Hard to believe, but I've found two more: one with undercoat and one seemingly without. (see photographs below). Although sourced from within the UK, they were apparently bought new in 1970 or 1971 on a family holiday in Denmark (which, of course, is where Mick's example turned up).
- YY-1.jpg (201.33 KiB) Viewed 6182 times
- YY-2.jpg (68.77 KiB) Viewed 6182 times
- YY-3.jpg (66.37 KiB) Viewed 6182 times
This brings the total number of known examples to seven. Now, if we ignore the four that came up at auction on the grounds that they had (probably) been been together since they were made, perhaps in the hands of a Lesney employee, that leaves three. Double that for models in sleeper/non-Internet collections gives six, and assume 10 - 15% survival rate yields a total run of about 48. That's 4 dozen in old money, which feels about right for something prepared by R&D as a special order but, to my mind, too many for a simple trial (c.f. the promotional 10c Sugar Container where 30 were produced).
It is tempting to say that, following the collapse of the promotional deal (whatever that might have been), the remaining models (40-ish?) were simply boxed up and sent out with normal retail stock, ending up in Denmark.(Typical 'waste not, want not' Lesney approach.)
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