Made at the 'RIFLEMAN' public house

Issued 1948

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The red version(2) is fairly rare but there is a version in tan (3) which is even considered rarer and this picture was from Dave Rogers. The Road Roller was the first toy made at Lesney Productsand sold in a trade box of 12

Issued 1948

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The models of the Cement Mixers photographs were kindly supplied by Barry Thompson of the UK. Dave Rodgers has also supplied the rare orange & black mixer (2). They show the range of colours that were supplied. These models were never packaged individually but supplied in trade boxes and then sold loose. Lesney needed a new model after the Road Roller and the only thing they could think of was the cement mixer that was working on a building site down the road.

Issued 1948

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A Caterpillar tractor or Crawler Dozer . The wheels on the earlier Crawler have 3 kidney shaped cut outs on the inside of the wheels. These were never supplied in boxes either but packed loose in boxes of half a dozen or so. The red Crawler is considered extremely rare.

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The rear of the front blade was plain in earlier versions, later red/yellow models had 'Lesney - Moko, Made in England' embossed on them.  The collection of bulldozers (7) was kindly supplied by John Pask of the US, and shows 2 of the rarer green colours issued, thanks John. The metallic blue bulldozer (6) was supplied by Gary Galvin and as far as I know, the only one in existence. Pic 8 shows the model made by Benbros and has ' A Qualitoy' cast underneath but very similar model to the Lesney one.

Thanks to Robert Newson, a picture of all the driver shades available

Again supplied by Robert Newson and advertising page showing the Bulldozer at the bottom left

Made at Shacklewell Lane factory

Issued 1949

There are also 2 variants to the inside corners of the drawbar - these can either be angular (early) or rounded (later)

All came with a driver in white and larger than the dozer driver.

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9 10 11 12 The real thing

The larger version Milk Cart, not to be confused with the smaller issued MB 7 is shown here with all the different wheel colours of light grey, dark grey and charcoal (1-3). There was a difference to the casting in several respects, the top front rail may be filled in between rail and roof (5 & 6) or open as on mine (1-3). The shafts also came with differences relating to the inside corners where the shafts joined the main support as they can be rounded or diagonally cut. The horses had two different versions with either a small hole or large underneath the body and may be painted in a thin painted bronze finish or brown with white legs and manes. The drivers seat gap between the roof and underneath of the seat is a lot smaller on the filled in rail version (pics 9, 10 and 11) and in pics 7 & 8 is the extremely rare blue version which are hardly ever seen. In pic.12 is the real thing from Dave Rodgers - the one I drove was much later and electric like the Spot On version!  In pics 9 to 11 the differences to the cart tops are shown. Looking at 9 it can be seen that the original metal feed was from 2 spigot holes whilst on the left a large cast bar now takes the place of the right spigot. This was probably an alteration to the mould for some reason but it results in the gap under the seat being filled in, lowers the seat and causes the front rail to be fully blocked off.

Issued 1949

1 2 3 4 5 6 The real thing

Included are a Rag & Bone cart in yellow or the rarer green version. This model came with an assortment of junk to place in the cart. The green cart was a recent purchase by a friend of mine, Charlie, and is very rare indeed. The yellow cart was also a recent acquisition by me and this was another model that was reproduced in the 'Perfect Toys' range of reproductions. Pictures  3 - 6 are the newly acquired model. The nice period picture was supplied by Dave Rogers.

Issued 1949

Variation

Base has  'A Lesney Product' on 

There seems to be 2 different front steering sections - with or without 2 small splines sticking out to attach rubber band steering to.

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The rarest of the rare is this Soap Box racer. It was not popular at the time and it is believed that only around 10 complete items remain today. The first pictures show a recent example that was auctioned by Vectis in the UK. Pics 3 & 4 show the 2 different bases to this model, either blank or with Lesney on base. The end photo is a repro model from the 'Perfect Toy' range. A superb reproduction range of early toys. Photo's 3 and 4 are kindly supplied by the Dream Tin Toys site (see my links page) and Hans & Marco.

Issued 1950

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During the Korean conflict a tin metal 'Jumbo' the elephant was made. This was a clockwork toy and the only diecast parts made by Lesney  were the four legs (pics 1 & 2). It is almost a perfect copy of the German 'BlÖmer & Schuler' Jumbo issued some time earlier (pics 3 & 4) but you can notice that 'JUMBO' is diagonal on the Lesney version. Jumbo was also made as a version with 'Made in US Zone' on it and is almost exact copy of the Blomer & Schuler version. Jumbo came in several types of box.

Issued 1950

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The Prime Mover is a beautiful model. It can have either a driver attached by the leg to the door or none at all. The trailer can also be found in a tan colour (2) as seen here supplied by Dave Rogers of the UK and my version in pic. 5. It is not sure, but general consensus is that the tan trailer came with the green bulldozer instead of the later red/yellow one. Gary has a trailer without the description underneath and only one heard of so far.  There was a version auctioned on Ebay that had an orange trailer and I kept a copy of the ad but alas lost the picture. There is no confirmation as yet to suggest it was genuine or not as so far no other has been seen.

Issued 1951

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After these toys a deal was struck to issue a model of Muffin the Mule, a popular children's puppet character on television with Annette Mills. I well remember the clips around the ear I got for bashing this heavy toy across the polished wood dining table.

Issued 1952

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The model for the large Coronation Coach was made before the start of the Korean war and was then shelved. At the end of the conflict it was resurrected due to the death of the old King. Unfortunately as it was Queen Elizabeth to be crowned the extra passenger (the King) had to be cut off at the knees, and as can be seen in all these coaches, his feet and legs still remain next to the Queen. Models with both in (5) are fairly rare and thanks to Gary we can show it here. They came in a range which included Plated Silver (1), Plated gold (2) or Painted gold (3) . The normal issue is still fairly common today.

Issued 1953

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The Coronation coach was then bought out in this miniature version and sold over a million. This gave Lesney the start they needed to expand and also the idea towards making smaller models. There are 2 casting versions of this model. On the rear wall of the coach it can be either plain or have 'ENGLAND-' cast on the bottom part behind the rear wheels. There are copies of this model in gold by Benbros, another die casting company, but these have 'ER' on the doors.

Issued 1954

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The large Massey Harris tractor was issued as a scale model. A few more models were to be issued in this range such as the Quarry truck and the Road Roller and although trials were made they never eventuated. Both of these non-produced models can be seen in the UK Matchbox club magazine but due to copyright laws I'm not sure on my position to reproduce them here. If you find a model with screws holding the rear wheels on - they are not a replacement! - some models were assembled this way.

Issued 1954

Lesney

Last but not least (but not a toy) was this small device for fishermen which squashed a piece of bread flat to enable it to be placed on the hook and then expand when it was in water. I must confess that it worked wonderfully as I often used one as a kid fishing on the Grand Union Canal at Uxbridge. Not really a toy. I am indebted to Steve Cameron who has allowed these photo's of his POS box to be displayed here, a truly wonderful and historical item that I have never seen before.

Issued 1955