[REVIEW] Lesney Matchbox Morris Minor 1000

Lesney Matchbox time is here again. Today we examine Lesney Matchbox 46a, the Morris Minor 1000. This casting entered the range in 1958, and experienced a short run, remaining until 1960. As one might know, this is a vehicle that couldn’t be more British:

The Morris Minor is an iconic car, providing modern mass market motoring to a car-starved postwar Britain as well as numerous export markets. It was a popular and endearing car, remaining in production for over 20 years in various forms. Lesney captures it in fine form with this Matchbox version. Scale is hard to estimate, this is a somewhat diminutive casting, but also not a huge real world vehicle. I’ll estimate it to be in the upper 1:60s. This is a 1958 casting, and lacks the features seen in the next decade - this is a hollow casting with no glazing, no moving parts. Still, it is a high quality model, with ample fine line casting detail, and accurate proportion. From all angles, most will know what this is:

Front and rear have similar detail, with the handpainted bumpers and lights standing the test of time:

The base is basic, as was the style of the time, and contains identifying data:

This example is fortunate enough to live in its original earlier Type B box. With this box type and the variant of this car (dark green, metal wheels), it is likely an earlier release made in 1958:

A fun artifact, the original pricetag, one shilling sixpence, so it was sold either in Britain or in a non-decimal commonwealth area:

I am no doubt pleased to have this casting in my collection. This model has fine aesthetics, and is relatively uncommon with its short production run. It is a fine example of the charming mellow castings of the early Lesney Matchbox years:

And a couple 1:1 images from simoncars.co.uk: