Hillman Minx #43a

[ken60]

Since this is one of the 20 "holes" in my fledgling collection of RW 1-75, I chase lesser grade examples of it often. I have noticed that, 1) It usually is offered from the UK and, 2) It seems to have held its value well, there being very few (none yet in my several months of just trying to get any example of each casting---including beaters to get started) less than ten dollar ones available

Not a problem, I will go with whatever it takes, but just as a point of curiosity I wonder if the UK thing is because of its being a vehicle from there and its not being desirable or popular with ten year olds like me in 1960 who lived over here in the USA and who hadn't seen many of these.

The nostalgia of these little 1958-1961 releases (I was born in 1950) is so powerful...it literally is like stepping into a time warp just to hold the real things in my hand and be ten again. My "collection" began a year ago and then consisted of about ten of my originals from my youth...pretty well love beaters which is all I am concerned with obtaining in most cases to fill out the 1-75 the first time around...I didn't retire rich! Lots of fun!

Several others which nI will ask about in a future post seem to be mostly only UK available, and I welcome any insight into this subject...thanks...ken60

This is what my originals survived 50 plus years like:

[ClOwY]

Thanks for showing sometimes ithink played with models have more character
and you can see that they were played with love and alot of fantasy,
a long ago childhood returns.
ClOwY

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Thank you Ken for choosing the 'VBD' forum for sharing your love of Matchbox models, you are very welcome.

As you wonder around the various threads and topics, you will see some stunning models in as mint condition as you can get, but that is only one aspect of this whole collecting thing we are involved with. Like you I am also happy with what we call 'Beaters', those models that have given somebody long periods of enjoyment and those you show in your picture are prime examples and the fact they can continue to give enjoyment says a lot for their designers.

There are several incidences of model cars being Country (market), specific, so you could be right in your assessment.

Again welcome to the forum, I hope you enjoy your stay with us.

Ghosthunter.

[ken60]

A couple more...we used to take them out of the gravel driveway when done playing and scoop them into a shoebox...I can still hear the paint rattling off them.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Some rather fetching Green wheels on the 8 wheeler...

Ghosty.

[Idris]

There are several incidences of model cars being Country (market), specific...

That's sort of true.
There are indeed instances of particular releases (i.e. specific variations) of models being geographically limited in their distribution, either by accident or design (e.g. 1a with curved roof in UK only, 43a in apple green primarily in The Netherlands, 62a is cream in South Africa, Aral tankers only in West Germany, BP tankers without the BP logo in East Germany). However, the only examples I can think of where certain models have not been released in a specific country come from the SF-era when military vehicles were not exported to behind the Iron Curtain.
In the case of the 43a Hillman Minx and the US, my guess would be that it looked so strange to American eyes that it was simply a very poor seller, resulted in there being few secondhand examples available on the far side of the pond.

[kilarae]

Interesting that the Green Hillman is usually found in the Netherlands. During the last thirty years or so I have found four green Hillmans in greater Denver. Any Hillman Minx is rare around these parts, but the odds are decent that if one is found it will be green. I have always assumed that some green Minxes were delivered to Denver.
Other items that show up here are Turquoise DAF Tippers (more common than silver) and flat bed Alvis Stalwarts. The most common vintage Matchbox in Denver is, of course, the Denver Fire Pumper. They are everywhere despite the fact that Denver fire engines were never painted red. Denver Fire uses white equipment with gold trim.


Hans in Denver

[GHOSTHUNTER]

We like our Fire Engines to be Red in the UK, so the toys and models follow suit...

Ghosthunter.

[Idris]

Interesting that the Green Hillman is usually found in the Netherlands. During the last thirty years or so I have found four green Hillmans in greater Denver. Any Hillman Minx is rare around these parts, but the odds are decent that if one is found it will be green. I have always assumed that some green Minxes were delivered to Denver.
Other items that show up here are Turquoise DAF Tippers (more common than silver) and flat bed Alvis Stalwarts.

All first issue variations. (It is unclear when it started, but Lesney seem to adopted a policy quite early on of shipping first-run production abroad. It has been suggested that this was in order to be able to have more-or-less simultaneous release of new models across the globe. It has also been suggested that it had something to do with Britain's pressing requirement for foreign exchange following the near bankruptcy resulting from fighting WWII. Joe (Tinman) has stated that he has found several first casting 20a ERFs in the States, and what appeared to be a first casting 12a turned up recently, on Ebay clearly showing implying that the practice began soon after the 1-75 range was introduced.)