GunnerJim wrote:
 


 


Thanks GunnerJim. To give this "find" a bit more perspective, is it a rare thing? Or do these pop up more regularly. Not that I am really interested in the money, is there any value in it? , I bought it for € 2,00.


I am sure it is 100% original, nothing on this car, although showing play wear, has been tampered with.

The way those axles have been domed each end, are very hard to tamper with. If this number 24c was the Super Fast version then the plastic wheels can be heated in boiling water and pulled off and pushed on again. The 24c renditions included ivory interior, clear windows, black 4 or 5 line base plate depending with or without patent number, with and without tow slot on baseplate, silver hub caps or solid silver wheels metal grille.

Yes there is the odd blooper now and again and as this rendition was released onto the toy market in 1967 and then changed to Super Fast Wheels in 1970 to 1973. The blooper would be highly collectible for those who really like to have them in their collection.

Anyway the price paid  2 GBP is a good buy for such a blooper. We shall see what the other PD members might say about the price too which will be interesting.

So unto the next project. I am gonna repaint/restore this Dinky Phantom V and make it into the Royal car, named Lady Norfolk. It was the only Phantom V without the raised "Canberra" roof owned by the Britsh Royal family. It did have a bigger 3rd side window so that  the crowd could see HM ER II when sitting in de rear seat. This custom window was not favored by Rolls Royce Ltd. Now I need some claret paint.

2 euros is a good price for a car in the condition you have it in. Never seen the inside out hub, so yes it is a factory error in my opinion.


Good find Gerrit!

The Matchbox Rolls Royce Silver Cloud #44 is one of my favorites. It reminds me of my youth, and it was the first Matchbox model car in my life, given to me for my 6th birthday by my late brother in law Lambert (I have/had four older sisters). He told me it was a Rolls Royce and that it was a very special car because only royalty and millionairs could buy them. That set my heart on fire for Rolls Royce, so all I had to do in life was to become a millionaire, just to own a real one.


I bought  this particular car, which I resprayed in the meantime, when visiting my daughter last Saturday. Somebody in her neighbourhood had put it up for sale for a mere € 1,00.


As the picture shows this model suffers from the crack in the baseplate, the rear part was gone, something I have seen many times before. So it needed a new rear bumper. How practical a simple paperclip can be.


So now, 55 years after my first #44 Matchbox, I only need one million to become a millionaire; it is going into the right direction folks............

Interesting about the base plate cracking off like that although there is a step up in the casting just at the rear of the axle housing. I wonder if that is the causation.








Might as well add these three Rollers too.

GunnerJim wrote:
 It is a very weak spot, I have seen such cracking off many times before.
If you put some pressure on the car, the baseplate will sink into the body, and a crack is almost inevitable.

By the way those James Young Rolls Royce Phantom V Machtboxes are so great. J.Y made some of the most beautiful bodies on Rolls Royces, pity the company folded after the days of the Phantom V.

My other suggestions are, when pressure was applied to the rear riveted post area during assembling there could have been too much pressure applied and may have contributed to the cracking, thus weakening the alloy and braking off that part of the base plate at a later date in life. The other is someone might have tried to pull off the base plate by placing something under the rear bumper and levering the base plate till it broke off would be more probable than not.

GunnerJim wrote:
  


Whatever probable cause, like I said before I have seen these cracked/lost rear part baseplates many times. In fact whenever I visit a swapmeet (always on the look out for Matchbox # 44 Rolls Royces), 3 out of 10 playworn Silver Clouds have this problem. Looking at Ebay sales I found three examples of a base plate that has sunk into the body, with a certain absence of the rear bumper part, see pics.



Appartently Lesney became aware of this crack problem en thickened/beefed up the supporting chassis post of the body, so that the baseplate could no longer sink into the body that easily.

Interesting observations. I have a at least 1 MB RR, but have to dig it out to seeing whether it has thick or thin braces

Thanks for that detail information regarding casting defects. In the book The Yesteryear Book 1956 to 1996 written by Kevin McGimpsey and Sterwart Orr explains the die changes Matchbox had to do in stiffening up the diecast part and goes into detail as to why these structural changes were needed.

A whole lot of Solido Phantom III of which many modified/repainted:

NICE!

Exactly Theo.

Thank you.


Here a two pics from the Matchbox Diecast Rescue: