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I have been thinking about these non-corporate yellow (dark yellow) BP wreck trucks lately and wanted to run some thoughts by you guys. I thought they were late issues ones which were supplied in the Gas Station gift sets, after the model was removed from the 1-75 line in 1970/71. I recently read in the variation guide on this site that 2 regular wheel wreckers were known with this paint color shade. The Superfast variation guide lists that non-corporate yellow wreckers can be found throughout the timeline of this model. There is even a picture of a 2mm wide wheel wrecker in this color in the variation guide. I have only seen this non-corporate/dark yellow color on the later casting with a small step over the rear axle in the bed.

Does anyone have an earlier casting wrecker (no step over axle cover) that is painted in non-corporate/dark yellow? Any chance the RW wreckers or thin wheel Superfast models described and pictured in the variation guide are prepro models? I would appreciate other collectors thoughts and observations bout this.

(I attached a picture for reference showing a non-corporate yellow truck on the right. I circled the step over the rear axle that is only found on the last issue castings.)

I think that term "non-corporate yellow" was coined by Mick (SMS88). I'm unaware of any consensus on shade differences being anything that is deliberate or intended.  Lesney has a poor track record with consistency of yellow and there are many shades of yellow used on the same model in several cases.  The fact that the colors on the 13d are pretty stable (consistent) for a long period of time is remarkable.

My personal opinion on the use of the term "corporate yellow" VS another shade of yellow is that this is one man's attempt to define something based on guess work at best.  Do different shades exist? Yes.  Has anyone attempted to catalog when a specific shade was used and if that constitutes a variation? No, not yet.  Right now, it's just a couple of different shades of yellow without any established time line or variation codes being assigned (like so many other models with different shades of yellow).

I'm interested in seeing other opinions on the subject.

Thanks for your thoughts about this Tinman. I think the color difference I am trying to describe is a different paint color, and not some shade difference from mixing. My picture is probably not showing that well. Here is a prepro that I think shows the different paint colors (pic taken from C Faulkensteiner's website). Maybe the darker yellow was accidently used sporadically or during production, but my experience says otherwise. The late issue wrecker with Esso labels posted on Christians site supplied by Rob Freeman also appears to be the dark yellow shade: http://www.cfalkensteiner.com/Matchbox/ ... f01bxG.jpg

I also look forward to other members ideas on this.

Can we please be careful when assigning a status to a model regards preproductions and colour trials.

The pictured 13d Wrecker with wide Superfast wheels will be so far along its own time-line to not warrant any preproduction activity. This all would have been taken care of before the very first regular wheels versions went to retail.

It can then only be a colour trial whith that yellow rear deck and booms and yes, it is clearly of a darker yellow to the front cab section.

Not knowing what shade of yellow could be classed as a 'Corporate Yellow' used by BP means it is only geuss work when we look at the models and Joe has put this forward quite well in his post.

The yellow used on the very first full production BP Wrecker should be taken as THE yellow reference colour which may or may not be close to the actual BP yellow but as we know this colour would not be 100% consistant throughout the models production period with so many parameters such as the suppliers and any primer colours used on bare castings affecting the final finish or shade.

I don't have anything like enough examples of the Wrecker to establish an 'In Use' time-line for the shades of yellow seen on the model but it could be done by those with a good collection of this model.

Ghosthunter.

IIRC, the non-corporate yellow on the RW 13d was pinned down to being the same as the yellow (I think Mick used the term 'Sunshine Yellow') used for the K8b Car Transporter. I have one (IMHO they are pretty common, but tricky to spot on Ebay), and it is definitely a completely different colour to the normal BP yellow which has very slight green overtones. As such, it should be catalogued as a separate code, rather than relegated to a footnote.

Tinman wrote:I'm interested in seeing other opinions on the subject (of "non-corporate yellow").

Parenthetical notation added by me, in the interest of keeping the quoted passage concise.

When I read "corporate yellow," my first thought was, "did Lesney purchase paint whose mix codes matched the ones used on BP's equipment?" The use of the word "corporate" is at least slightly implicit of them having done so. As I strongly doubt that is the case, I, personally, wouldn't use that particular phraseology. My preferred terms would be "light yellow," "bright yellow," "dark yellow," and such.

Hi David,
My only Superfast wrecker in the dark yellow has Esso labels and the later casting that you show.
J

This site seems to give us a 'BP' yellow...https://www.schemecolor.com/bp-logo-colors.php
Ghosthunter.

Thanks for everyone's replies. I only used the term non-corporate yellow because it was what Nick used in his catalog. I agree the bright yellow is more descriptive.

Thanks Jason for sharing your models characteristics. The bright yellow/non-corporate yellow model I have also has the Esso labels. This gets to the reason I was asking about this. From my experience, genuine Esso label models are this different yellow color and are this late casting. I think it may be a useful way to determine genuine models (versus label swaps). I am looking for reasons this is not true or exceptions to this hypothesis. I am not sure this paint color was used as extensively throughout the models production as Nicks variation list suggests (or maybe he is describing another yellow shade?).

A better photo of my models, in sunlight:

vetrad wrote:Thanks for everyone's replies. I only used the term non-corporate yellow because it was what Nick used in his catalog.

Mick (SMS88) wrote that description and, unfortunately, stuck his own term, "non-corporate yellow," into the guide's description. Every darker yellow shade on a wrecker seemed to get tagged, with that term of his, in his posts. Sorry I can't add anything to the speculation about the darker yellow combined with the ESSO labels but the thread is interesting.