matchboxkiwi wrote:Batterseaboy, I think your idea is more than possible in the R & D department but would have at the time your talking about never got past Jack Odell and the famous Tuesday boardroom meetings! In fact there would be a good chance of finding the prototype in the canal behind the Lee Convency road factory.
Surf boards did come out on model in 1977 once Odell had retired.
Cheers, Steve
Matchboxkiwi
And IF such an idea would have been realised, i guess, they would have chosen something like the 45B Corsair with boat.
If people in R&D he seen the custom cars in the USA and thought of modified cars really pre dating hot wheels.
then the the whole complection of what happened could have been different. Yes it could have been shot down but this thunderbird does give rise to a possible whole unknown chapter.
Taking the Thunderbird with roof mounted surf boards idea a bit further. Was there anything like it on Television or in films that may have sparked the imagination of someone at Lesney, because as we now know, model cars based on cars seen on the screen is a brilliant way to high sales.
Do we have a Thunderbird appearing on our screens that at one point did happen to carry a surf board or Two on it's roof?
johnboy wrote:That's a nice idea, can't offer any insight into that though. Personally I'd like to have seen something like a VW Van/Caravette adapted with the boards on top (unlike the side mounts on the Beach Bomb), that would be a fun model.
Surfed all through the 60's every chance we could get. Always carried the boards up top on roof racks (but they were designed nothing like the one on the T-Bird) and always on a VW Bus. Our buddy "Drake" had the first VW bus and we all rode with him until we had a bad wreck, the bus rolled - our surfboards were all destroyed - some stitches and broken bones shared among 4 of us. I Bought the next VW Bus and we all bought new boards after healing from the wreck.
Curious that R&D would seek to add luggage to such a fine model. Makes it look rather clunky. Finer if they had made it a convertible model. That would have been sweet. Also would save as less metal needed.
For me, the question is why did R&D preserve multiple examples of this unreleased version of the 75a. I think the fact that they did, invalidates Nick's apprentice piece argument and lends credence to them representing some kind of development initiative.
It was in perfect condition when I got it, I mislaid it for over twenty years, when I found it again it re ignited my interest in Matchbox, that was around 05/06. Imagine if I hadn't,t bought it or found it again,Nobody would have known about it because I had forgotten that I had it.
