Lemon Toe Joe question

[David Tilley]

I am trying to sort out some of my recent additions, and as such have taken their photos to catalog. While sorting my latest Toe Joe, I have been using Christian's detailed notes as a guide.

This is the model in question.

It is a lemon twin-pack issue. It comes with unpainted base, orangey-yellow interior, light orange windows, green booms and red hooks. The side pattern on the booms are the zig-zag style, which means this must be the 1978 issue, rather than the 1976 issue with circles going up the sides. However, I cannot find this listed in Christian's notes. Is this an unknown variation or has it just been overlooked? I found the 1976 version with green booms, but no 1978 issue in his notes, or on his website.

[ChFalkensteiner]

Apparently this is a variation that has not been listed by Charlie Mack nor myself.

The lemon Toe Joe most commonly turns up with red booms; green booms (regardless of the casting) are much less common, which may explain why we have not encountered this combination before.

It is of course a perfectly plausible combination which may have been made at the factory, and I will record it once I get back into updating my Lesney era catalogue pages and website. (Presently I am busy separating the Brazilian variations, which will in the future not be shown on my website anymore as I am just not knowledgeable enough about those to decide which ones are genuine and which are not. I hope to finish this transition by the first days of next year.)

It must be said, however, that those booms can be switched rather easily by people who are more skilled than I am. I have come to accept that any type of booms on any colour variation of the Toe Joe (or the later MB 61-B / 61D Ford Wreck Truck, for that matter) may have been fitted privately, and no high prices should ever be paid for any combination no matter how unusual and possibly rare it is.