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One for the small detail collector, right hand model has no number plate cast. J

Now that is very neat J, you must have very good eyesight mate.

motorman wrote:Now that is very neat J, you must have very good eyesight mate.

Only when I have my glasses on, noticed a big change this year in my eyesight . Must be old age setting in.

May I enquire about the background of this model?

As it seems to be lacking the tampo printing which is normally present on the bonnet, is it a pre-production? Has it a Macau or Thailand base? Does it feature opening doors or are they cast shut?

The red basic range issue (with tampo print) was made from 1988 to 1991, with production transferred from Macau to Thailand in late 1990. To my knowledge it was only made with the cast licence plate characters present during that time.

The licence plate characters were removed from the mould when the model was re-issued in the Premiere Collection range in 1997. At that time it was made in Thailand. As the mould had not been used for about two years before that date, pre-production models may have been made in preparation for its re-issue.

There was also the World Class body casting, introduced in 1989, without the cast licence plate characters, but that one had the doors cast shut, as opposed to separately cast opening doors on the basic range casting.

ChFalkensteiner wrote:May I enquire about the background of this model?

As it seems to be lacking the tampo printing which is normally present on the bonnet, is it a pre-production? Has it a Macau or Thailand base? Does it feature opening doors or are they cast shut?

Hi Christian,
Thank you for the information, this model came with the other model in the picture so it may well be preproduction. The model has a made in Macau base with the date to the right of matchbox, this model has opening doors.
Jason

Thanks, so I suppose that it is probably a pre-production item made before the introduction of the model in 1988. The cast licence plate characters were therefore added at a later stage in the model's development. It might then be possible that early production issues exist without those characters, but I am not aware of any such examples.

The baseplate as described is the earliest type. The baseplate casting was modified in 1989 to create a blank space on which the World Class logo could be printed. That modified baseplate casting was, however, used for all issues from then on, not just World Class.