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There has been discussion in the past regarding the fact that the 68A Radio Truck can be found with the silver trim extended up onto the grill.
I had never seen or heard of the 71A Water Truck also appearing with the same silver grill trim. I got this example from a recent Vectis Auction so some of you may have seen it there.



The trim pattern seems to be very consistent to what was used on the Radio Trucks. Here is a side-by-side comparison.



I'm noticing that the body paint on this new model is much more glossy than the other two Water Trucks that I have. Left side is the new model. The far right is quite matte, and the center is somewhat between the other two.



So, the trim paint is variable on each of my examples. Most to least going left to right.

As I have previously stated, the identical cabs on the 68a and the 71a mean that this is an entirely logical and expected variation. In fact, the surprising thing is that it has taken so long for one to surface. (I have been closely monitoring the 71a examples on Ebay for some considerable time now, but so far in vain.)
Well done, Greg! I'm glad that this one has fond a good home.

Hi Greg, excellent pictures and description of your findings.
It does show something we are seeing a lot of on our models, the amount of work afforded to the models with less and less involvement by the operators, you do show a natural production process and the wheels also fit-in with the decreasing amount of Silver trim painting.

I don't have any examples of this model, but when I start collecting the regular wheel range seriously, I am looking for these definitely and hope I can find the same excellent condition models as you have shown here, thank's.

GHOSTHUNTER.

Which Nick Jones variation code is it, Greg? Could it by any chance be right at the start of production (i.e. borderline late pre-production)?

Hi Hugh,
This one DOES have the small semi-circular tongue behind the cab so it would fall onto Nick's guide at Code 2.

Hi Greg,

Excellent news and nice comparison photos too of the trim variations.

Regards
Bert

I have now found one as well, also a variation code 2. As you can see from the photograph, it is slightly(!) playworn and therefore this variation is confirmed in accordance with the suggested revision to Martin's Maxim.

Well done Hugh! Some kid got his money's worth from that toy for sure. In some ways you're probably happier with this roughly treated example than you would be with a pristine MIB model.

Greg,
What a beautiful model and congratulations on bringing it into your collection! I'll bet you were excited when the auctioneer "put the hammer down" and you had the winning bid.
Way to Go!

Bill

matchbox_n_molars wrote:In some ways you're probably happier with this roughly treated example than you would be with a pristine MIB model.

I'm not so sure about that!