The Lesney model of the 58b drott excavator was introduced into the Matchbox 1-75 series in 1963 and along with the newly released 43b Aveling Barford increased the range of construction vehicles that were then available.
The Drott was initially painted red with a silver baseplate but the red can vary between dull red to red. The dozer arms were always body coloured and the silver baseplate included the engine detail cast in. Later the body was recoloured to orange and after a short while the baseplate was also recoloured to orange.
The first issue had grey metal rollers which is quite rare, black rollers were the ones usually used on the Drott but models fitted with silver rollers made a brief appearance. The axles were always dome head with rounded ends and the tracks were 25 tread green rubber.There were several casting variations, The first modification was carried out to the digger arms, The early issues had 1mm thick arms but these were soon thickened to 1.3mm.
Next two small triangular wedges were cast on the underside, they are easy to see by turning the model upside down and removing the right side rubber track.
Next was a modification to the digger arms, early issues had a triangular opening in the arms, these were later cast closed although the triangular shape remained it was now just a triangular depression.
Finally two lifting stops were cast in either side of the drivers seat that limited the amount of travel the arms could move through but on comparing the models that are with & without the lifting stops it appears the lifting stops did not actually do anything so maybe they were added to help to correctly align the arms to the body when the arms were being rivited to the body.
All the black wheeled variants are common, The red issue with silver base and silver wheels is scarce, The metal rollered model and the orange version with silver rollers are both recent discoveries so the prices for these are estimated and could be higher.
The Drott was packaged in 'D' and 'E' type boxes, it was replaced by the 58c DAF girder truck in 1968.
