Lesney Matchbox 70a Ford thames estate car

Moko Lesney Matchbox 70a Ford thames estate car

As an adult this has to be one of my favourite models, at 17 years old my first two "cars" were Thameses, the first was a minibus almost Identical to the Lesney model, my next Thames was a panel van, now long gone but the memories remain,
The Lesney model of the Thames was introduced into the Matchbox 1-75 series in 1959 and is shown in the catalogue in red and white but the model appeared with turquoise lower panels and yellow upper & roof, It had a black baseplate which was held in by a tongue and slot at the rear and by a split rivet behind the front bumper,
Silver trim was applied to the grille, headlights and bumpers but later on the trim was omitted from the rear bumper, I have not included this variation in the listing as I don't have many examples to compare. The first issues were not fitted with windows and had no rivets in the roof to fix the window to, this was soon modified and two rivets were cast into the roof and either clear or green tinted windows were fitted.

Grey, silver and black plastic wheels were fitted which were usually on dome head axles with rounded ends but one issue appeared with crimped axles and although it would appear to be the first issue this variation had windows fitted which does confuse the timeline of variations issued.
The baseplate was modified fairly early in it's life, the first baseplate had a single brace running down the center with four ejector rings, one in each corner, this was modified by the lengthening and thickening of the center brace and by adding two cross braces and a round ejector ring to the center, the four ejector rings in the corners were still there but they no longer stood proud like on the earlier version,
The Thames was sold in 'B' and 'D' type boxes it being one of the few models not to be released in the 'C' box, After 7 years in the range it was replaced by the 70b Ford grit spreading truck in 1966. After owning a Ford Transit for a couple of years I bought a third Thames which was an ex Brooke Bond tea panel van which was painted dark red and was signwritten with "Brooke Bond tea" on the sides and had the brooke bond "tealeaf" painted on the front doors which was exactly like the Lesney 47a Trojan van.
As an ex Thames owner I could not help but notice that Lesney forgot to mold in the rear indicators which were the same size as the front ones and mounted at the same height as the front.

code number	general	wheel type	axle type	windows	baseplate	roof type
code 1	turquoise & yellow body, silver trim, black base	9 x 20 grey plastic	dome head rounded	none	early	no window rivets
code 2	turquoise & yellow body, silver trim, black base	9 x 20 grey plastic	dome head rounded	none	early	with window rivets
code 3	turquoise & yellow body, silver trim, black base	9 x 20 grey plastic	dome head rounded	clear	early	with window rivets
code 4	turquoise & yellow body, silver trim, black base	9 x 20 grey plastic	dome head rounded	clear	later	with window rivets
code 5	turquoise & yellow body, silver trim, black base	9 x 20 grey plastic	dome head crimped	clear	early	with window rivets
code 6	turquoise & yellow body, silver trim, black base	9 x 20 grey plastic	dome head rounded	green tinted	early	with window rivets
code 7	turquoise & yellow body, silver trim, black base	9 x 20 grey plastic	dome head rounded	green tinted	later	with window rivets
code 8	turquoise & yellow body, silver trim, black base	9 x 20 silver plastic	dome head rounded	clear	later	with window rivets
code 9	turquoise & yellow body, silver trim, black base	9 x 20 silver plastic	dome head rounded	green tinted	later	with window rivets
code 10	turquoise & yellow body, silver trim, black base	9 x 24 silver plastic	dome head rounded	clear	later	with window rivets
code 11	turquoise & yellow body, silver trim, black base	9 x 24 silver plastic	dome head rounded	green tinted	later	with window rivets
code 12	turquoise & yellow body, silver trim, black base	9 x 24 grey plastic	dome head rounded	green tinted	later	with window rivets
code 13	turquoise & yellow body, silver trim, black base	9 x 24 black plastic	dome head rounded	green tinted	later	with window rivets
code 14	turquoise & yellow body, silver trim, black base	9 x 36 black plastic	dome head rounded	green tinted	later	with window rivets

box types	notes
B4	none
B5	"new model"
B5	upper case lettering
B5	lower case lettering
D1	one black side one blue
D2	one black side one blue
D2	two blue sides

values

with crimped axles £60+

all other models £40

values are for mint models in mint boxes

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