interesting 8a Caterpillar

[DrJeep]

I've had the 8a on the left for about 40 years, always with the same decayed rubber tracks. I bought the one on the right a few months ago at a toy fair for £3.50 for its replacement tracks, but I think it's much more interesting than that!

As you can see, both of these are yellow and both drivers originally had black-painted helmets. But the righthand one is open across the top of engine, and also has larger nail-head axles, which I think suggests it's relatively early in production. According to Nick's listings, the yellow version with the open-topped engine should have a red-painted driver. The yellow driver is listed as code 7 (closed at upper front and rear) and code 8 (fully closed - the version on the left). Later versions are without silver trim.

So what's happened here? I think there are three possibilities:

- this driver should be red but his paint was forgotten by accident, making this an interesting curiosity.
- there was a deliberate choice to stop painting the driver before the tractor colour was changed to orange.
- unpainted castings were found at the back of the stock room (but I think the earlier axles rule this out this time).

Does anyone else have this variation?

[MatchboxFreak]

Hmmm. Very interesting model. Well spotted!

I wish we had toy fairs in North America where A series Lesneys could be had for $5.
You are fortunate to have such opportunities!

Enjoy
Kurt

[radar]

Nice clear pic btw

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Very interesting Glen.

The first two possibilities are common occurences at Lesney but interesting the hat has/had been painted. You would expect if a memo was circulated around the plant the model's colour was to be changed so don't worry too much about fully trimming this model the hat colour surely would have been ignored as well as the driver's body.

OR...

Had the operator run out of red paint and did not bother filling out the requesition form for more paint because her shift was just finishing!!

We may never know but all this continues to make for very interesting collecting

Ghosthunter.

[DrJeep]

Nice clear pic btw

Thanks!

The first two possibilities are common occurences at Lesney but interesting the hat has/had been painted. You would expect if a memo was circulated around the plant the model's colour was to be changed so don't worry too much about fully trimming this model the hat colour surely would have been ignored as well as the driver's body.

OR...

Had the operator run out of red paint and did not bother filling out the requesition form for more paint because her shift was just finishing!!

We may never know but all this continues to make for very interesting collecting

Ghosthunter.

Having thought about it some more, I realised that 8as with red drivers don’t have silver paint on the grille. That rules out the idea that the red paint was accidentally missed, which leaves two options:

- stock room clearance, though I think the larger axle heads suggest this one was assembled early, not late
- a run of yellow 8as with silver grilles before the orange models were produced, and then a return to yellow after the orange run.

I don’t think mine can be unique - who else has one?

[GHOSTHUNTER]

- a run of yellow 8as with silver grilles before the orange models were produced, and then a return to yellow after the orange run.

Maybe a short order somewhere of yellow models due to damage at a retailer and a request for replacements came in just after setting up for orange models.

Ghosthunter.

[DrJeep]

Maybe a short order somewhere of yellow models due to damage at a retailer and a request for replacements came in just after setting up for orange models.

Did retailers have such power, I wonder?

Interestingly, according to the 18a guide, all of the casting and colour variations on the 8a happened during 1955, before the 18a launch later in the same year. If that’s true, none of these variations lasted more than about 6 weeks.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Lesney loved the well established retailers and would try and complete orders requested of Lesney over and above the small fry retailer. Lesney reps would even offer special deals or gifts to retailers to keep them 'On Board'. If a batch of models went missing before the retailer got them, that retailer would expect a replacement on a like for like basis or if that was not possible a reduction on the cost of the next order or orders. The system in use was very flexible and open to abuse, sadly!

Ghosthunter.

[DrJeep]

Here's the interesting yellow 8a next to my recently-acquired orange 8a. Notably, the orange 8a has a much more prominent ejector ring at the front of the engine. My late 8a shares this more prominent ejector ring. I think this suggests that this orange 8a is later than the interesting yellow 8a.

IMG_7231.jpg (189.65 KiB) Viewed 1326 times

I've also noticed that eburak showed some pictures of a similar yellow 8a back in 2015. I can't help thinking that others must have one too!