PLEASE NOTE: I will no longer be altering the variation codes. All new discoveries will be inserted in to their correct place in the timeline and given a suffix.
So a new variation that would be nearest to variation 4 would become the new 4a, etc.

Moko Lesney Matchbox 29b Austin A55 Cambridge

In 1961 Lesney introduced the Austin Cambridge to the Matchbox 1-75 series,
It was painted metallic green all over then a cap was fitted over the body to mask it and then paint was sprayed to coat the roof, boot lid (trunk) and the top of the rear wings in a soft pale green gloss,
It was fitted with a light green plastic window unit and a it had a black baseplate with tow hook included in the casting which was attached to the body by two round rivets, One was at the front and one was at the rear.
Silver trim was applied to the headlights, Grille and bumpers and the rear lights were picked out in red.
Later issues had the trim on the rear bumper deleted and later still the red trim on the rear lights was also deleted.
A variety of grey, silver and black plastic wheels of 9 x 20 or 9 x 24 were fitted and these were mounted on dome head axles with rounded ends.

There was just the one minor casting variation to the inside of the body on the rear rivet post,
Early issues had a rear rivet post with sharp angled braces to the sides, Later this was altered to give it braces with rounded ends,
It is not the easiest variation to check but can just be made out by looking through the windscreen rather than under the wheel well,
There are no particularly rare variations although the grey wheeled version is quite hard to find,
Examples in all over metallic green which having missed the pale green painting process have been seen and are quite rare although very difficult to value as they don't come up for sale very often and there not many collectors interested in error pieces which would probably keep the value low.
The Cambridge was sold in 'C' and 'D' type boxes,
It was deleted in 1966 to make way for the 29c "Denver" Fire pumper.

code number	general	wheel type	rivet post	trim
code 1	two tone green, green windows, black baseplate	9 x 20 grey plastic	thin angled	silver to bumpers, grille, headlights & red to tailights
code 2	two tone green, green windows, black baseplate	9 x 20 silver plastic	thin angled	silver to bumpers, grille, headlights & red to tailights
code 3	two tone green, green windows, black baseplate	9 x 20 silver plastic	thin angled	silver to front bumper, grille, headlights & red to tailights
code 4	two tone green, green windows, black baseplate	9 x 24 silver plastic	thick rounded	silver to bumpers, grille, headlights & red to tailights
code 5	two tone green, green windows, black baseplate	9 x 24 silver plastic	thick rounded	silver to front bumper, grille, headlights & red to tailights
code 6	two tone green, green windows, black baseplate	9 x 24 silver plastic	thick rounded	silver to front bumper, grille, headlights
code 7	two tone green, green windows, black baseplate	9 x 24 grey plastic	thick rounded	silver to bumpers, grille, headlights & red to tailights
code 8	two tone green, green windows, black baseplate	9 x 24 grey plastic	thick rounded	silver to front bumper, grille, headlights & red to tailights
code 9	two tone green, green windows, black baseplate	9 x 24 black plastic	thick rounded	silver to front bumper, grille, headlights & red to tailights
code 10	two tone green, green windows, black baseplate	9 x 24 black plastic	thick rounded	silver to front bumper, grille, headlights
code 11	two tone green, green windows, black baseplate	10 x 36 black plastic	thick rounded	silver to front bumper, grille, headlights & red to tailights
code 12	two tone green, green windows, black baseplate	10 x 36 black plastic	thick rounded	silver to front bumper, grille, headlights

box types	notes
C	"new model" red austin shown
C	"new model" yellow & red austin shown
c	yellow & red austin shown
D1	one black side one blue
D2	one black side one blue
D2	two blue sides

values

black wheels £30

silver wheels £35

grey plastic wheels £50

values are for mint models in mint boxes

price guide gallery

box gallery