Matchbox Monday can’t “Dodge” this post any longer

I just want to say thank you to Richard Boyle, from Illinois, who helped me with obtaining this set of models. Being in the UK and these being a USA release (although do appear in some other markets) I am unable to get them, and with people like Richard having my back, I am able to showcase them in my weekly blog reports. Now I know they have been out for a good few months now, but I have only just received them, so I am giving them the once over. Next week will be more stuff I obtained through my friends at Wheel Collectors, as even without being exclusive to the US market, the UK is pretty dire when it comes to choice. And I am talking in general. I go to other countries and see the choices people have for so many things, and think to myself why is the UK just so bad at it all? When it comes to our limited toy supplies, we still only have the one major player that takes Matchbox. Tesco. Singles, 5-packs, 9-packs, Skybusters and Best of UK. That is what they take. Singles in a small box (or tub) and a row of 9-packs on a shelf, with a few pegs for the other 3 items above. They briefly took playsets, but that didn’t last. As to all the other items that Matchbox do. Hitch & Haul, Moving Parts, Collectors, Convoy, Working Rigs, even the new Jurassic World stuff, sadly we miss out. Tesco only have a small area for toys, and so each brand of toy can only get so much space allotted. So it is quite surprising we got as much as we did. Although if Matchbox was sold in other stores, different stores would be able to pick and choose alternate ranges and we could see other selections in various places. But enough complaining about how bad the UK is, let’s get stuck into the Dodge models.

Now there are only 5 in the batch. The 6th was scheduled to be a brand new 1940 Dodge Pickup casting, but the tool wasn’t ready in time. I am guessing batch B will feature 7 models in total. I am also thinking it was scheduled to be number 3 in the set, as we have 1, 2, 4, 5 & 6 here. But there is still enough to get stuck into. Like this. The MB1180 ’59 Dodge Coronet Police in black which takes the number 1 slot in the series. It looks fairly familiar, but is an all-new look for the casting.

It has the Matchbox original design of the Matchbox State Police on the sides. Plus, you might also notice they managed to sneak the silver pin striping from the sides around to the front of the model too. It’s the little things that I notice.

So why does this design look so familiar? Well it is a recent recurring theme that they started a few years ago.

This is the MB858 ’56 Buick Century Police. Its last release was in a 2018 Coffee Cruisers 5-pack in black with the same design. Although the stripe is more yellow, than the orangey yellow on the Coronet. It also had an I Love Donuts sticker on the rear too.

Then for 2021, we saw a Coffee Cruisers II 5-pack, and the same design was now being used on the MB987 ’78 Dodge Monaco Police. Each model sports the model’s MAN number inside the door badge and also at the rear end of the side of the model too. But the extra little piece of attention.

Each model has been for a different precinct. The Buick was 4th Precinct, the Monaco 5th Precinct, and now the Coronet is 3rd Precinct. Okay, now I am seriously waiting to see them do a Hudson Hornet, Ford Mustang LX SSP and Chevy Caprice Classic Police in this look too. I do notice though that there are some quite sizeable gaps in US police vehicles currently available. I mean the coronet being a ’59 (the third of 3x 1950s models) then jumps to the ’78 Monaco. After that, we are in the 1990s. I know the 1980s are a bit boxy, but there are still some we could see. These gaps could do with filling.

But in the meantime, what say we do a quick recap of where this Coronet has been so far. It all started in 2019 when it debuted as MB43 in the basic range. black again, and with a simple white door and side design, which again saw the silver pin striping sneak around the front. Love the consistency.

For 2020 it moved to MB94 in the basic range in white with pale blue and silver side detailing.

And we also saw a promotional release for Everett Marshall III’s annual Golf Tournament. As per the current rules for these, half are for his Burns Foundation charity and the other half for Breast Cancer research (hence the 2 colours).

