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Matchbox Models of Yesteryear Y10-1 1908 Mercedes Grand Prix

The Mercedes was introduced in 1958, It is usually found painted cream but the final issue was white, The seats were painted a light green or on the later versions dark green and it had gold or silver trim to the radiator, Dashboard, Fuel cap and oil pump (beside the exhaust) which was lessened as time went on, It can also be found without any trim at all. It had silver plated steering wheel, Spoked wheels and chain & drive gears to the rear axle but a on few issues these parts were not plated, The wheels were fitted with black plastic tyres and the axles had crimped ends on the early issues and rounded ends on the later ones.
There were three casting modifications, The first was to the sides of the seat which were originally reinforced with a 2mm wide brace which was later widened considerably, The second was to the exhaust pipes which had four braces in between the pipes, Later issues had just two braces but they were wider than the earlier type and finally the bar across the rear end that holds the spare wheels in place was thickened from 1mm to 2mm probably to stop the bar getting broken during the fettling process when the components were put in a large rotating drum which would remove any excess metal from the castings. The Mercedes was deleted to make way for another Mercedes - the larger 36-220 model in 1963.


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Above. The cream Mercedes.
The ones to look for. The white painted body could be classed as hard to find.

above. The white Mercedes.
A shows two braces between the exhaust pipes, Earlier versions had four braces.
B shows the wider seat brace, Eariler versions had a much thinner brace.
C shows the 1mm thick spare wheel retainer, Later issues had this thickened to 2mm.