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GHOSTHUNTER wrote:30 versions of the same model...

Wow! What an amazing collection.

Squid wrote:I'd like to see both the 70A and 71B (in the latter case, if you could show it alongside a 71B with 10x36 wheels, even better).

Here's the 70a, showing the smooth roof, later modified with a rivet to hold plastic glazing. I don't think these are particularly scarce (the version with rivet but no glazing is probably more unusual) but it's nice to get an early one. Here's the same 70a next to a very poor slightly later one to show the variability in yellow colour from lemon yellow to nearly orange. I like the Jeep, but oddly I only have this one and a childhood-survivor that lost its doors decades ago. It is the more unusual variation with plastic door springs and the base with the patent number, and it does have the smaller wheels. In case anyone's wondering, my user name is because when I was a child my mother used to call me Jeep, because my initials are GP. And of course, that's also how the Jeep got its name.

DrJeep wrote:In case anyone's wondering, my user name is because when I was a child my mother used to call me Jeep, because my initials are GP. And of course, that's also how the Jeep got its name.

That is but one theory about how the Jeep got its name. Popeye's Eugene the Jeep and U.S. Army slang for a new recruit or unproven piece of gear are also bandied about. We may never definitely determine the origin of the name.

Returning to topic, I thank you for taking and posting the photos. I like the 70A, but here in the States, they tend to carry sale prices that I don't like. The 71B with 11x45 wheels, as I suspected, has a stance more befitting of a Jeep. My 71B also has the combination of patent number base, plastic door springs, and 10x36 wheels.

DrJeep wrote:I like the 70A, but here in the States, they tend to carry sale prices that I don't like

I guess the 70a wouldn't have sold well in the USA: it's a small UK commercial vehicle that wouldn't have been at all familiar to American children. The same must be true of lots of other Lesney models. I'm surprised they sold so many!

Just found this image which shows the first three body castings that I know of. I must have done this for an earlier discussion on this model

You can see the benefit of the hinge arm brace (on the third example), as the arms are not strong enough to withstand some heavy playware and tend to get bent towards each other as shown on the middle example often causing the boot lid component coming out of its housing and being lost. The brace is clearly designed to help keep (brace!) the hinge arms in place.

Ghosthunter.