Matchbox New Routemaster Bus

Lesney enjoyed huge success with their various issues of the #5 Routemaster Bus in the 1960's, to prop up ever decreasing sales of the new Matchbox mainline a Routemaster Bus once again joins the Series

 The first issue was a boring but obvious choice in red with British Invasion ads , as it is a very heavy model numbers were kept deliberately low and never more than one per case for a quite short run.

Quite a few collectors commented on the similarity to the Playart RM , both have their positives .

Rather surprisingly the second issue was also red (made for the new "Best of British" Series) and created an interesting variation , is was intended that this would be a limited edition of just 10,000 pieces , but when these were sold , more ( a LOT more) were made somewhat swamping the market.

    It appears that the first small batch were finished in a NBC style light red , whereas the subsequent models were a much darker "Cherry" Red , the difference is marked when the two models are placed side by side. I am sure the significance of these 2 colours is completely lost on Mattel.

The third issue was back in the standard range and was blue. With a nod to the buses which use to serve the old Lesney factory in London (although these were not RMs) with MATCHBOX TOYS Tampos and #5 (the old Lesney RM model number) on the side destination blind.

As with the previous Red mainline issue just one RM per case was available for a short time making the model very hard to find especially in ROW markets.

The next model was a special for an annual toy show organised by Jim Gallegos in New Mexico , USA , it was limited to just 300 pieces and given to dealers who took tables at the show.

Issue 5 was back to the mainline and a model in Gold to celebrate 55 years of Matchbox toys , once again the model was packed just one to a case but this time for a longer time frame making it easier to find.

The 2007 Best of British issue was a very pleasing issue in Green , great to see a Routemaster in non-London Transport red !

Next up the 2008 dream Halloween issue - short run for a Charity event in the USA

The 2009 Best of British issue saw a two tone colour scheme for yet another London livery , what a shame a provincial fleet name was not used such as Blackpool Transport - think of the amount of units can could have been shifted in North West souvenir shops ! Yet another opportunity missed.

The tenth issue was in Olive green and the easiest so far to find in the UK , it was still only one per case , but lasted for several batches.

Next up a short run of just 66 models (Code 2) to support the "Gathering" Toy show in New Mexico , USA

Sadly the Routemaster bus was retired from the 1-75 range in 2011.

[Site Map]