1966 Matchbox Alvis Stalwart

The six-wheeled, amphibious Stalwart was produced between 1963 and 1971 by Alvis Cars (who were also responsible for the six-wheeled Saladin Armoured Car). The Stalwart, which served the British Army beginning in 1964, has a welded waterproof hull and a cab that is entered through twin hatches on the roof. The all-wheel-drive on land is powered by a Rolls-Royce 8-cylinder engine, and in water, it moves under vectored thrust water-jet propulsion units.

The Matchbox Alvis Stalwart was released in 1966 with white paint and BP Exploration labels on the sides. It can be found with yellow-hub wheels or green-hub wheels, as you see on my example, which was among my recent eBay score of 1960s Matchbox. Unfortunately, mine is missing the yellow plastic bed cover.

In 1979, the Alvis Stalwart was included (along with a Ford Heavy Wreck Truck) in the Matchbox Twin Pack TP-16, painted olive green and with black plastic wheels.

Matchbox | 1966 | 61 | Alvis Stalwart | white with BP Exploration labels | England | black plastic wheels with green hubs

1966 Matchbox Ford Refuse Truck

The Matchbox Ford Refuse Truck was released in 1966 with black plastic wheels. A later model with the same paint colors had Superfast wheels. This nice example of the early variation is from my recent eBay score of 1960s Matchbox.

I believe the Matchbox Ford Refuse Truck is modeled after the real-life Ford D Series, which was produced by Ford UK from 1965 until 1981.

The Matchbox Ford Refuse Truck features a tipping container.

Matchbox | 1966 | 7 | Ford Refuse Truck | organge cab | England | black plastic wheels

1966 Matchbox Sears Automotive Center Garage and Service Station

I picked up this fun Matchbox Garage & Service Station back in March from my Wichita eBay friend. The vinyl carrying case and playset is designed to look like a Sears Automotive Center.

The back of the Service Center opens to reveal a space to store 9 of your favorite Matchbox cars. The inside of the lid is painted with six parking stalls.

Open the front of the case and you reveal two sets of gas pumps and the inside of the Service Center complete with service bays and tool cabinets. The top part of the lid folds back to create a rooftop parking platform.

The service bays and gas pumps are formed from the same vinyl as the outside of the case.

The outsides of the case are decorated with wonderfully illustrated details, although the off-register printing gives everything a kind of dream-like effect.

I still have the Hot Wheels Collector’s Race Case and the Mattel Miniature Cars Carrying Case from my childhood as well as a Mattel Miniature Car Collector’s 12 Car Show Case, a Hot Wheels Redline 12 Car Rally Case and a racecar-shaped Matchbox 48 Car Case from 1980.

1966 Matchbox Fire Pumper

The Matchbox Fire Pumper was first released in 1966, with about five variations produced up until about 1982. I found mine last weekend in the 25-cent tub at the Wichita Flea Market. It’s missing a lot of paint, the plastic insert that carries the hoses and ladders, and the labels on the cab. (Or it may be the version that came with no labels.) So, would I pay a dollar for this? No. But I would give a quarter any day.

In 1970, the Fire Pumper was given Superfast wheels. On a later variation, the plastic insert was modified to include a water cannon.

Matchbox | 1966 | 29 | Fire Pumper | red missing/no labels, missing plastic hose/ladders | England | black plastic wheels

Other 1966 Matchbox cars in my collection include the #9 Boat and Trailer, the #14 Daimler London Bus, the #36 Opel Diplomat, the #48 Dodge Dump Truck, the #55 Ford Galaxie Police Car and #59 Ford Galaxie Fire Chief Car, and the #64 MG 1100.

[Edit 06/23/24] Awhile back I ordered some 3D printed reproduction parts on eBay. They were produced in a kind of milky-looking material and had some imperfections and extra material here and there, so after a little clean up and a couple of coats of satin white, I feel like I got them looking okay.

