Lesney Matchbox 6b Euclid quarry truck

Moko Lesney Matchbox 6b Euclid quarry truck

In 1959 the Lesney model of the 6b became the second quarry truck to appear in the Matchbox 1-75 series,
It was always painted yellow and had 'euclid' decals to the doors and because of its design no baseplate was fitted,
It had 'no 6' cast inside the bonnet (hood) and 'Made in England by Lesney' cast on the inside of the roof,
The tipper body could be tipped because it would pivot on either a biff rivet on the early pieces or a regular dome head rivet on the later ones and the biff rivet can be either painted yellow or bare metal.
The front wheels were 11 x 24 and the rear were 12.5 x 30, Black plastic wheels were usually used but grey wheels were used on a few occasions and these variations are extremely rare.
Crimped dome head axles were used on the first two issues and dome head with rounded ends used on the later.
Silver trim can be applied to the headlights on some of the early issues and silver grilles have been reported but this variation I have not seen and is not included in the variation table until they can be confirmed.

There were three casting variations,
The first was the addition of a raised brace or crossmember on the underneath of the tipper body,
The second was the addition of a block to the fuel tank under the tipper body and just above the chassis rails, For what the purpose of the block is for I can only guess but I would imagine it was to add some strength to an area that is likely to be weak.
The last alteration was to the final issue and this was to alter the top edge of the windscreen surround which was previously flat to give it an angled top edge probably to ease its release from the casting dies.
The 6b was packaged in 'B', 'C' and 'D' type boxes and it was replaced by the larger 3 axle 10 wheeled euclid the 6c in 1963.

above: the regular black wheels with one of the very rare grey wheels variants

above: with & without block to the rear of the fuel tank.

above: sloped and straight edge to windscreen top.

above: with & without raised crossmember to tipper body.

above: two methods of securing the tipper body to the chassis.

code number	general	front wheel	rear wheel	axle type	windscreen	fuel tank	tipper brace	tipper pivot pin
code 1	yellow tipper & body, euclid decal	11 x 24 black plastic	12.5 x 30 black plastic	dome head crimped	flat top	no block	no brace	biff rivet
code 2	yellow tipper & body, euclid decal	11 x 24 grey plastic	12.5 x 30 grey plastic	dome head crimped	flat top	no block	no brace	biff rivet
code 3	yellow tipper & body, euclid decal	11 x 24 black plastic	12.5 x 30 black plastic	dome head rounded	flat top	no block	no brace	biff rivet
code 4	yellow tipper & body, euclid decal	11 x 24 grey plastic	12.5 x 30 grey plastic	dome head rounded	flat top	no block	with raised brace	biff rivet
code 5	yellow tipper & body, euclid decal	11 x 24 black plastic	12.5 x 30 black plastic	dome head rounded	flat top	no block	with raised brace	biff rivet
code 6	yellow tipper & body, euclid decal	11 x 24 black plastic	12.5 x 30 black plastic	dome head rounded	flat top	with block	with raised brace	biff rivet
code 7	yellow tipper & body, euclid decal	11 x 24 black plastic	12.5 x 30 black plastic	dome head rounded	flat top	no block	with raised brace	dome head rivet
code 8	yellow tipper & body, euclid decal	11 x 24 black plastic	12.5 x 30 black plastic	dome head rounded	flat top	with block	with raised brace	dome head rivet
code 9	yellow tipper & body, euclid decal	11 x 24 black plastic	12.5 x 30 black plastic	dome head rounded	angled top	with block	with raised brace	dome head rivet

box types	notes
B3	none
B4	none
B5	with background
B5	no background, short dump body
B5	no background, long dump body
C	with lines beneath wheels
C	no lines beneath wheels
D1	one black side one blue
D2	one black side one blue

values

black plastic wheels & rounded axles £40

black plastic wheels & crimped axles £60

grey plastic wheels & crimped axles £3500+

grey plastic wheels & rounded axles £3500+

values are for mint models in mint boxes

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