TERRY SMITH takes a nostalgic look back at model car transporters.
One of the most desirable diecast vehicles that I loved as a child was the car transporter. The fact cars could go up a ramp and into the trailer seemed so cool to me back then. I have to say, that seeing real ones on the road was also special and I couldn’t wait to spot the make and model of the cars that were being transported.
I think the first one I owned was by Lesney ‘Matchbox’, which featured the tractor unit of a round nosed S Type Bedford first introduced by the Luton based company in 1950. The trailer had a fixed upper deck, which was a bit disappointing, and didn’t come with any ramps either, but I still liked to put my favourite four Matchbox cars on board and 'drive' my transporter around a card based printed roadway that my dad had glued onto hardboard sections.
Lesney made tens of thousands of these blue diecast transporters, either on their own as the No.2 Accessory pack model, or complete with what would now be six classic and desirable cars as the G-2 Gift set. Both are very collectable with nice examples selling for around £35, while mint boxed versions of the transporter on it own can reach close to £100. Later, in an effort to give the model an updated look, the cab was painting orange, with the trailer silver. I gather that these are extremely rare today with one dealer recently asking for £475 for this version. Matchbox went on to make various other transporters over the years, but this little Bedford model was the only one I owned.
My next transporter was a peach, and was the larger Corgi offering No. 1105, featuring the later and more modern looking TK Cab that Bedford introduced in 1960. The TK name stood for 'Tilt Cab', as the cab of the truck could literally be lifted and hinged forward making access to the engine easier for maintenance, which has now become common practise on trucks. It seemed rather kooky that the company would used a ‘K’ to signify the word Cab, though. Perhaps it was something to do with their Trans-Atlantic link with their parent company General Motors and the American penchant of sometimes swapping a C for a K over there? Being a larger model, Corgi could introduce many more features to its transporter especially on the Carrimore trailer, which did feature a top deck that could be lowered and had a hinged rear ramp. The top deck even had telescopic rams fitted to it! Again, it was offered with or without cars, and one Christmas in the early to mid-1960s Father Christmas had left me the Corgi transporter Gift Set 28 complete with four cars on board. I am struggling to remember what the cars were now, but I think one was a Fiat saloon with a slatted blind in its rear window, but I definitely recall a Consul Classic 315 with its opening bonnet. This rather American-looking Ford car left such and impression on me that around 10 years later I owned a drove a real one!
If you are looking for well detailed car transporter models available today, check out the wonderful offerings from the Oxford Diecast range.
Introduced in the late 1950s, the Bedford car transporter was a popular part of the Matchbox range into the 60s. Most were in this bright blue colour.
Lesney also offered the transporter as part of the G-2 Gift set. There were some nice cars in there, including the 1959 Chevrolet Impala and Ford Thunderbird.
These are the rarest of the Matchbox version of what they called the No.2 Accessory pack models, offered in orange and silver grey in the 1960s. Note there were no moving parts on this trailer.
Moving up in size was the Corgi 1105 which was available from 1962 up to 1966.
The fully operational Carrimore trailer had been introduced by Corgi in 1958 hauled by this earlier S Type Bedford Cab model 1101.
I was proud to get this Gift set 28 for Christmas in, I believe, the year that it was introduced - 1962 – I wish I still had it and all of the additional cars.