In the case of this Fire Pumper, the straps that hold the ladder to the side are much heavier than they are on the original molded piece. But still, the addition of the 3D printed hose insert makes the model feel more complete.

1966 Matchbox Opel Diplomat

Opel is a German automobile manufacturer that was owned by General Motors from 1929 until 2017. The Opel Diplomat was a full-size luxury car made from 1964 to 1977, the high-end of a range of models referred to as KAD (Kapitan, Admiral and Diplomat). The Diplomat featured a Chevrolet small-block V8 (first a 283, then later a 327) and a two-speed Powerglide automatic.

The Matchbox Opel Diplomat, which represents the A body style (1964-1968) was first released in 1966. It could be found in 4 different variations:

• metallic gold with gray motor, black plastic wheels
• metallic gold with chrome motor, black plastic wheels
• sea green with gray motor, black plastic wheels
• metallic gold with Superfast wheels (1970)

My example is missing much of the paint from the roof.

It also has a broken plastic town hook (which is too bad because it would otherwise make a nice candidate to pull my Boat and Trailer.)

However, it still has the hood (bonnet) which opens to reveal that chrome Chevy V8.

Matchbox | 1966 | 36 | Opel Diplomat | metallic gold, chrome motor | England | black plastic wheels

1966 Matchbox MG 1100

This summer saw the Wichita Flea Market move to a new venue. In July, we went to the first Wichita Flea Market at the Kansas Star Casino, which is actually about 30 minutes south of Wichita, on I-35 near Mulvane. The booth space in the arena was sold out, there was a good crowd in attendance, and there seemed to be a lot of excitement around the new venue, which allows comfortable space for both vendors and traffic flow.

I only landed one treasure, but it was a nice one. This Lesney Matchbox No. 64 MG 1100 was priced at 50% off of $12. This green model with black plastic wheels is the early version, first released in 1966. In 1970, it was given the transitional Superfast wheels and blue paint.

The real-life MG 1100 was the MG badging of the British Motor Corporation’s ADO16 (Amalgamated Drawing Office project number 16). Designed by Alec Issigonis as a follow-up to his successful Mini, the ADO16 utilized a transversely-mounted front-wheel-drive BMC A-Series engine, front wheel disc brakes and a Hydrolastic interconnected fluid suspension system. Launched in 1962, it was a best-selling car in Britain for several years and was also marketed under several other makes, including Austin and Morris.

One of the best things about this model is the little plastic dog molded into the back seat.

This MG 1100 adds to my growing collection of Lesney Matchbox from 1966 – the year I was born – including the Boat and Trailer, Daimler London Bus, Ford Galaxie Police and Fire Chief Cars, and Ford Atkinson Grit Spreader.

Matchbox | 1966 | 64 | MG 1100 | green | England | black plastic wheels

Reunited 1966 Matchbox Boat and Trailer

After I found this Lesney Matchbox boat trailer recently at the Wichita Community Market, I went on a search for a boat to make it complete.

I did a similar thing a few years ago when I found a loose Lesney Matchbox Jennings cattle trailer, reuniting it with a Thames Trader cab to make the Major Pack 7.

I did a search on eBay and, sure enough, there were a couple of loose boats. I landed this model, in good shape but with just the right amount of residual grime to match the trailer.

I believe the dull blue boat paired with the black plastic wheels on the trailer makes this the earliest variation of the #9 Boat and Trailer, which was first released in 1966. In 1969, the trailer was given Superfast wheels, and there are about 13 versions of the Boat and Trailer, with differences in boat color and decoration, as well as trailer paint color and wheel type.

Matchbox | 1966 | 9 | Boat and Trailer | white hull, dull blue deck, blue trailer | black plastic wheels

The next part of the project was to find a nice tow vehicle. My first thought was to find an old Lesney station wagon, but when I realized that my Lesney Matchbox Land Rover Safari had a tow hook, I decided I already had just what I needed.

