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Hi Ghosthunter. I have read this post with interest. Although I don't have the Rolls, I do, I think, have the Taxi. I have dug it out and for a 'model' that appears to be quite old now I'm surprised to find that it appears to have a plastic base. If it was intended to be sold along side the Rolls shouldn't it have a metal base? Or have I missed the point entirely and what I actually have is a much later Taxi that was intended as a stand-alone model, albeit the same colour, wheels and 'roof board'.

Superfast_fan wrote:Hi Ghosthunter. I have read this post with interest. Although I don't have the Rolls, I do, I think, have the Taxi. I have dug it out and for a 'model' that appears to be quite old now I'm surprised to find that it appears to have a plastic base. If it was intended to be sold along side the Rolls shouldn't it have a metal base? Or have I missed the point entirely and what I actually have is a much later Taxi that was intended as a stand-alone model, albeit the same colour, wheels and 'roof board'.

The Rolls is also plastic base, sadly...

R

GHOSTHUNTER wrote:Made in England...just!

When 'CORGI' folded in 1983, their James Bond licence was cancelled, it was picked up for the use by "Matchbox" in 1984, specifically for a new set of models aimed to tie-in with the fourteenth Big Screen outing for James Bond.

The new film, "A View to a Kill" premiered during 1985, "Matchbox" were to release two seperate models and a gift set. The two models are the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II and a Renault 11 in 'TAXI' trim, the gift set would include these same two models plus a U.S. Police car, a Helicopter and a launching ramp.

Prototypes exist of all these models, but only the Rolls-Royce and Renault were put into full production and retailed as seperate models. The gift set sadly, was not put into full production, as the first set was rejected and a second revised set had to be made and this delay forced Matchbox to miss a deadline for final approval.

The Rolls-Royce and Renault would naturally be re-marketed as normal cars once the film promotion had finished, the Rolls-Royce was introduced as model MB31 in February 1986 and finished in cream, but during the production of this model, production switched to Macau, making MB31, one of the last new castings designed in the U.K. to be introduced onto the retail markets.

Very interesting thread, and a special thank you from me to Ghosty and ritchie for all the information and the photos of the prototypes.


I have only found one small photo of this planned "A View to a Kill" gift set in a James Bond book. Apart from the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II and Renault 11 Paris taxi it consisted of a 75d helicopter in orange & white with Soviet red star (in the film a Swiss Alpine rescue MBB Bo-105 posing as a Soviet coastguard helicopter) and a 10c Plymouth Gran Fury in black & white San Francisco police markings, plus a red launcher.

In the meantime I was able to obtain two of the helicopters and one of the SFPD Plymouths (in 1986 a similar SFPD Plymouth was released as a standard model in the newer blue & white livery) and the vac-form tray and launcher utilized for the mock-up set which both came from a G-8 Action Pack.



The Essential Bond by Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall.

While the Rolls-Royce and Renault were initially made in England, the helicopter and Plymouth were already produced in Macau, so maybe they are outside the scope of this thread.
How were these prototypes made? Did Matchbox England order the prototypes and were they finished completely in Macau (including the tampo-printed deco), or did they receive unpainted castings and then painted and decorated these in the R&D department in England? Or maybe order specially painted castings from Macau and then finished the prototypes in England? I assume Matchbox was surprised that the set was not going into production as the prototypes with their tampo-printed decoration seem production-ready.

Was there another R&D department in Macau, or did the factory just produce after specifications from Matchbox England?

The rivets of these Macau prototypes look factory made to me (please don't tell me that these are all fakes! ). Unusual is the white helicopter base as this seems to be the first use of a white 75d base and would have been specially moulded just for the few prototype pieces (Vectis claims that 26 of the pre-pro Plymouth were made, I guess the helicopter was made in the same quantity).



So I guess they were at least painted and riveted in the Macau factory, not sure where the tampos were applied though. Any information and maybe additional photos of the set(s) (if available; there were at least two mock-ups) would be very appreciated.

cOO7rgi wrote:

GHOSTHUNTER wrote:Made in England...just!

When 'CORGI' folded in 1983, their James Bond licence was cancelled, it was picked up for the use by "Matchbox" in 1984, specifically for a new set of models aimed to tie-in with the fourteenth Big Screen outing for James Bond.

The new film, "A View to a Kill" premiered during 1985, "Matchbox" were to release two seperate models and a gift set. The two models are the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II and a Renault 11 in 'TAXI' trim, the gift set would include these same two models plus a U.S. Police car, a Helicopter and a launching ramp.

Prototypes exist of all these models, but only the Rolls-Royce and Renault were put into full production and retailed as seperate models. The gift set sadly, was not put into full production, as the first set was rejected and a second revised set had to be made and this delay forced Matchbox to miss a deadline for final approval.

The Rolls-Royce and Renault would naturally be re-marketed as normal cars once the film promotion had finished, the Rolls-Royce was introduced as model MB31 in February 1986 and finished in cream, but during the production of this model, production switched to Macau, making MB31, one of the last new castings designed in the U.K. to be introduced onto the retail markets.

