lesney matchbox 57a Wolseley 1500

Moko Lesney Matchbox 57a Wolseley 1500

1958 saw the introduction into the Matchbox 1-75 series of the Lesney model of the British built Wolseley 1500 saloon which was a small but sporty and fairly luxurious car in its day featuring walnut trim to the interior and lots of chrome on the outside,
The Lesney model was painted in a very pale green but shades can vary from very pale green, pale yellow green to almost pale grey and the model does suffer quite badly from sunfade too so care should be taken when displaying the model.
Initially it had gold trim to the grille, headlights and bumpers but very soon the trim was changed from gold to silver.
The rear lights were touched in with red trim but it is not unusual to find models with untrimmed rear lights.

The baseplate was attached by two round rivets one at the front and one at the rear and it was painted flat black to begin with but it was soon changed to gloss black.
The wheels were always 9 x 20 grey plastic which made the Wolseley unique in the 1-75 series as it was the first model to be made that did not start off with grey metal wheels.
The axles were dome head with crimped ends but the very last issue had dome head axles with rounded ends.

There was only one casting variation and that was to the inside of the roof where a large ejector ring was cast in to it fairly early in the models life,
Like the real car the Wolseley was not a great seller so it only stayed in the range for a mere three years which is really not very long for any 1-75 model and apart from the very early issue with gold trim there are no other particularly hard to find variations to look for.
The Wolseley was only sold in the one type of box which was the 'B' type,
It was replaced by the much nicer American built 57b Chevrolet Impala in 1961.

above: the very unusual light tan or light grey issue

above: with gold trim which appears that silver and gold
paint were mixed together as also found on the 19b MGA

code number	general	wheel type	axle type	roof	baseplate colour
code 1	pale green body, gold trim	9 x 20 grey plastic	dome head crimped	no ejector ring	flat black
code 2	pale green body, gold trim	9 x 20 grey plastic	dome head crimped	with ejector ring	flat black
code 3	pale green body, silver trim	9 x 20 grey plastic	dome head crimped	no ejector ring	flat black
code 4	pale green body, silver trim	9 x 20 grey plastic	dome head crimped	no ejector ring	gloss black
code 5	pale green body, silver trim	9 x 20 grey plastic	dome head crimped	with ejector ring	flat black
code 6	pale green body, silver trim	9 x 20 grey plastic	dome head crimped	with ejector ring	gloss black
code 7	pale green body, silver trim	9 x 20 grey plastic	dome head rounded	with ejector ring	gloss black

box types	notes
B3	none
B3	larger box
B4	medium model number shown
B4	large model number shown

values

with gold trim £200

with silver trim £30

values are for mint models in mint boxes

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