A Look at some played with pre-pros

[matchboxuk]

I had a friend who often visited the car boot sales and market stalls around Hackney and surrounding districts during the 1960s and 1970s. Brick Lane was a favourite area. Money was limited and so he rarely paid more than a pound for anything. He loved pre-pros and was never bothered about the condition. At this time he just loved something different and had no thoughts of value. He was well known to stall holders as the man who collected old Matchbox.

Models which were very chipped or incomplete were thrown into a scrap box. Many years later I was given the scrap box and found a few gems. Although the two Pontiacs shown here were definitely pre-pros I have my doubts about the Crane Truck although the red crane appears to be the identical colour to the rare version.

I think the blue car was possibly the original colour as shown on the first regular wheel box. The purple car is missing windows and interior although it is riveted.

The grey paint on the Crane Truck does not ring any bells but the fact that the crane has red paint underneath on the rivet is possibly interesting. I remain doubtful.

[Taxidad]

WOW! But only one picture is on the listing, there is no crane truck pictured?

[matchboxuk]

Sorry - they're on my other laptop and I cannot rectify this until next week.

[matchbox_n_molars]

Very interesting! I'm not sure about the purple but I think the blue would have been a nice variation for the Grand Prix!

[johnboy]

I like the blue colour, do you know if there any casting differences between this and the early production models? Also, I wonder why they made the decision to go to print with the blue model on the first boxes. It could have been a mistake by Lesney or the printers I suppose, or perhaps a last minute change of plan on the production/paint side after the print button had been pressed. Is it possible two production colours were planned then one was shelved?

[Idris]

...I wonder why they made the decision to go to print with the blue model on the first boxes. It could have been a mistake by Lesney or the printers I suppose, or perhaps a last minute change of plan on the production/paint side after the print button had been pressed. Is it possible two production colours were planned then one was shelved?

We had a long thread about this over on Lefora. The conclusion we came to was that the first run of boxes for a given model reflected the pre-production the artist was given to draw/paint. If the production colour was different to that of the model sent to the artist, this was corrected in subsequent printings.
In this particular case, the artist must have received a similar blue model to prepare his artwork from.

[johnboy]

...I wonder why they made the decision to go to print with the blue model on the first boxes. It could have been a mistake by Lesney or the printers I suppose, or perhaps a last minute change of plan on the production/paint side after the print button had been pressed. Is it possible two production colours were planned then one was shelved?

We had a long thread about this over on Lefora. The conclusion we came to was that the first run of boxes for a given model reflected the pre-production the artist was given to draw/paint. If the production colour was different to that of the model sent to the artist, this was corrected in subsequent printings.
In this particular case, the artist must have received a similar blue model to prepare his artwork from.

Thanks for that. I'll try and find the thread.

[kwakers]

Two Very Nice models Nigel, Thanks for posting them. I really like that dark blue on the Pontiac, but I think Lesney did well with their choice on the orange-red released colour for this casting. Mick from Denmark used to make the point that models' colours in the Lesney store displays had been planned to be colorful and not clash with each other. It seems strange that Lesney would have considered both the #23 Caravan released in Feb. 1965 and also this #22 Pontiac GP released in June of 1965 to be painted in the same dark blue livery. Someone must have wanted this colour used on one of that year's releases, but never was able to convince management even after printing the Caravan's first boxes in that same blue. Kwakers

[kay]

It seems strange that Lesney would have considered both the #23 Caravan released in Feb. 1965 and also this #22 Pontiac GP released in June of 1965 to be painted in the same dark blue livery. Someone must have wanted this colour used on one of that year's releases, but never was able to convince management even after printing the Caravan's first boxes in that same blue. Kwakers

There are even three more boxes that showed blue models before the regular colors of the models were shown:
- #24 c Rolls Royce (red, March 1967)
- #28 c Jaguar Mk 10 (metallic brown, May 1964)
- #38 b Vauxhall Victor Estate Car (yellow, May 1963)

Kay

[kwakers]

WOW! I never even thought about the other models you now mention Kay, and of course I am so very familiar with having spares of all those boxes that I am now a bit embarrassed. That makes the R&D wish for a model release in that colour seem even more evident to anyone looking back now. Why else would all of these early boxes appear with that same pre-pro blue on their models?? Any ideas from our members?? I am now even more baffled after a week of thought on dark blue colour trial models. BUT!!!!
Of course as I sat here by my computer thinking about that #24 Rolls being released as late as 1967, I just had to get out my dark blue pre-production #43 Pony Trailer that had to have been done in the R&D Shop in late 1967 or early 1968. The survival of that dark blue pre-pro model in a Bay Shore N.Y. collection may now be proof that all the dark blue pictured "Box" models we have mentioned here had also been assembled as R&D trials in that same ("Commonly Used" ?) dark blue body colour. How very interesting that I have held a beat up colour trial pre-pro for years that turns out to be a key to our questions about these 5 boxes being printed with dark blue models pictured on them....... kwakers