Nice dumper, who made it?

RoutemasterNL wrote:
   


Hi


This is a Matchbox King Size Foden Dump Truck


 


The Foden quarry dump truck is K5 in Matchbox’s "King Size" range and was issued in 1961 and withdrawn in 1967. The version illustrated is an early issue with metal wheel hubs. Later versions had red plastic wheel hubs.


 


It represents in miniature a Foden FR.6/45 Dump Truck.


 


Chris

Matchbox King Size KW-Dart Dump Truck

Matchbox King Size KW-Dart Dump Truck 9 by Chris Sweetman, on Flickr

Matchbox King Size KW-Dart Dump Truck 5 by Chris Sweetman, on Flickr

Scale: 1:96th

Matchbox King Size KW-Dart Dump Truck 7 by Chris Sweetman, on Flickr

Matchbox King Size KW-Dart Dump Truck 8 by Chris Sweetman, on Flickr

This toy truck was produced from 1964 to 1969. It comprises of a tractor unit and non-removable articulated dump body section. These along with the twin exhaust stack and twin air horns are made in die-cast zinc alloy. Plastic is used for the wheel hubs/tyres and green tinted windows. The dumper raises and lowers with a realistic 'hydraulic' tipping action. This is made possible by a pair of hydrosleeves either side of the dumper unit. This superb model was made in England at the famous Lesney factory in London. Illustrated in the 1964 Matchbox Collector's Catalogue as a new introduction and priced in the 1965 catalogue at 7/11.

The Dart Truck Company started in 1903. They built bonneted trucks in the 2 & 3 ton capacity until the late 1920's. Then at the start of the 1930's they expanded their range to produce trucks from 1.5 to 10 tons plus they added an articulated tractor unit. In 1958 they became part of the Pacific Car and Foundry Company (later known as Paccar Inc.) of Bellevue, Washington, USA with a change of name to KW-Dart. With this change of ownership production concentrated on heavy dump trucks. In 1970 the KW part of the title was dropped. From 1984 Dart has had a range of owners and is now absorbed into the Caterpillar group.

BTW Matchbox's version could be a D6430 75 to 85 tons capacity dump truck which is illustrated in a 1963 KW-Dart catalogue. Info from:

www.hcvc.com.au/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1356309235

Now if it wasn't for Matchbox how many of us would have known the existence of KW-Dart? Matchbox could have chosen a KW-Dart rigid dump truck but decided to give us kids in the 1960's something a bit different.

Chris

Foden dump trucks were developed from 1947 and released in two and three axle configurations. The two axle version had a capacity of 21 tons and three axle version 35 tons. In the early post war years Britain was engaged in re-building its infrastructure and many commercial vehicle companies started to introduce models like dump trucks to cope with the demand for construction vehicles. Foden became famous for their off-road dump trucks and were represented in miniature by major toy manufacturers with Dinky Toys producing a three axle model and Lesney a two axle version in their King Size series.



Dinky Toys introduced their fabulous half cab Foden Dump Truck with bulldozer blade in 1961 and it was withdrawn in 1968. One that I always longed for when I was a lad and was hoping that it would be a Christmas present sometime in the mid 1960’s! Issued under reference number 959 it was a late entry into what would become Dinky’s classic period and had modern features like windows and featured a more realistic ‘hydraulic’ movement to the tipping action. It was a robust model measuring 165mm and because it was in Dinky’s Supertoys range it is around 1:48th scale. The reason for the addition of the bulldozer blade was that it was based on a real version that was one of six built specifically for use in a Sheffield steel works.

Dinky Toys 959 Foden dump truck with bulldozer blade 1 by Chris Sweetman, on Flickr

Dinky Toys 959 Foden dump truck with bulldozer blade 2 by Chris Sweetman, on Flickr

Dinky Toys Foden Dump Truck with Bulldozer blade 1 by Chris Sweetman, on Flickr

Dinky Toys 959 Foden dump truck with bulldozer blade 3 by Chris Sweetman, on Flickr

Chris

Matchbox Super Kings Leyland tipper collection. Old recycled photo from my collection on PD.

The Dinky Foden is a wonderful model, more commonly available with a red body and silver chassis.