Little Wheels News

29 Jul

Thunderbirds are Go

Posted by Andrew Wood in Diecast models, Matchbox

I loved the Thunderbirds when I was a kid, trouble was it was on ITV and we only got decent reception at home on BBC1 so I only got to see it when I went to friends houses. It was great watching it again with my own kids, just as good as I remember.

This is a Matchbox Thunderbird 2 with Thunderbird 4 in the pod. As a kid I had the original Dinky version of this, except it came from a jumble sale and one of the legs was missing.

You can own this one for £6.99 by following this link: http://little-wheels.net/products/23529

12 Jul

Ich bin ein Berliner

Posted by Andrew Wood in Bus, Diecast models, Matchbox

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The UK version of this Matchbox Superkings Daimler Fleetline bus is called The Londoner, this is the Berlin version - not called the Berliner - which I think is a type of doughnut, not a bus.

Lesney took some pains to produce this version, it is not just a set of German language stickers and a new box, it is a whole new casting with the passenger doors on the right and the driver's seat on the left. I did not know it existed until this one turned up in a mixed lot from an auction.

You can own it for £8.99 by following this link: http://little-wheels.net/products/23003

24 Mar

Odd 1970s Matchbox Superfast

Posted by Andrew Wood in Diecast models, Matchbox

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I was 14 in 1970 so most of my growing up was done in the decade of purple and orange, we hadn't learnt that just because you could make things out of florescent yellow plastic it was no reason for actually doing it.

So place yourself in the range planners' chairs at Lesney. Hot Wheels were seriously having your lunch, having appeared from nowhere a few years ago and you were surrounded everywhere with tasteless tat. Is it any surprise that they came up with the weirdest cars in the whole history of the brand?

Take a look in the Matchbox/Lesney Collection in the Little Wheels shop at some of the cars uploaded today. There's a serious German grand tourer - the BMW 3.0 CSL, painted orange with blue windows & yellow seats and one of the cars that just came out of someone's head - the Tanzara, one of about a dozen made-up vehicles in the range at the time, really odd. Put alongside these the Streakers versions of a couple of concept cars you have as much wild design and clashing colours as you could wish for.

Who came first? Erica Roe or the Matchbox Streakers?

17 Mar

Featured Car: 1907 Rolls-Roce Silver Ghost, Models of Yesteryear Y-15/1

Posted by Andrew Wood in Matchbox, Models of Yesteryear, Rolls-Royce

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This Models of Yesteryear Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost was released by Matchbox in 1960 so you are looking at a model here which is more than 50 years old in great condition in a really nice box.

It is modelled on a car in the Motor Museum at Beaulieu in Hampshire. Worth a trip to see it by the way with Donald Campbell's Bluebird from 1963/4 and lots of other great old cars. Quite a number of them featured in the Models of Yesteryear range in the 60s. We know where the Lesney boys went for their product ideas.

This one is for sale at the Little Wheels on line shop for £12.99 shipped free worldwide. Follow the link: http://bit.ly/1cPDLq5

16 Mar

Nice Old Packard

Posted by Andrew Wood in Matchbox, Models of Yesteryear, Packard

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Packard Landaulet by Matchbox Models of Yesteryear Y-11/2 1964-1972

One of the many nice things about my job is reliving great childhood moments. I was given one of these in about 1964-5 and still remember being awestruck at how shiny it was, that deep, lustrous maroon & black paint. I really liked it then and I still do now.

Matchbox obviously liked it too as they kept it in the range from 1964 to 1972 and unusually for Models of Yesteryear they kept the colour the same throughout. You might see it in cream but that was from a special boxed set of super-detailed models released in 1984 as a one-off called the Connoisseur Collection.

There were some changes during the production run, the steering wheel started out metal and was changed to plastic, the spare wheel holder began with four prongs and later had three and there are also a number of variations to the baseplate casting. You will also see variations in the plating on the floor/firewall casting and the radiator although this was down to breakdowns on the plating machine in the factory rather than deliberate policy. One of the fascinations with Matchbox collecting is the variations caused by chaotic manufacturing.

This is a really nice example, with all the features of an early release, good plating and a D3 type box putting it firmly in the first years of production. Click to open on Little Wheels