Prepro James Bond helicopter
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 9:51 pm
Last week I received a lot of four SF 75D helicopters which includes one of the prepros that were made in 1985 for a proposed gift set for the film "A View to a Kill" (AVTAK). Two single models were released, the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II and the Renault 11, but the gift set never reached production. It contained the Rolls-Royce and Renault and additionally the 75D helicopter in orange & white with Soviet red star and "06" tampos as well as a black & white 10C Plymouth Gran Fury from the SFPD (later released as a standard model in blue & white).
The helicopters were listed as "LOT 4 MATCHBOX MB75 HELICOPTER", and I found them by chance just 4 1/2 hours before the auction ended. As I have two of these prepros already, I emailed a collector friend from a James Bond forum but with the time already 1 a.m. here (and midnight in England) I figured that he would not see my message in time and so set my alarm for 4 a.m. (luckily this was a public holiday here in Austria), especially since the lot was only $15 at the time. Although in the auction photos (1-3) the orange paint looked faded, and the description "boxes have some wear as they were saved from a fire" also didn't sound very encouraging. After getting up at 4 I checked if I had got a response - not surprisingly there wasn't -, checked if the lot had gone up - no, still just $15 -, and so I decided to bid even though my country wasn't listed (something I won't do normally). And so I secured the lot for just $15.50 plus priority shipping.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LOT-4-MATCHBO ... 1574512276
Another AVTAK helicopter had sold just a few weeks before for £137.35! (4th photo - we found that one only after the auction had ended)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Matchbox-Supe ... 1506456197
As I have already two helicopters the third one is already on its way to my collector friend to complete his set of AVTAK prepros (which even includes resin samples of the Rolls-Royce and Renault). I am currently working on a recreation of the gift set box and want to display one set of cars inside the box and another in front of it - so I am still looking for another black & white Plymouth ...
The helicopters were listed as "LOT 4 MATCHBOX MB75 HELICOPTER", and I found them by chance just 4 1/2 hours before the auction ended. As I have two of these prepros already, I emailed a collector friend from a James Bond forum but with the time already 1 a.m. here (and midnight in England) I figured that he would not see my message in time and so set my alarm for 4 a.m. (luckily this was a public holiday here in Austria), especially since the lot was only $15 at the time. Although in the auction photos (1-3) the orange paint looked faded, and the description "boxes have some wear as they were saved from a fire" also didn't sound very encouraging. After getting up at 4 I checked if I had got a response - not surprisingly there wasn't -, checked if the lot had gone up - no, still just $15 -, and so I decided to bid even though my country wasn't listed (something I won't do normally). And so I secured the lot for just $15.50 plus priority shipping.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LOT-4-MATCHBO ... 1574512276
Another AVTAK helicopter had sold just a few weeks before for £137.35! (4th photo - we found that one only after the auction had ended)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Matchbox-Supe ... 1506456197
As I have already two helicopters the third one is already on its way to my collector friend to complete his set of AVTAK prepros (which even includes resin samples of the Rolls-Royce and Renault). I am currently working on a recreation of the gift set box and want to display one set of cars inside the box and another in front of it - so I am still looking for another black & white Plymouth ...