And then for 2021 we only saw the 1 again, as MB71 in the basic range gave us another iconic recurring theme. the National Parks look, and yes, I did notice some shading on this model during production. Will this be the only Coronet we see in 2022? Only time will tell for sure. But I do think they should look at the 1960s/early 1970s and the 1980s for more US police style vehicles to add too. Mind you I also think a classic Euro style police vehicle should be added as well.

The MB1168 ’18 Dodge Charger is up next. It is number 2 in the set of 12 models and comes in a lovely dark red metallic.

I believe this is close to the “Octane Red” colour that Dodge used on Chargers that year. It looks really nice anyway. I do like these dark metallic red models. And well, you can’t really go wrong with this. A nice colour, and simple realistic front and rear tampo prints. It looks fantastic.

I think I am safe in saying this is my favourite look on this model so far. And I liked the first 3. I wonder if you will notice the one thing that is different between this and the 3 that preceded it?

Again a 2019 start for this casting. Yes, 2019 was a solid year for Dodges as new castings in Matchbox circles. This is the second of 3 new castings from 2019 and yes, all get used here too. MB2 for 2019 was this lovely metallic green debut look.

It was followed by a blue MB15 in 2020 which I did find a slight shade variation to. Well, it was enough for me to keep 2 of them.

And then in 2021 we saw this solid grey look as MB55. So did you notice what was different about the red one?

It is the first release to sport double 10-spoke wheels. All 3 releases to date have 5-spoke wheels.

So mated to the grey from last year being the only non-metallic and the blue being the only one that doesn’t say Charger on the rear license plate, we appear to be getting a small selection of doing something different about each release. I can’t wait for the next one.

So then we skip number 3 in the list, as I guess that was where the new 1940 Pickup casting was scheduled to arrive. Which means we are now on to number 4 in the list, which happens to be the oldest dodge in the casting list. The MB260 Dodge Viper RT/10.

I have to say though, I am a little disappointed in this one. It’s not the model. Love the Viper castings, and the blue with white stripes. Love it!

The fact that this is a carry forward model to me makes little difference. I have often said how I do enjoy carry forwards as I love to compare and contrast to the older ones to see whether having gaps in production leads to anything.

It is just that this is the exact same carry forward that was used in the 2021 Target Retro series. Last year, I loved it! Thought it was fantastic. This year, my thoughts are “not again”.

Now yes, there is over a year difference between the production runs of these 2. N34 for the Target Retro and P43 for the Walmart Dodge. So 14 months or so between production.

Which does mean there is a small variance. The newer one is slightly lighter blue, and the interior is also slightly lighter. Not by much in either case, but I see it and am keeping the new one as a shade variation. But the Viper has loads of other older issues that could have been used again. I have mentioned it before. When they dig out a casting to use as a carry forward that has a whole load of history, please try to use different ones for each carry forward. Don’t just have the one old look and just carry it forward and forward. Especially as we have 2 blue models in this batch. It needed a different colour choice to make the assortment look better.

So as we know, from when I spoke about it in the Target Retro series last year, this was a carry forward of the 1999 basic range issue. With 22 years of difference last year, there was so much different about it, and I was fascinated by it all. This year. Meh!

Of course I do love stripes, and although I mentioned having 2 blues in the batch, the Charger was red. But it was a dark red. The Viper has seen a number of bright reds. This would have stood out. They could have carried forward the 2001 UK exclusive. That was bright red with dual yellow stripes (and interior) with gold wheels. I would not have been unhappy to see this again.

Or any red really. Red is a bit of a Viper go-to look. You are seeing (left to right) the 1995 basic, 1996 basic, 1997 Convertibles 5-pack and 2000 US basics here.

But maybe it would have been better in a colour not used by any others in this batch. Green was the 1997 basic and yellow the 1998 basic. They would have stood out b being in totally different colours to anything else in this batch.