1966 Matchbox Ford Galaxie Fire Chief and Police Car

I spotted this 1966 Matchbox Ford Galaxie Fire Chief at the Shopkeepers Antique Mall awhile back. I debated about it for a week or so, but eventually went back for it. Since the Ford Galaxie was the main competitor to my beloved Chevy Impala, I thought it should be represented in my collection.

This Matchbox model represents a 1965 Galaxie, the third generation of the full-size car. The variation of the Fire Chief car with a red roof light is worth quite a bit more than this more common blue roof light version. The casting was also released in 1970 with Superfast wheels.

Matchbox | 1966 | 55 | Ford Galaxie Police Car | white with red roof light | black plastic wheels

A short time after I acquired the Fire Chief car, I saw this Matchbox Ford Galaxie Police Car on eBay. I put in a bid and was somewhat surprised to come up the winner for a decent price.

The Galaxie Police car also has a more valuable variation – one with a blue roof light. Interestingly, the Police version of the Galaxie was never released with Superfast wheels.

Matchbox | 1966 | 59 | Ford Galaxie Fire Chief Car | red with blue roof light | black plastic wheels

Antique Store Finds

When I was in Manhattan, Kansas, a few weeks ago, I walked into a little antique shop and found a fun assortment of cars – fairly well worn, but for a good price.

Compare this 1967 Lesney Matchbox Greyhound Bus to the Hot Wheels version from 1980.

1967 Lesney Matchbox | 66 | Greyhound Bus | metallic gray, amber windows | black plastic wheels

This Lesney Matchbox London Bus from 1966 is a little rough, but it’s in better shape than the 1970s-era London bus from my childhood.

1966 Lesney Matchbox | 14 | Daimler London Bus | green with Esso graphics | black plastic wheels

This 1965 Taylor Jumbo Crane still has a functioning boom and intact plastic hook.

1965 Lesney Matchbox | 11 | Taylor Jumbo Crane | yellow with red weight box | black plastic wheels

An Antique Store “Find”

I don’t often buy cars from antique stores. I enjoy the “find” of coming across something at a garage sale or thrift store that nobody else has discovered. Even on eBay I can usually hunt up something good that nobody else is bidding on. But when I buy from antique stores it feels a little bit like cheating because somebody else has made the “find” for me.

Also, it seems everything is at a premium only because it’s in an antique store. I was in one place recently where they had 3 different baskets of loose diecast cars. One basket was $1 each, another was $2 each, and the third was $3 each. As far as I could tell, there was no difference in the value of any of the cars, and even the $1 price was probably a stretch.

So I was surprised last summer when I walked into an antique store and found a couple boxes of loose cars priced 5 for a dollar that actually contained … well, if not pristine cars, then some that were actually relatively old. My son picked out 5 for himself, I picked out 5 for me and we walked up to the cash register to pay. Sure enough, a man walked out from the back room, glanced at what I had on the counter and said, “Oh yeah, I hadn’t had a chance to go through those yet.” The woman who rang us up then explained to me that they always have a booth at the big flea market at the coliseum every month. Presumably, the man would have taken the cars that I picked out of the box, marked them up considerably and taken them to the big show. So, despite the poor condition of these cars, I still felt like I made a “find” at an antique store.

Someday I’ll pick up an axle and some rear wheels for this Matchbox Grit Spreader.
Matchbox | 1966 | 70 | Ford Atkinson Grit Spreader | red cab, yellow hopper | black plastic wheels

Then I’ll find a trunk lid for this Mercedes 300SE.
Matchbox | 1968 | 46 | Mercedes-Benz 300 SE | metallic orange | Superfast wheels

Then I’ll need a hood for this Ford Zodiac Mk IV.
Matchbox | 1968 | 53 | Ford Zodiac Mk IV | metallic green, unpainted base | Superfast wheels

Funny enough, I sent a photo of the Zodiac to a buddy of mine to illustrate a point I was making about how some of my collectible cars weren’t in very good shape. He sent back a photo of the same car from his own childhood collection with the comment, “This wasn’t my favorite car either.”