CORGI 1/50 - ALBION ARTIC WITH FLAT TRAILER AND BRICKS-LONDON BRICK COMPANY

London Brick Company is famous as the world’s largest brick manufacturer.  In the 60’s era LBC ran a fleet of more than 900 vehicles in the famous red livery and familiar circular logos.  The company absorbed a number of other brick manufacturers including Eastwoods, Redland and Marston Valley.  LBC is now owned by Hanson group.

We haven't featured an old Albion for a while, and in London Brick livery this one is absolutely gorgeous. Another of Corgi's Limited Editions, the detailing is simply superb - particularly the macho frontal, excellent lighting clusters, authentic wipers and the fine hydraulic coupling lines to the trailer, which can be detached. The sheated brick load ie well done, as is the paint work. It's just lovely. Shop here

CORGI 1/50 GUY WARRIOR - POST OFFICE SUPPLIES DEPARTMENT

Looking resplendent in traditional Post Office red, this 1965 Guy Warrior is a replica of a 12-strong fleet of Warriors, rated at 12 tonnes. Incidentally, they were first ordered in 1964 and allocated with B registration suffix markings. However, they didn't enter into service until the following year, hence the later C registration plates. We've seen this rugged Warrior model in other guises before and this one is equally as impressive, particularly the frontal detailing and the Post Office crest. This model is one of Corgi's Premium' ranges of which only 2000 are being made. Shop here

CORGI 1/50 SCAMMELL CRUSADER FLATBED TRAILER BRS

Scammell Crusader , Flatbead Trailer - BRS. It was the Labour Governments mandate of 1945 that was to create the nationalised road haulage operation of British Road Services.Starting up three years later in 1948.BRS has experienced many ups and downs in its history, but managed to create a strong and viable transport operation.


The model finished in the all over red of British Road Services, model length 27cm with all wording in white, limited edition certificate is included as is the customer applied mirrors. Shop here 

SUN STAR 1/18 FIAT 124 ABARTH RALLY

The Fiat 124 Abarth comes in the version which the second won the Rally Monte Carlo in 1975, as driven by Mikkola and Todt. The decoration has been extremely well applied. Shop here

MATCHBOX KING-SIZE K-1 O&K HYDRAULIC EXCAVATOR

This model is Matchbox King-Size K-1 O&K Hydraulic Excavator. It had a red body with a silver grey Jib, red plastic hubs with black plastic tyres and the cab had amber tinted windows. The jib had no less than three hydrosleeves keeping the jib in position and the Jib had red and white 'MH6' labels while the sides of the cab had a red and white label with 'O&K' inside a diamond shape. The model was converted to superfast wheels in 1971. It kept it's red & silver grey from the regular wheeled model but the superfast issue can be found with red and white or yellow and black 'O&K' labels and amber or clear windows. The earliest design for the O&K Excavator had only two hydrosleeves as the two upper parts of the jib were cast as one piece. It is not known weather any of these one piece jibs actually got into circulation.

1904 MERRYWEATHER FIRE ENGINE

The Merryweather name is one of the most venerable in fire fighting history. With roots that trace to Adam Nuttall’s fire-engine works around 1750, the firm was taken over in 1836 by Moses Merryweather who had worked as a mechanic for the company. In the second half of the nineteenth century, along with companies such as Shad Mason and Baddley and Roberts of London, Merryweather still sold many manual pumps to hospitals, factories and country estates. However, the company began achieving important breakthroughs in the realm of steam. In 1900, Merryweather introduced “Fire King,” its first self-propelled steamer and, within another three years, the company would introduced a vehicle that would change fire fighting forever. It was the first gasoline-powered motor driven appliance ever to be used by a public fire brigade. The following year, in 1904, the Fitchley Fire Brigade received from Merryweather the first gasoline-powered engine with a Hatfield 500 gpm pump driven directly by a shaft from a road engine, an innovation that had enormous impact on fire engine manufacturing. (This chassis, engine and pump are housed in the Science Museum in South Kensington, London.) Soon, many fire brigades wanted gas-powered engines for their companies and, for many years, Merryweather was a leader in providing and developing such vehicles. Now, the 1904 Merryweather Fire Engine has been re-created in precise and authentic detail for The International Fire Engine Collection: The Turn-of-the-Century Edition.

DINKY 1/43 DY-9 - 1949 LAND ROVER

The Dinky Collection is a 1949 Land Rover. At first glance this is a nice model, but closer inspection reveals two main criticism: the real vehicle would never have had a chromed front bumper, as the model does, and the chassis is far too low-giving it almost no ground clearance at all. Viewed from the side, this ruins the appearance of the model. Shop here

VANGUARDS 1/43 AUSTIN 1300 ESTATE ELPASSO BEIGE

Produced from 1962-74, it was available in 2 and 4 door saloon's or a 3 door estate version. Front wheel drive was via a four speed gearbox which was powered by either the 1098cc or 1275 A Series engine. Shop here

CORGI 1/50 SCAMMELL SCARAB 'ROYAL MAIL'

This is the Royal Mail series include the Scammell Scrab. In the distinctive red, the model includes side advertisement boards for that added touch of authenticity. Shop here

AUTO ART 1/18 LOTUS ELAN S/E S3 DIECAST MODEL

Lotus launched a legend in 1962, the Lotus Elan. Following on from the previous Elite model the new Elan offered improved handling, performance and had a less fragile feel to its overall design. Below the Elan bonnet sat a twin-cam four cylinder engine which would become a legend in its own right, powering other classic Lotus models including the Cortina sports-saloons.Initially the Elan came as an open two seater, from 1964 a fixed head coupe was also available, both bodies being constructed from GRP and mounted on a separate chassismore. The model has finished in yellow with black interior and hood, very nice detailed dash board, doors and boot open the bonnet also opens to reveal the engine.Moveable wheels with knock ons.

