The Lesney model of the Mercedes Unimog was introduced into the Matchbox 1-75 series early in 1967. It initially had a tan painted body and a turquoise base & mudguards, It had silver trim to the grille & headlights and a dark green tinted window unit, To add a little interest it was equipped with a spare tyre which was mounted beneath the left hand side of the pick up bed.
The wheel hubs were 8mm yellow plastic with 14 x 72 black plastic tyres, like all plastic hubbed vehicles the tyres are usually a loose fit on the hubs due to the hubs shrinking over the years.The colour scheme was later changed to a blue body with a red baseplate, the windows, trim and wheels stayed the same as those fitted to the earlier issue.
During the colour change some tan painted bodies were paired up with red baseplates to produce an extremely rare variation which is one I have never seen, In the price guide below I have given this variation a very conservative estimate of £1500 for the value but it should be noted this is an estimate and the value could be much higher.
There were two modifications to the baseplate followed by a modification to the body, The first baseplate modification was carried out very early in its life and that was to close the gaps between the boxes mounted under the pick up bed and the front edge of the rear mudguards, Soon afterwards the post that hung down behind the rear axle was removed, the front axle has a similar post but that was left in place.
The body modification was carried out very late in its life and that was to lengthen the brace that runs beneath the tailboard of the pick up bed.
The Unimog was converted to superfast wheels in 1970, at this time it lost the silver trim but kept the same colour scheme although the red used was a little darker,
It is a fairly common model except for the tan & red variation, it was packaged in 'E' and 'F' type boxes and the 'F' box is not so common and will usually fetch a small premium.
