Lesney Matchbox 5c London routemaster bus

Moko Lesney Matchbox 5c London Routemaster bus

The Lesney 5c was an accurate model of the very well known London bus, The AEC Routemaster which joined the Matchbox 1-75 series in 1961,
It was painted in slightly differing shades of red with a matching red baseplate that was fixed in place by tongues that held it in place by locating into slots at the front and rear of the body,
It is always found with grey or black plastic wheels on dome head axles with rounded ends.
It had no seats so it can easily be identified from later issues as they were all fitted with seats. Silver trim was mask sprayed to the radiator grille and front number plate and to the headlights.

It was decorated with four different types of decals, The most common was the 'BP visco-static' (engine oil), then there was the 'players please' (cigarettes). The 'peardrax' (pear flavoured drink) that is usually found on the 56a trolleybus and a promotional for the Baron of Beef restaurant which had 'baron of beef' decal on one side and 'mecca ltd / mon 6961' on the other. Unlike the beales bealson promotional model of the 46a the baron of beef decals were applied by lesney.

There are several reproduction baron of beef decals and labels but on the real baron of beef only decals were used and to test for genuineness the lettering on the real decals can be felt if you gently drag a fingernail across the surface and the pink borders stand proud of the decal and look almost as if they were painted on afterwards.
There were two casting variations,
One to the base and one to the body, The inside of the roof could be smooth or have cross hatching and the axle carriers through which the axles were attached could be either round or elongated.
It was packaged in 'B', 'C' or 'D' type boxes.
It was replaced by a new enlarged routemaster bus the 5d which featured a plastic interior in 1965.

above: rear, longer axle carriers and front shorter axle carriers

above: cross hatching and smooth roof inners.

code number	general	decal type	wheels	roof inner	axle carriers
code 1	red body & base, silver trim, dome head rounded axles	players please	8 x 18 grey plastic	smooth	small
code 2	red body & base, silver trim, dome head rounded axles	players please	8 x 18 grey plastic	cross hatched	elongated
code 3	red body & base, silver trim, dome head rounded axles	drink peardrax	8 x 18 grey plastic	smooth	small
code 4	red body & base, silver trim, dome head rounded axles	drink peardrax	8 x 18 grey plastic	cross hatched	elongated
code 5	red body & base, silver trim, dome head rounded axles	drink peardrax	8 x 18 black plastic	cross hatched	elongated
code 6	red body & base, silver trim, dome head rounded axles	BP visco-static	8 x 18 grey plastic	smooth	small
code 7	red body & base, silver trim, dome head rounded axles	BP visco-static	8 x 18 grey plastic	cross hatched	small
code 8	red body & base, silver trim, dome head rounded axles	BP visco-static	8 x 18 grey plastic	cross hatched	elongated
code 9	red body & base, silver trim, dome head rounded axles	BP visco-static	8 x 18 black plastic	cross hatched	elongated
code 10	red body & base, silver trim, dome head rounded axles	BP visco-static	8 x 18 black plastic	cross hatched	small
code 11	red body & base, silver trim, dome head rounded axles	baron of beef	8 x 18 grey plastic	smooth	small
code 12	red body & base, silver trim, dome head rounded axles	baron of beef	8 x 18 black plastic	cross hatched	elongated

box types	notes
B5	shows 5b bus
C	shows 5b bus
C	shows right front wheel
C	no right front wheel
D1	one side black one blue
D2	one side black one blue

values

grey or black wheels, player please decals £120

grey or black wheels, visco-static decals £30

grey or black wheels, peardrax decals £400+

grey or black wheels, baron of beef / mecca decals £400+

values are for mint models in mint boxes

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