1956 CHEVY 3100 "MOBIL BATTERY & QUICK START SERVICE"

In the America heartland, the temperature frequently dips below zero on cold winter mornings, draining power from many cars’ batteries. For nearly a century, motorists have depended on AAA for that crucial jump start. And AAA has always relied on its local network of service trucks to get customers on the road as soon as possible. In the mid ‘50s, the “Battery Service” truck from the Harris Brothers’ Mobilgas station was a familiar sight. Many a stranded driver was glad to see the classiic Pegasus emblem on the side of the truck, for it meant they would soon be rescued. Rigged with a utility cabinet and vise, a battery charger on wheels and a full rack of batteries, the truck was equipped to charge or replace a battery—whatever the motorist needed. And now the Mobil Battery & Quick Start Service 1956 Chevy 3100 is part of The Fabulous Fifties Road Service Collection. It has been crafted in die-cast metal by Matchbox Collectibles—the Greatest Name in Die-Cast.

HOT WHEELS TATTO MACHINES OPEN WIDE 1992

As you can see this is a very nice horror artworked themed vehicle. Officially this was part of the 1992 Tattoo release by Hot Wheels, there's a few other okay vehicles such as Street Dog (vicious dogs) and Skull Rider (skull and snakes), both of those are on BMWs by the way. They are not in the league of Open Wide but you might want to look into them. The rest of the Tattoo series isn't worth looking into at all. By the way they come with a few bonus tattoos of dentures too, I threw mine out, the paper had gone a bit yellow even inside the sealed pack so it's a gamble if you get yours and they actually can be applied to skin if you're into that. The blister pack is actually quite tall as well, a lot taller than you're average 1/64 sized blister card. You've got to take this out the pack though, it's that good.



Open Wide is basically a van covered in a number of dentures with fangs, they don't all belong to the same owner as some are for thin snake like mouths and others wide canine types. All have some yellow substance dripping from them meaning getting bit by these dentures isn't just going to hurt or cause the loss of a limb, but if you somehow survive, you're likely to contract rabies or some other awful disease as well.


The colours of the van are yellow and maroon, applied in sort of a spray painted look. The Hot Wheels vehicle itself is nothing special, basically a van with very average cheap wheels, it's officially a Baja Breaker brand van. It's an ugly van, the designers couldn't decide if they wanted a rectangle rear window or a ship type circular one so went with both in the one bit of plastic. Without the great paintwork you'd probably pass on this Baja Breaker thing. It is a sturdy Hot Wheels vehicle though I'll give it that.


The artwork is brilliant though! You've got eight fanged dentures on this thing. Three on both sides, and two on the roof. Unlike most Hot Wheels artwork, the three mouths on each side aren't the same but are six different mouths opened in different menacing poses. This means you can display it with either side facing the front then change it for a different look. There's no dentures on the rear doors, probably because the designers were so embarrassed by the circle rectangle window mistake, that they forbid the artists drawing any attention to it.

Open Wide is a must own for any horror artwork die-cast vehicle collector. --James N Sympson Shop here

JOHNNY LIGHTNING COCA-COLA 1968 PONTIAC GTO

The artwork on this 1968 Pontiac GTO from Johnny Lightning is simply brilliant. There haven't been many snowmen released throughout the various years of the Coca Cola vehicles by Johnny Lightning or even Matchbox who also are licensed to provide official Coca Cola imagery on their 1/64 sized vehicles.


This vehicle was released as part of the 2003 Coca Cola Polar Bear Series. Even though it doesn't have any polar bear imagery on the actual vehicle it did come in the same designed blister pack with the backing card of a polar bear and two cubs putting a star on top of the Christmas tree that the rest of the series had. This particular vehicle was not released to the shops with the others but instead, it was offered for purchase by members through Johnny Lightning's website. This means there weren't as many of these made as the other vehicles, meaning it is harder to find in collector stores and online websites than those other vehicles.
This is a yellow 1968 Pontiac with a thick dark blue bordered in white strip down the sides and over the bonnet and boot (hood and trunk). On the side strip is the Coca Cola word logo in white as well as the top part of a winking snowman wearing a red scarf and black top hard with the words ICE COLD written on it. The white Coca Cola word logo is also on the boot. On the roof the same winking image also appears but this time it's a full body image. He is holding a glass of Coke in both hands in front of his body. He's standing beside a yellow real estate type sign with the words For That Refreshing New Feeling. There's also the red Coca Cola with white letter logo beside the Snowman's head. In the background there are snowflakes falling.

The wheels are quite good with red rimmed tyres where you can see the tread. The seats dashboard and other parts of the interior are white. --James N Sympson  Shop here

VANGUARDS 1/50 THAMES TRADER BOX VAN 'LUCOZADE'

The Thames Trader box van comes in the smart, and familiar, yellow color scheme of Lucozade. This will make a very pleasing addition to the collection. Shop here