Very interesting thread, and a special thank you from me to Ghosty and ritchie for all the information and the photos of the prototypes.

I have only found one small photo of this planned "A View to a Kill" gift set in a James Bond book. Apart from the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II and Renault 11 Paris taxi it consisted of a 75d helicopter in orange & white with Soviet red star (in the film a Swiss Alpine rescue MBB Bo-105 posing as a Soviet coastguard helicopter) and a 10c Plymouth Gran Fury in black & white San Francisco police markings, plus a red launcher.

In the meantime I was able to obtain two of the helicopters and one of the SFPD Plymouths (in 1986 a similar SFPD Plymouth was released as a standard model in the newer blue & white livery) and the vac-form tray and launcher utilized for the mock-up set which both came from a G-8 Action Pack.



The Essential Bond by Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall.

While the Rolls-Royce and Renault were initially made in England, the helicopter and Plymouth were already produced in Macau, so maybe they are outside the scope of this thread.
How were these prototypes made? Did Matchbox England order the prototypes and were they finished completely in Macau (including the tampo-printed deco), or did they receive unpainted castings and then painted and decorated these in the R&D department in England? Or maybe order specially painted castings from Macau and then finished the prototypes in England? I assume Matchbox was surprised that the set was not going into production as the prototypes with their tampo-printed decoration seem production-ready.

Was there another R&D department in Macau, or did the factory just produce after specifications from Matchbox England?

The rivets of these Macau prototypes look factory made to me (please don't tell me that these are all fakes! ). Unusual is the white helicopter base as this seems to be the first use of a white 75d base and would have been specially moulded just for the few prototype pieces (Vectis claims that 26 of the pre-pro Plymouth were made, I guess the helicopter was made in the same quantity).



So I guess they were at least painted and riveted in the Macau factory, not sure where the tampos were applied though. Any information and maybe additional photos of the set(s) (if available; there were at least two mock-ups) would be very appreciated.

I'm not sure about where and how the 2 prototypes were made. Also only seen no other photos of the set apart from the little image from the book. A very mysterious set. One of the mock-up set that previously owned by A. Foley was sold to a Japanese collector around 10 years ago that's all i know.

Sorry I never came back to this thread earlier, but the period of Lesney production during the change of production from England to Macau was very hectic and unstable. From my research on the Matchbox produced Dinky Toys marketed under the 'Collection' banner, a lot of communication existed between England and Macau regards producing mock-ups, prototypes and then all the preproduction models.

A model was often mailed backwards and forwards between the Two departments for checking and assesment. Models even got lost in the post and what had been possibly a final mock-up, another would have to be made to replace it and no Two mock-up models were the same!

What we do not know is if Macau baseplates had come to the UK for early fitment to models in readiness for the change over of production, we do know not everything was changed over at the same time, I think 'Yesteryears' were the last products to have their production moved to Macau.

This is a fascinating area of Lesney/Matchbox history and I myself would like to know more, but it seems a lot of paperwork and records went missing for this period, so some details will never be known.

GHOSTHUNTER.

Just sorted out the different boxes, blister cards, gift sets, etc... used by the Matchbox Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II.

James Bond movie promotional window box Blue window box (c) 1983, Blank front Blue window box (c) 1986, Different end flaps, Rare Blue window box (c) 1983, for silver and cream models respectively Blue window box (c) 1981, No advertisement on box, rare Blue window box (c) 1981, Free Collection Card Blue window box (c) 1981, Save £1 on Superkings Blue window box (c) 1981, Free Linkits Robug German Blue window box (c) 1981 Dark Blue window box (c) 1987 Japanese window box Yellow box USA New Model blister Canadian New Model blister USA blister USA blister French blister German blister Spainish blister World Class blister, Made in Macau World Class blister, Made in Thailand (difference from above on back of blister) World Class Display Stand set Skybuster SB-150 Gift set Skybuster SB-809 Gift set Japanese Gift set Gold Coin Series Classy Classics, Made in Macau Classy Classics, Made in Thailand German Gift pack Super Value Pack (MB-860) Buy 2 Get 1 Free pack (MB-860) Buy 2 Get 2 Free Woolworths pack (MB-170) Perkins Engines promotional box Unknown Pregis bag

'PREGIS' is simply a packaging company and the model may have been put in by an employee of Pregis, don't think there is any involvement from the models manufacture. I have not seen any evidence Lesney/Matchbox used this company for any packaging materials.

GHOSTHUNTER.

GHOSTHUNTER wrote:'PREGIS' is simply a packaging company and the model may have been put in by an employee of Pregis, don't think there is any involvement from the models manufacture. I have not seen any evidence Lesney/Matchbox used this company for any packaging materials.

GHOSTHUNTER.

I thought so. Thanks!

Out of interest Ritchie, what baseplate does the model have in the Pregis bag, England or Macau, thank's.

GHOSTHUNTER.

GHOSTHUNTER wrote:Out of interest Ritchie, what baseplate does the model have in the Pregis bag, England or Macau, thank's.

GHOSTHUNTER.

Macau