2c Muir Hill Dumper

[Idris]

The NAMC’s “Catalog of all Series Matchbox Models” (second edition) variation code 2-3B suggests that lettered wheels (Nick's variation code 3) also occur with thick front axle supports and wing brace.
None of AIM's “1-75 Series Regular Wheels” catalogue (second printing, 1983), Stannard, Houghton, or Leake ("Concise Catalogue of 75 Series Matchbox Toys by Lesney" (4th edition, reprinted 2006)) lists any variation not already catalogued by Nick.
U.K. Matchbox did not examine the model.

[kwakers]

Hugh, I believe these same tire dies were used for quite a few years with the Lesney England lettering gradually fading away as the dies continued to wear. The discussion on the #16 Plough Truck having faint and almost unreadable Lesney England on the sidewalls of the GPW versions means that some of these same worn dies were still in use to cast those later GPW tires. I have an idea that the sidewall letter detailing may have been left off the later replacement tire dies because of cost, leading to "Mixing" of both lettered, non-lettered, and faintly lettered wheels on certain models as time went on. A mention of this fading lettering in Nicks listings may be proper as a subnote, but noting their use on certain variations in any coding guide just seems as though it could never be in any way kept accurate. The fully lettered easiest to read wheels are generally on the earliest examples of this 2C, but as later codes are looked at in detail, the lettering is seen fading away on these front tires. If Lesney meant to purposefully remove the sidewall lettering at some point, they would have done a much better job of it on those dies in question. Cheers, Kwakers

[Tinman]

My guess is that the tooling for the bastard wheel (with the hub or extension boss) was simply removed from use (possibly discarded to prevent accidental use) when the axle supports were modified. Since there was already plenty of tooling capacity for the wheels (that were used with the thick supports) as they were in wide use. It would have been a waste of money to modify (weld in and re-cut) one tool to duplicate tools that were already on the job.

So, if there are wheels (without the extension) on the thick axle supports that have the faded imprint, then such imprint could/should be found on all the other models using this size wheel. Either that or it's an error.

[Diecast]

A small summary. There are some unlisted variations.
a) without tipper stops
b) with tipper stops

[Diecast]

a) no hole in the base plate
b) with the hole in the base plate

[Diecast]

a) thin axle braces, no mudguard brace
b) thin axle braces, with mudguard brace
c) thick axle braces, with mudguard brace

[Diecast]

a) thin text on the decal
b) thicker text on the decal

[Diecast]

a) dark red body
b) bright red body

[Diecast]

a) with MS silver trim
b) without MS silver trim

[Diecast]

As already Dick and Joe mentioned, the wheels with the Lesney England lettering are common on 2c Muir Hill. The only difference is the visibility of the letters as they were gradually fading away as the dies continued to wear.