyres

 

20191202_150507 by RS, on Flickr

 

Had to chuck in a couple to make it up to the 5 for a quid so

 

20191202_150354 by RS, on Flickr

20191202_150426 by RS, on Flickr

 

I mean look at the state of that Trams-Am! The 57 Chevy I can make nice but that one's going in the sin bin

 

Riddler Mercury needs a screen re-alignment

 

20191202_150245 by RS, on Flickr

 

This one I got with you lot in mind - 1:43 Bburago Xantia anyone?

 

20191202_150154 by RS, on Flickr

20191202_150201 by RS, on Flickr

20191202_150207 by RS, on Flickr

20191202_150223 by RS, on Flickr

[155V6]

I had a couple of parcels come from eBay today.The 1st looked like a load of old junk in the picture when I 1st saw it

But what's that at the back?

It's  Hotwheels Redline Heavyweights dumper truck,& it's all there ?

Really happy with that one ?

 

The next lot was badly listed,but the pictures showed a couple of interesting things

The Cavalier is mint & hasn't been opened,the rest are all very good too.

Total cost for both lots including postage was £10,still some bargains out there!

[egg]

Yes, endless trawling of the job lots on ebay is one of the keys to bargain hunting. It's a reasonable pastime if you have a bit of time on your hands.

I look at it this way, it stops me buying another full size pile of 90s shite that will cost me a hell of a lot more!