Here is a pre-pro Y-10 Silver Ghost we found. In addition to the model being in an awesome color of silver-grey, the base does not have the brace behind the differential and the text reads "Y.10" instead of "Y-10".
Well known one Bob and I have the same. It was a trial as Lesney could not get a good silver paint for the model so came out in the green metallic colour instead.
Proper preproduction model as indicated by the numbering style. Can be found with black or white plastic steering wheel. I think the brace on the production model is behind the sump. I think the differential was at the rear of the car. Kevin will no doubt confirm of otherwise.
Lesney had in fact released Y7 1912 Rolls-Royce in 1968 in a good enough silver-grey, so could have used the same colour on the Y10 1906 car. The lime green used instead is more in an effort to brighten up the range on the back of the Hot Wheels and Superfast models success.
I like the silver-grey color of this model and a couple of our club members were over last week and we discussed the story about Lesney not getting the good consistent silver paint. I suspect that goes back to the first Silver Ghost Y-15 but even so there were other Matchbox models that had good silver paint, i.e. The Major Pack Bedford articulated truck, the Major Pack Cooper Jarret, and the regular wheels Leyland Coach and others. We were discussing that it may be more than just the color, maybe the finish was not up to standard. We can't go back in time but it is fun to look at all the models and take guesses.
