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lesney matchbox 44a Rolls Royce silver cloud

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Moko Lesney Matchbox 44a Rolls Royce silver cloud



The Lesney model of the Rolls Royce silver cloud made its stately entrance into the Matchbox 1-75 series in 1958, It was painted a light greyish metallic blue, it had silver trim to the headlights, front & rear bumper, sidelights and to the whole of the radiator, the trim on the radiator was soon reduced to just the front of the radiator & the sidelight trim was omitted,
It had grey metal wheels which were usually on dome head axles with rounded ends but one issue was fitted with axles with crimped ends, as would be expected it was not the first issue as it had already had casting modifications carried out to the body so it would appear the crimped axles were used some time after rounded axles were in use,
It was enhanced by red trim to the tail lights and it had a flat black baseplate.

The model was soon recoloured to a similar but darker metailic blue and it was the first of these that had the crimped axles. It was later fitted with grey plastic wheels and soon the trim on the radiator was reduced to just the radiator grille.
The baseplate was changed from flat to gloss black and the last two issues were fitted with silver plastic wheels.

There were six casting modifications to the body,
The first two were carried out very early in its life and that was to the roof which originally had a smooth underside, it was soon altered when just a single pip was cast just inside the windscreen. Next four additional pips were cast into the inside of the roof and very soon after two ejector rings were also added to the inside of the roof. Next a row of five pips were cast under the dashboard, The fifth modification was to thicken up two thin braces that run down the inside of the doors. and finally the inside of the roof was marked with cross hatching (XXXing)
The silver cloud was packaged in 'B', 'C' and 'D' type boxes, the 'C' type box being the hardest one to find, It was replaced by the next Rolls Royce, the 44b Phantom V in 1964.

Updated on 12/04/2013 with the assistance of Antonin Schenk..

Updated on 20/05/2013 A new variation with roof pips but no ejector ring has been discovered by Martin Avis, it has been added at code 4, also I would like to hear from anyone with a later casting and smaller 8x24 silver plastic wheels as I recently found one.


At the same time as the door braces were thickened the ejector post which is
situated behind the radiator grille was also lengthened by a couple of mm.

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The final casting with cross hatching to the roof interior (XXXing)

above: left, the greyish light metallic blue. right, metallic blue

above: the different amounts of siver trim applied to the Rolls Royce radiator
left to right, trim 1, trim 2, trim 3

code number general wheel type axle type door braces bonnet interior roof interior trim type
code 1 dark metallic blue, flat black base 9.5 x 18 grey metal dome head crimped thin brace smooth smooth type 1, hand applied
code 2 dark metallic blue, flat black base 9.5 x 18 grey metal flat head crimped thin brace smooth one pip type 1, hand applied
code 3 dark metallic blue, flat black base 9.5 x 18 grey metal dome head crimped thin brace smooth one pip type 1, hand applied
code 4 dark metallic blue, flat black base 9.5 x 18 grey metal dome head crimped thin brace with pips 5 pips type 1, hand applied
code 5 dark metallic blue, flat black base 9.5 x 18 grey metal dome head crimped thin brace with pips 5 pips +ejector rings type 1, hand applied
code 6 metallic blue, flat black base 9.5 x 18 grey metal dome head crimped thin brace with pips 5 pips +ejector rings type 1, hand applied
code 7 metallic blue, flat black base 9.5 x 18 grey metal flat head crimped thin brace with pips 5 pips +ejector rings type 1, hand applied
code 8 metallic blue, flat black base 9.5 x 18 grey metal dome head crimped thin brace with pips 5 pips +ejector rings type 1, hand applied
code 9 metallic blue, flat black base 9.5 x 18 grey metal dome head crimped thin brace with pips 5 pips +ejector rings type 2, hand applied
code 10 metallic blue, flat black base 9.5 x 18 grey metal dome head crimped thick brace with pips 5 pips +ejector rings type 1, hand applied
code 11 light metallic blue, flat black base 9 x 20 grey plastic dome head crimped thick brace with pips 5 pips +ejector rings trim 2, mask sprayed
code 12 light metallic blue, gloss black base 9 x 20 grey plastic dome head crimped thick brace with pips 5 pips +ejector rings trim 2, mask sprayed
code 13 light metallic blue, gloss black base 9 x 20 grey plastic dome head rounded thick brace with pips 5 pips +ejector rings trim 2, mask sprayed
code 14 light metallic blue, gloss black base 9 x 20 grey plastic dome head rounded thick brace with pips 5 pips +ejector rings trim 3, mask sprayed
code 15 lighter metallic blue, gloss black base 9 x 20 grey plastic dome head rounded thick brace with pips 5 pips +ejector rings trim 3, mask sprayed
code 16 silver blue, gloss black base 9 x 20 grey plastic dome head rounded thick brace with pips 5 pips +ejector rings trim 3, mask sprayed
code 17 light metallic blue, gloss black base 9 x 20 silver plastic dome head rounded thick brace with pips 5 pips +ejector rings trim 2, mask sprayed
code 18 light metallic blue, gloss black base 9 x 20 silver plastic dome head rounded thick brace with pips 5 pips +ejector rings trim 3, mask sprayed
code 19 light metallic blue, gloss black base 9 x 24 silver plastic dome head rounded thick brace with pips 5 pips +ejector rings trim 2, mask sprayed
code 20 light metallic blue, gloss black base 9 x 24 silver plastic dome head rounded thick brace with pips 5 pips +ejector rings trim 3, mask sprayed
code 21 light metallic blue, gloss black base 9 x 20 silver plastic dome head rounded thick brace with pips 5 pips +ejector rings, cross hatched trim 2, mask sprayed

box types notes
B2 none
B3 none
B4 none
B5 Rolls "Silver Cloud"
B5 Rolls Silver Cloud
C Rolls "Silver Cloud"
D1 one black side one blue
D2 one black side one blue

values

metallic blue, grey metal wheels £30

metallis blue, grey plastic wheels £40

metallic blue, silver plastic wheels £40

values are for mint models in mint boxes
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