Or even the reverse look. While 1999’s basic range look was blue with dual white stripes, the 1999 Open Road 5-pack was white with dual blue stripes. We have a lot of history to dive into with the model. I just really don’t like focusing on one and sticking with it. I hope if we ever get another Viper RT/10 carry forward, they look at one of the others from its archives to bring back. I really don’t want to see this blue one again.

Whereas now as we move on to number 5 in the set, which is another carry forward, I am happy enough that this has not been carried forward before. The MB1183 ’68 Dodge D-200 Pickup.

Now I do have a thought. Obviously this casting was the third of the 3 that debuted in 2019, and this is a repeat of the debut MB63 look. But if it was me, I would have looked perhaps a little further back at the MB589 Dodge RAM SRT-10 casting. That has seen a good few looks from between 2003 and 2013 when it was used, and could have been cool to dig out for a repeat of one of them. They all tend to have Dodge written down the side of them. Plus, it was a larger 4×4 pickup truck just like this is, and would have, in my opinion, been a better substitute as this is only 3 years old. I always think the kid’s market is cyclical at around 5 years, so anything older than 5 years ago is great for a come back.

Not that this is bad. After all, when it debuted in 2019 it was a very nice debut offering. The cream with olive and black sides was a nice look.

And coming back for another run 3 years later has given us a nice shade. On the olive side. The original was quite a dull olive and the new run is a much brighter, more green look to the olive tampo. The cream body is slightly out too, but not as much as the tampo, which is why I focused on that here.

And as we know, after 2019 came the 2020 basic in black. It was sold as MB65 that year, and although not seeing a lower side stripe, the upper strip was still there, this time in red.

2020 also saw a premium release too, as it was a part of the Superfast range, again in black with a Skyjacker design all over. If you notice, it still had the upper side strip, in white.

2021 also gave us 2 releases as well. The basic range again with this blue MB93 that still had the upper side strip, this time in white.

And the 2021 Off Road Rally 5-pack gave us an orange one, which I noticed was good for shading. And although this has a cool Team Matchbox recurring theme, it still had a white strip going down the side. Each release has had a strip going down the upper edge of the sides. Tradition or what?

Which brings us to the last model in the batch. The MB987 ’78 Dodge Monaco Police. And well, it only took 12 years but Walmart USA finally got this in.

Now I will get to that statement in a minute. First off, yes, it is a carry forward. It comes in blue with a white a gold stripe and a Sheriff logo on the side.

It is a nice deep shade of blue and still looks as good now as it did when it was first released. But there is more.

Richard knows the type of person I am, and kindly sent me 2 of them.

Just look at the difference in them. That is massive.

The other one is so dark in shade. It totally transforms the look of the model to me. Thank you ever so much Richard. These are fantastic. So, let us do a recap of this casting, and find out what I was talking about with Walmart.

Originally the casting was released under the MB762 moniker in the 2009 basic range as MB54. The difference being that at birth, the model had a separate light bar on the roof. It was a simple black with white doors affair.

We also got a 10-pack 1st Editions alternate in a light blue with white doors and a State Police design. It was a very popular debut year.And yes, I found the blue did sport a shade or 2.

And then it was 2010. The Matchbox brand was in the midst of a 3-way split with 100 models for the US market, and a selection of 75 out of those 100 for the LAAM market and an alternate selection of 75 out of those 100 for the ROW market. But some model were literally US only. The MB53 release in the US market that year was this Dodge Monaco in blue. Familiar? Of course, this is the one they were carrying forward. Now apart from the shade of blue being in the middle of the new 2, obviously this was also on the original casting. It had a separate light bar on the roof. So the new one was always going to be an instant variation with the light bar now a part of the window piece. But Walmart….

