Fire Engine/Land Rover By Matchbox
I think you can say that while both Hot Wheels and Matchbox not only produced and sold a lot of ‘regular’ cars to satisfy the public, they also found that there was a big demand for other types of vehicles. Many collectors wanted vehicles to collect that they could relate to. That being . . . policemen wanted Police Cars; construction workers wanted bulldozers, dump trucks, etc; pilots wanted helicopters and airplanes; and firemen wanted fire engines. To meet this demand, most of these alternate vehicles were manufactured to look as close to the actual vehicle as possible . . . many coming with extras such as equipment pieces and movable parts, i.e., doors, propellers, etc..
To this end, Matchbox came out with the 1966 Land Rover Fire Engine 57 -C2. (Note the addition of the ladder and ‘emergency light’ on the top.) This fire engine was produced in the ‘Regular Wheel Matchbox Series 1-75′. These were the basic models produced from 1953 to 1969.
The pictured Matchbox Fire Engine/truck was produced with the following features:
- Red body
- Blue windshield and side windows
- Blue dome light
- Gray base
- Kent fire engine decal on both sides
- Lion decal logo on sides
- Black plastic wheels
- Made in England by Lesney on base
- Open rear, close real area
- White ladder on top of roof
- Two and a half inches long (2-1/2″)
Even if you’re not a fire man, you’ve got to admit this Matchbox Fire Engine is a cutey and would be a great addition to any collection.
Tags: Fire Engine, Lesney, Matchbox
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