Some time ago I posted about a Dodge Ram 250 Pickup that was abandoned at a foreclosure that I purchased and am finally getting started on fixing (The house, not the truck). Well, it turns out that was not the only thing that was abandoned at the property…
After clearing out a 30cu.yd. dumpster worth of junk and getting started on the rehab work, I was clambering around in the rafters of the garage through an access hole in the drywall ceiling and found a few boxes. One of the boxes contained correspondence from the owner PRIOR the one upon whom the property was foreclosed, along with about sixty Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. Score! Some are still in the original packaging, but must were loose and contained in a carrying case for protection. I snagged the ones in the best condition, along with those which most interested me, and let my two young boys loose on most of the rest.
This is a reissue of the original 1969 Matchbox (Lesney) production which dates to 1974 and was “Made In England”. It is in remarkable condition for being 40 years old and looks great on my windowsill along with some others that I may feature here. I know there are a lot of fans of the Scout here so figured I would start with this one.
I’m still getting used to shooting tiny things like this close up and need to perfect my skills a bit, so I am sorry if the focus is a bit off on some of these. I found the Macro setting and have been playing with that…
You gave good condition 40 year old Hot Wheels to your kids?! (Gasp!) I still have all my Hot Wheels from when I was a kid. About 2 years ago I finally found a couple display cases that hang on the wall to show them off.
Haha, no, I gave them the not so good condition ones and the newer ones. I held on to the older and best ones…
My dad had a story like this…went to Vietnam, came home, and his sister had given all his hot wheels/matchbox to her infant son and they were all ruined or lost.
He and I started seriously collecting them in the early 90s and when eBay came along it got ridiculous. We currently have several hundred that are displayed and at least as many that are not displayed but are packed away. Some are duplicates, but we just couldn’t bring ourselves to open some of the rarer cars’ blister packaging. As Viper owners, we have the most variations of that car, about a hundred, but including all scaled, closer to 150.
The entire collection is esoteric, many are wacky CC favorites like a Majorette Ford Sierra in yellow with trailer hitch and camper trailer, slide-back roof rambler wagons, K-car variants, and a ton of other weird stuff.
If there is a little interest, maybe I should start documenting some of them and sharing. My buddy and I took a few cell phone pics one time with the cars, the theme was something like “kind of lame Car & Driver covers from the 80s”…featuring thunderbird turbo coupe versus firebird or Citation x-11 vs K car Charger Omni 024.
What is shown is one wall in panorama on the bottom and the bar area on top
I would love to see more of your “rafter classics.” I have that Scout, I got one from my parents when I was a kid. I think mine has different wheels though.
I had one of these in the ’70s when I was a kid, but I think mine was yellow. I don’t remember it being identified as an International Scout, just a “Field Car”, and I don’t think I ever realized that’s what it was supposed to be.
As a kid I never realized it was an IH either. In fact, back then I thought it was some sort of Mercedes, as the taillights looked like Mercedes emblems!
You are right, it just said “field car” on the bottom.
Yes, it only says Field Car on the bottom. The yellow one is the original one, the wheels were probably skinnier.
Check this link: http://matchbox.wikia.com/wiki/Field_Car
Sure, I’ll post more going forward. “Rafter Classics” is a good name, Tom, I might have to use that!
I’ve still got the yellow one somewhere around here. My son wasn’t into Matchboxes much when he was little, so it’s probably in whatever shape I left it.
Hey, it even has the trailer hitch!
As many of a certain age will realize, when this model first came out, it didn’t have the plastic “Superfast” wheels, it had nice red hubs with separate removable tires, and (at least if I remember correctly) the front axle was steerable. The “field car” moniker always puzzled me and I never realized it was a Scout because the front grille had been modified; I presume that for some reason Lesney failed to obtain licensing permission from IH at the last minute and went ahead with the model anyway, with slight changes to obscure its identity.
The variation you show here is new to me, and it’s interesting that it actually says “Scout Racing” on the sides. I guess Lesney and IH had settled their differences, but it was too expensive to change the tooling.
Well, the tires weren’t supposed to be removable, but after a few years the plastic used for the hubs would shrink, allowing the tires to slip off.
Looking forward to seeing the rest! Great find!
I was quite into Matchbox cars as a kid, but do not remember this one. Maybe this one came out after my interest had drifted to Hot Wheels. Cool find. I need to get into my box of old toy cars that I still have in the basement and see what I find.