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Lesney Matchbox Major pack M7 Thames trader & Jennings cattle trailer |
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Lesneys model of the M7 Ford thames trader & Jennings cattle trailer was introduced in mid 1960. The thames trader tractor unit was painted dark red all over including the baseplate, It had silver trim to the grille & headlights, front bumper & to the grille set into the bonnet (hood) and it had one casting variation where the strengthener that runs up the rear wall on the inside of the cab was lengthened. There were two distinct castings of the trailer and I believe the second one was a replacement for the first simply because of poor metal flow in the die of the first one which did not cast the drop down 'doors' on the sides properly (see below), The first type trailer has also been found with some of the openings above the drop down doors filled in. The trailer can be found in light or dark tan with a dark red base and either a red or a tan drop down rear door / ramp. The dark tan trailer usually had the rear lights painted red. The trailer also had casting modifications where the baseplate tongue located into the rear body panel and the round braces on the inside of the body sides were changed from rounded to squared and also on the inside the trailer floor had four strengthening ridges added around the edges. I am not sure if these modifications were to both trailer castings or to just the later one. The wheels were either knobbly light or dark grey plastic or black plastic in knobbly or fine tread and the axles were dome head with rounded ends. One rarely seen and extremely rare colour trial has a blue tractor unit with silver trim and a metallic copper type 2 trailer with blue base and rear door with knobbly grey plastic wheels & rounded axles. Only a handful of these are known to exist which makes it the most desirable of all the major packs and being so rare it is most likely very a short run colour trial. The Trader is a favourite among collectors, It was packaged in 'B', 'C' and 'D' type boxes and was deleted in 1966-67. |
 above: trailer casting 1 with unevenly spaced drain holes and very badly cast 'doors'. |
 above: trailer casting 2 with evenly spaced drain holes and a much better casting finish to the 'doors'. |
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collectable toy specialists. |
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collectable toy specialists. |
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collectable toy specialists. |
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collectable toy specialists. |
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collectable toy specialists. |
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collectable toy specialists. |
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collectable toy specialists. |
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collectable toy specialists. |
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collectable toy specialists. |
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collectable toy specialists. |
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collectable toy specialists. |
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collectable toy specialists. |
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collectable toy specialists. |
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collectable toy specialists. |
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