In 2010 Walmart had requested something unique from the Matchbox brand. Before they got their special sets, which have been going many years now, the first attempt from the Matchbox team to do something different, was to give Walmart stores in USA (other Walmarts in other countries were not involved, it was a strictly USA thing) 4 unique looks for 4 models in the basic range. One of the models chosen was the Dodge. As such, it received a golden “Tramwal County” (Tramwal being an anagram of Walmart) Sheriff theme. So Walmart in USA never got the blue one. Other stroes in USA did. All other stores that sold Matchbox did. Just not Walmart. So as I said, they finally get it 12 years later. Now this I think is a very good choice for a carry forward. Obviously some might think, shouldn’t they have done the Tramwal again? Well, yes, it would work in USA itself, but the Dodge series does get marketed to some other countries too. So a Walmart themed model might not be quite as significant in those countries. I think the blue was better option.

In 2011 the model was now in a California Highway Patrol theme. Another good idea for a carry forward (hint hint). It was in the US range as MB53, but was also chosen to be included in the ROW range too as MB36 (just not in the LAAM range).

We also saw this white State Police liveried model in the 2011 Police 5-pack too. It looked a lot like an Illinois State Police car.

In 2012 with the range re-unified, this was the MB43 look for everybody. It was silver with an MBX County Sheriff design.

And yes, we saw another sheriff design for the 2013 basic range too. It was MB110 and again used an MBX County motif for the look on a blue model.

After 2013, the model took 2014 off and when it returned in 2015 as a part of the Police Squad 5-pack, this was where we saw the change to the new MAN number and the separate light bar going. I also found this gold Sheriff model was good for shades too. Just like the new one.

This was followed up by a 2016 10-pack exclusive issue in white, with another Illinois State Police style livery.

Now I don’t know the full history of the Illinois State Police, but from what I can see, they had both looks back in the 1970s. Red and blue stripes, or yellow stripes. Perhaps somebody with more knowledge than me could reply in the comments at the end with more history.

And of course, as I showed almost at the beginning of this report, the model then popped back up in a 2021 Coffee Cruisers II 5-pack in the same livery as the Coronet from this batch is in.

So all in all, with only 2 new and 3 carry forwards, there have been better batches. The 2 new ones are both fantastic, and the Monaco as a carry forward is also really cool. The D-200 tough because it is so new (as I said, I would have gone with the RAM SRT-10), and the Viper was a letdown by being the same carry forward as last year. Had it been literally any other Viper RT/10 release I would have been happier. I am looking forward to the next batch too, and hopefully there will be 7 in it. Although again, I think we are getting another Charger in the batch as a carry forward. Such a shame we are not getting the MB862 A100 Pickup as a carry forward. That is such a popular vehicle but doesn’t get the love. Also, I would have dug deep and dusted off the MB558 ’61 Dodge Dart Phoenix. It hasn’t been used since 2006. The tooling might need a little touch up if sitting around for 16 years has caused any issues, but that too is such an under-utilized casting. To me, theme sets like these are a cool way to pull out some older castings and have fun with them again. But with the new part done, time for another dive back.

And just like I did last week, I am going right to the beginning of the Superfast era with my first dive back. This is the MB75-A Ferrari Berlinetta. It is the second of 8 Ferraris that Matchbox have ever created. Although to some, the 1970s Formula 1 Racing Car was based on a Ferrari and could count as a 9th. I don’t, as it never specified Ferrari in any way, and to me, it is just a passing resemblance. Not like the first Ferrari 156 Racing Car. This though, the Ferrari 250GT Berlinetta Lusso (to give it its full name, no wonder Lesney shortened it). the real vehicle was manufactured between 1962 and 1964, but the model only arrived in 1965. It lasted a little longer, and made considerably more than the real one did. 351 real ones were made. It ran in green throughout the regular wheel era, which was the 1960s. When 1970 arrived, they transferred the model over to the new Superfast wheels and changed it to red. But yes, they still had a bunch of green bodies still to use up, so the first production run saw them using the last of these greens up. I have heard red bodies can be found on regular wheels too, and apparently even rarer.

Although, quite surprising, I discovered that the initial green, considering how short lived it was on Superfast wheels, still found a shade variation. Yes, both of these are on Superfast wheels.

