K 18 Articulated Horse Box

[kbean63]

Wow, I never knew there were so many color variations on this model. Mine has a relatively bland grey interior. Never saw the green cab before either.

[nickjones]

The green cab is a pre production model so it is probably unique..

[misterpop]

I love those comparison colour shots.It gives you a sense of a family connection within the paint shop...

[kbean63]

I find all the Kew Dodge Matchboxes interesting because as a kid I always assumed that they were modeled after American-made Dodge truck models. There were several American-made Dodges in the 1960s that are either the same or very similar looking to the Kews. I finally looked up Kew Dodge the other day and read about it's history, quite interesting.

I had known from a very early age that Ford had large European and British operations and then later when I lived in England I discovered that General Motors had British connections but it took me 50 years to discover that Dodge had any. I somehow missed that when I lived there.

[Ewan]

Just curiosity - how big were Kew Dodges? The Matchbox BP Tow Truck looks around the same size as a Bedford A or D type, but that doesn't fit with the dump truck model. I like to arrange models in a reasonably realistic way scale - wise and these Kews confuse me

[misterpop]

Bit of an oddball the Dodge Kews..Heres a link to the UK 50 series plus a picture of a Winibago I worked on in 86.I think it was a USA 72 model..http://www.allpar.com/trucks/dodge/dodge-50.html

[Ewan]

I never thought of the Kew as being a predecessor of the 50 series - the 3 axle dump truck seems way too big. I used to drive a Renault 50 mobile shop. Unfortunately it was very reliable............

[nickjones]

I don't think the Kew Dodge like the horse transporter was ever made or sold in the uk, It may have been proposed but it never came about.
The Dodge Motorhome in Ian's picture certainly was though, In 1980 I was passing a local scrap yard when I happened to notice a yank Dodge van inside, I was crazy about these vans so I went to enquire about it, The story was it was a 3 year old B300 maxivan built in Canada by Chrysler with just 14,000 miles on the clock, It had one previous owner, Chrysler UK and it was an evaluation vehicle, Everything was tagged with bits of dymo tape, Chrysler UK had pulled out the original slant six and fitted a 4 pot out of a Chrysler Alpine, Of course it could barely pull itself out of bed and the gearbox needed rebuilding every 2000 miles, I bought it for £875 and it came with a slant six thrown in the back which I soon refitted, Later I replaced the slant six with a 318 V8.

[misterpop]

Thats the Dodge 5.2 V8 I was working on in the other picture thread.


Re the cab....It was a bit weird seeing the councils with them years after working on one as dump trucks etc After I had spent so much time bringing that old mobil home back to life.......

[kbean63]

Nick, I'd be interested in seeing pics of the van if you have any.

When I was a kid we had a '64 Ford Econoline van with a straight 6. We used to drive it everywhere, sometimes pulling a camper (caravan in Britspeak) but it would have been happier with a V-8. We eventually shipped it to England and later sold it there. I've often wondered how long it lasted. We got a lot of attention driving it around the UK and Europe - nobody had seen anything like it and it still had New York plates on it which just drew more attention.