Is the King size Racing Car Transporter a generic...

[Miller]

or does it have a real example? Maybe not as a racing transporter, but as a tipper or something else?

Speicher2.jpg (34.96 KiB) Viewed 2995 times

[Tinman]

Back in the day, most of these haulers were one off custom builds on readily available chassis and running gear from various manufacturers. I've always assumed it to be generic in design (but that's just my guess).

[cOO7rgi]

The Matchbox was based on two Team Lotus transporters from 1965.

lotus1.jpg (23.89 KiB) Viewed 2977 times

lotus2.jpg (22.1 KiB) Viewed 2977 times

The real transporter was made for ‘Team Lotus’ and was likely a similar colour scheme although a darker team Lotus green, Matchbox did alter the shape slightly with the step in the roof and shortened the overall body length.

Made by Marshall Coachworks in Cambridgeshire , in 1965, on a Ford Thames chassis, if you look carefully the name on the front panel under the windscreen says ‘Thames’. They were later sprayed in the Gold leaf colour scheme and were also used for transporting F1 and F2 cars.

There were two of these made for the Lotus team.

I found another picture of one of them re-painted in the later Ford main dealer colours, although, not certain if this is one of the ex-Lotus transporters, the two original vehicles had registration numbers 428 VRO and 429 VRO, and the cost were about £6000 each.

Quoted from:
http://essexmodelsandminiatures.co.uk/blog/2011/11/24/

[Miller]

So its a coachbuilt design, but not a generic! Thx cOO7rgi!

Sad, that MBX never had a Lotus Cortina in their range. Would have been a nice set!

Did someone else make die cast Cortinas in a fitting size?

[cOO7rgi]

If no Cortina Mk I was made, then maybe a Cortina Mk II can be found in Matchbox size?

[Miller]

Maybe there is a little chance...

[fixer]

So its a coachbuilt design, but not a generic! Thx cOO7rgi!

Sad, that MBX never had a Lotus Cortina in their range. Would have been a nice set!

Did someone else make die cast Cortinas in a fitting size?

Oxford diecast do some in Lotus white and green and also Alan Mann red with gold stripe
they also do Mk2's

[fixer]

I must admit the Mk1 lotus cortina is top of my list if the lotto comes in .....but I would settle for a Mk2

[Squid]

Most of the die-cast Lotus Cortinas I found on eBay seem to be 1:43.

[Miller]

The last question is, what color scheme it had. I guess, the script part from the windows to the rear is yellow. The front mask could be anodized alumium, which would be a typical thing for this era. What do you think?


About the Cortinas - this is the 1:76 Oxford diecast