Now being me also meant that I never paid attention to the base either. This was actually pointed out to me by Christian Falkensteiner when he was looking at my 2 green Ferraris one day. Both models have Superfast on the base, but the lighter green has PAT APP across the middle too.

And then the reds started flooding in. The model only ran the one year in the Superfast range in red. For 1971 they dropped the Ferrari in favour of an Alfa Carabo. That’s a future dive back.

But considering again this was just a single year, boy did that red vary in shade. From an orangey red, to a light red and on to a dark red. Yes, this was definitely a model in the Lesney “we use whatever paint is in the pot” mentality.

Plus, at times they had a little added fun and threw a little silver across the front to highlight the grille and lights. Not often, but sometimes. They would just randomly do it with models. Quite a few saw this silver touch on occasion at the beginning of the 1970s. But after 1970 that was it.

One year of reds and it was done. I never knew why they decided to chop the tow hook off for Superfast though.

A few weeks back I went with a rather recent Volvo casting to do a little piece on, so I thought why not go the other extreme and go with the first one. Or one of the first (as a few came at the same time). Can you believe that Matchbox never used anything from the Volvo brand until 1982. And even when they finally decided to launch a Volvo in the basic range (or 2), only the ROW market saw it. This was not sold in the US range. The MB026 Volvo Cable Truck was very short lived. It arrived as MB26 in the ROW basic range in 1982. It ran until 1983 and was dropped. Except in Japan where it eked out one more year as MB-J11 there. There was nothing to note in Japanese yellow boxes, unless you are, well into boxes. I am not. As people might be able to tell. So let us go through just what made this short 2-year release in the ROW market so fun.

It came with a detachable load on the back of the model. The truck itself was a simple 3-piece construction. A body, using the cab of the Volvo F-series, with a base that also formed the front grille, and a window piece. But the load on the back was a further 3 plastic pieces. We had a mount with 2 reels of cable.

These reels of cable could also be removed very easily for added play value. I remember as a kid finding this really cool. They had a zoo truck too, but that was just 2 lions in a cage. Once removed you couldn’t really do anything with them. But the cables? You could roll them along, stack them up in dioramas. Put them in the back of other vehicles for fun. And a lot more. I was actually quite sad this was dropped after only 2 years. I would have loved to have seen more of them.

But that is not to say that what there was out there isn’t a lot of fun to collect anyway. For starters, the standard look for the Cable Truck was orange with grey cabled on a black mount, featuring a black grille/base and 5-arch wheels. 2 years of production (always in England, it never went abroad) through 1982 and 1983 and you know the shade of orange was never staying consistent. But that wasn’t all.

They would mix wheels up. Maltese cross wheels anyone?

And then there was the red base/grille section. These tended to be the earlier runs before they settled on black.

But again, wheels. Maltese cross? 5-spoke? I am actually still looking for a 5-spoke with a black base/grille. Plus the red has been known to be found with 5-crown wheels. I have never seen one. But this wasn’t it.

You see, they also released a Zoo Truck the same year too. That was red with a lions in cage rear. But the components were the same except what went on the back. So obviously the red trucks would be found sporting cables on the back too.

And yes, variations exist there. Different wheels, different base/grille.

Late on during production 9these were mainly found in 1983 window boxes), the model turned yellow.

It was a relatively short run and reverted back to orange again, which was also mainly what were found in Japan in 1984.

You might also note that the cables on the yellow one here are a much darker grey than the normal too. Yellows tend to be found with darker grey cables, but they can be found in all configurations (dark grey on orange or red, light grey on yellow). And once loose, it’s an easy swap to make your own combinations so there is literally no value to having darker grey cables. It’s just cool to have the alternate. But after this short run was finished, we never saw a cable truck again in the basic range. And as I said, the US range never saw one at all.

