OLDIES BUT GOODIES: 1956 CHEVROLET CORVETTE

The 1956 Chevrolet Corvette comes in mettalic rust orange and white, the hood being detachable so that the model can be displayed with top off, thereby revealing more of the interior. The level of detail is very good, not least the wheels. See more

CORGI: THE ITALIAN JOB

It has to be the most famous Mini film of them all: The Italian Job. Not the first time from Corgi (an ‘Italian Job’ set was released with the Minis in 1/43rd scale), but now it is the 1/36th scale Minis that come in the familiar red, white and blue. Although now a few years old, this casting of the Mini has always looked good, and so this set is certain to prove popular. See more.

MATCHBOX: LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH

The Lamborghini issued by Lesney in the Matchbox range was the Lamborghini Countach (27e). When released in 1974 it was painted yellow and had an opening rear engine cover to reveal a detailed silver-plated engine. A No.3 label was positioned between the front headlights. The base was unpainted and the windows were purple.

The main body colour was changed in 1975 from yellow to red and, although shades of red exist, this color scheme was retained until the model was deleted from the range (to be replaced by the Swing-Wing Jet in 1981). The interior colours of light and dark grey, yellow, white and tan is easy to distinguish. The windows are subject to shades but the main colours are purple, red ,a mber, blue, smoky grey and clear.

When the label was replaced by tampo printing a lime colour became by far the most common although a number of models exist with green decoration.

MATCHBOX: LAMBORGHINI MARZAL

The Matchbox Lamborghini Mazal (20d) was one of the firat three Superfast models when it was released in the latter half of 1969. The models for general release was painted metallic red after several colour colour trial versions including one in metallic lime green. The cream interior common to all ‘1-75’ range models always appears to be yellow because of windows which are amber tinted. A few models had silver grey painted bases but most were left unpainted.
The metallic red colour scheme soon gave way to pink and subsequently to orange yellow versions.

40th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION: 1911 MAXWELL ROADSTER

This delightful series continues with the 1911 Maxwell Roadster, beautifully decorated and finished in red with gold trim. The result is a very attractive model. Buy it now

DINKY COLLECTION: 1959 CADILLAC COUPE DE VILLE

This is from The Dinky Collection, being the Cadillac Coupe de Ville, in pink rear light clusters picked out in silver, with the lights in red, and improvment to the rear bumper. The colour scheme looks quite stunning, the model being set off by fine paintwork detailing, of both interior and exterior. See more

MATCHBOX: AMPHIBIOUS D.U.K.W

The DUKW (55a) was base upon a military vehicle which had been built in the USA, but which was used extensively by the British army in World War Two. The real vehicle was a 2.5 ton GMC Amphibian Truck which had been a secret weapon until June 1943. Its purpose was to transport supplies and soldiers from ships to the coast. It proved to be of great benefit during the Normandy landings and featured prominently in D-Day Commemorative television programmes. After the war it was put to good use in a variety of circumstances, not least for rescues in times of flood.

The phototype actual vehicle took just 38 days to complete and 'DUKW' were its code letters. It was known as a 'DUCK' works in the USA and by the soliders who used it in action during the invasion of Sicily. The Matchbox model had a smaller scale body when compared with the rest of the army vehicles in the '1-75' range and perhaps because of this it did not sell as well as the larger scale military vehicles.

Metal wheels were fitted to the first released to the first releases but subsequently either grey or black plastic wheels were used. It was the last Matchbox military model to be fitted with metal wheels. There are no casting variations with the DUKW and the only three recorded variations centre upon the three types of wheels. Only the black plastic wheels were fitted with rounded axles. The matal and grey plastic wheels always featured crimped axles. --Model Collector