Lesney Matchbox Major pack M4b GMC Fruehauf hopper train

The M4b GMC Fruehauf hopper train was introduced in 1965 when it replaced the Ruston Bucyrus.
The hopper train had a dark red tractor unit with silver trim to the headlights and front bumper and two silver painted hopper trailers which had two silver painted opening doors in the floors of the hoppers, the baseplate of the tractor unit was painted black and it had green tinted windows
The sides of the hoppers displayed red & white "Fruehauf" labels and all of the wheel hubs were red plastic which are prone to shrinkage and will fade to pink if left in direct sunlight,
The hubs were mounted on dome head axles with rounded ends and it had a spare wheel & tyre at the back of the tractor unit.
The tyres were originally grey plastic but were soon changed to black plastic.
The tractor unit was permanantly attached to the first trailer by a chromed or silver grey rivet and the two trailers were joined together by a white plastic eye.
There were minor casting modifications to the tractor unit where the pillar that attached the trailer was originally round has a square platform added, also there were braces added to the tool boxes below the doors, The trailers were also modified in the area of the rear rivets.
The GMC hopper train was really in too large a scale for the majors series but in 1967 the major series was discontinued and the GMC became number K4b in the kingsize range which had been introduced in 1960 which was really where the model should have been from the start.
The model is fairly common but the early issue with grey tyres is quite rare. It was packaged in an 'E' type box and production of the major pack version ended in 1967 when the model was switched to the kingsize range.