I am making a bit of a jump now from an orange utility vehicle, to an orange utility vehicle. That’s right. This is the MB419 Snow Groomer. Who remembers this? It was a part of Mattel’s initial bunch of castings after taking over the brand after buying out Tyco. the 1998 range had already been started under Tyco’s watch (they usually plan around 18 months in advance so now, in mid 2022, they are busy mapping out the 2024 range). The 1999 basic range was the first to completely be created under Mattel’s ownership. And it was a great year. The Snow Groomer debuted as either MB52 in the ROW range or MB57 in the US range in orange with a load of snow over it.

And the model came with a storage compartment on the rear that you could open. That was a cool little touch.

But as was so common throughout the 1999 series, a lot of models in the US range saw additional tampo printing in English over and above those released in other markets. Now in ROW markets, they did put a little piece of text on the side. FF-525. But let’s be honest, that doesn’t mean anything, so in many languages it works just fine. For the US release, they had Hilltop Resort and the FF-525 was switched with Unit 3. Although to achieve that, they did remove the snow tops to the mountain background.

The model was immediately thrown in a 5-pack too. The 1999 Emergency Rescue pack. Although it was decided that only 2 of the 5 models in the 5-pack would do the same US/ROW alternate liveries. This was one of the 3 that stayed the same worldwide.

In 2000 the idea of alternate looks for US and ROW issues was dropped, and this was released worldwide as either MB78 in the US range or MB58 in the ROW range.

Although if you lived in USA you would find the first 10,000 made had a Matchbox 2000 logo on the back of the hatch.

It was a part of another 5-pack too. Mount Discovery saw this blue model in the set.

And 2000 was also the launch… of Launchers! This was something new they came up with. A set of 5 models themed together along with a large item with a launching mechanism inside to launch the models out of. Although this does sport tiny wheels to roll under the model, I can’t imagine it was really a good fit for a launcher. It was a nice design though, in white with a Test Centre side design.

After that though, things went a bit south. How far south? Err? To the south pole? Get it? No? Oh well. I tried. After 3 outings in 2000 it was not seen at all in 2001. It popped back up though in 2002 in a Snow Cappers 5-pack. This was in grey with a large snowflake side design.

For 2003, a number of 5-packs were rolled over with simply a new colour combination on the included models. Snow Cappers was one of them and as such what was a grey model was now a blue model. But that was it. This blue one proved to be the swansong for the model and it was never seen again. Out of all the snow vehicles they have made, I think this is still my favourite. There was something about it I just liked.

So let’s get into the 2000s properly shall we. The GMC School Bus. The GMC Savana 2nd generation was launched in 2003 and the “Cutaway” variant is used as a basis for a variety of vehicle rears, with the school bus being one of them. Mattel created a model of this and released it as MB768 in 2009. The first release was sold as MB42 in the basic range and came in a very simple traditional yellow Metro School District look.

And although only the cab was metal, the plastic bus section to the rear was still prone to a little shading.

and if you were really nerdy, you might find that the zamac base has clear differences. Some come out in a cool blue look, other a more burnt look.

In 2010 the model was dropped from the ROW range, but was still a part of both US and LAAM markets, where it was sold as MB62. Again the model was traditional school bus yellow, but now sported a Fort Summer Unified School District design.

However, we did see non-yellow alternates that year too. In 5-packs, a white Child Care Learning Center model was a part of the City Action set.

And they also had a very ghoulish looking Dream Halloween promotional issue too. I do miss all the Dream Halloween stuff. This one even had translucent wheels. It was just so unique and bizarre. I loved it!

For 2011 the model was now dropped from the LAAM market, but brought back for the ROW market. Yes, those 4 years of the 3-way split were quite confusing. MB62 for the US market or MB44 for the ROW market saw this blue with a clear body section and a Star Home Tours design. Now that was a lot different to the standard school bus look. The early 2010s saw a few quite “out of the box” designs on models.

We saw another 5-pack release too. the pack was called City Life this time, and the model was in teal with an MBX Science Center side design.

