The Lesney model of the 51b Farm tipping trailer was the second part in a two piece set that were introduced into the Matchbox 1-75 series in 1964 that were designed to go together as a pair, The first part being the 50b John Deere Lanz 700 tractor,
Information on the trailer is very limited so I don't know if the trailer was built by John Deere,
I have not been able to source a photograph of the full size trailer either.
The Lesney trailer was always painted with a green hopper and a green chassis, it had a single axle and a towing eye to attach it to the 50b Tractor and to add to play value three yellow plastic barrels on a sprue were included as a load..
The hopper can be tipped by way of it hinging on a regular axle pin and by a 'hydrosleve' that would hold the hopper in the raised position, The hydrosleve was inserted between the chassis rails and can be found mounted either way up.
The wheels were 6mm yellow plastic mounted on a dome head axle with a rounded end, The tyres were initially 13mm grey plastic but later black plastic tyres were used instead.There are no known casting variations but there are a few unusual issues, It has been found with either red hubs or green hubs and these are very scarce so are most likely to be pre production models,
Also another unusual issue has been found with a blue painted chassis and is probably a pre production piece or possibly it could be an unofficial piece made up by a Lesney employee,
Another unlisted version was found with orange coloured barrels, again it is believed to be a pre production piece,
I have not included any of the pre pro pieces in the variation table simply because they are not generally available to the collector.
The trailer is still a very common piece and that is reflected in the price, Like the 50b Tractor it was only packaged in one type of box the 'E' type, it was replaced by the 51c AEC 8 wheel tipper early in 1969.
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