And yes we were still getting those base differences on zamac.

For 2012 the unified basic range saw the model sold as MB120 in cream with a National Park Cliff Tours side design. Now doesn’t this get you to thinking? How would this look in the standard mint National Parks look? Just imagine this as a staff bus.

And in 2013 this orange model with a new Metro School Bus design was sold as MB39.

I mentioned new look, as when compared to the earlier 2009 release, the side tampo is completely different. Now this did prove to the end for MB768. After 2013 the model went in for some cosmetic surgery.

And out came MB998. Basically the cab was now a part of the body section alongside the rear of the model. It debuted in the 2015 City Adventure 5-pack in blue with a Hollywood Tours side design.

However, if you were paying attention at the time, you might have noticed that it sported 2 different sized wheels during production. Do you see how the ones on the left are smaller than the ones on the right? Yes they had 2 different diameter wheels with the exact same design on them.

And for some reason, as part of the retooling, a section was removed from the side of the rear section over where the driver’s door opens. I do not know why they made this change, but if you saw my Chevy Transport Bus dive back recently, you would have seen that made the exact same change when that casting was modified.

It saw another 5-pack outing in 2016. This silver model was in the City 5-pack with an Airport Shuttle theme to it.

And then for 2018 it was back in the basic range. Mb9 that year in blue with a Hollywood Tours side design. Wait a sec?

Yes this was the same as the 2015 5-pack release. Except for one small, but significant change. the upper strip to the model had a “Get on the fun bus!” banner, but for 2018 it was changed to ” * See a Celebrity * “.

And in 2019 the model saw another basic range release in traditional school bus yellow with a Metro School Bus design.

This was really cool. It was the same design as used on the 2013 MB39, but the 2019 MB97 was a different colour, and instead of Charter District #2, it had Charter District #4 on the side. I thought it was brilliant when it arrived, and remember thinking how cool it would be to see another colour (maybe a white one) for Charter District #3? Even more colours for even more Charter Districts. Well, so far we have not seen anything else from this casting. But hopefully if they rear this, it might give them some ideas. More Metro Charter Districts and a National Parks staff bus.

I barely move forward, but technically I am in a new decade as I finish my dive back with the MB802 Caterham Superlight R500. This casting was created by Ryu Asada after watching an episode of the UK’s Top Gear and wanting to make a model of the vehicle used in a segment in the show. It was a lovely little creation and debuted as MB3 in the 2010 basic range. It was white with dual red striped top and sides, and front end detailing. All cleverly done at the factory while keeping to the “2 passes through the tampo machine” rule.

For 2011 it used the same tampo design on MB3 again, except now it was black over yellow. Now these are 2 different shades of yellow. It doesn’t really show too well in picture. The rear wheel arches seem to get the best contrast.

But that was not all. It was chosen to be a dual release for 2011 and as such MB3 was also found in white over red.

It also got its first multipack outing too, as it was included in the Classic Cars 5-pack that year in silver over blue.

In 2012 it moved to the MB111 slot and came in yellow over black, including making the wheels yellow hubbed too.

It then took 2013 off before returning in 2014 as MB9 in a slightly differently tampoed yellow over green look. During production I did notice that the grey interior sported a shade. After 2014 it was retired from the basic range (unless they throw it back in at any point, I never rule things out).

After that we have only see one more outing. Green over black, including green hubbed wheels and interior. This was a 10-pack exclusive that year.

The first time that the model has been sold in the same basic colour. Black. Although the end results are very different between the 2 black ones. Even if the tampo itself is the same. However, since 2015, we have not seen any further outings for this casting. Will we see it again? I hope so at some point.

And with that, I think I have reached the end of another report. Dodge batch A is done and dusted. 2 police cars and 3 civilian vehicles.

Next week I will be delving into a box of goodies that Wheel Collectors have sent to me from USA. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Until then I hope people have enjoyed the read, and have a good week. See you next time for more Matchbox Monday.