After a 9-hour drive through the Four Corners states, I have finally made it home from Albuquerque. There is a lot to talk about, and much of it will be in the final Ambassador Report from Shabbir Malik, which is due shortly. As soon as he releases it I will post it here.
Once I get settled I will also put up more model pics that I took while there. I will say, taking my little portable studio with me proved valuable, but kept me very busy. Not only did I shoot the fantastic exclusive models (and I hope you enjoyed looking at them), but I got access to many other things as well. Look for some of them over the next few days, including some very cool looks at the Matchbox prepros Mattel donated to the Saturday night auction.
As soon as I recover from all the driving, photographing, perusing, bidding, feeding a growing Japanese car addition, and hobnobbing (not to mention three great days with my two daughters while Mom relaxed at home), I will get to more posts. For now Matchbox Monday will be a little light. I will try to get another post up later in the evening if I can. If you haven’t, make sure to Like us on Facebook so you know when the next post is up.
But if I am going to do one post on Matchbox Monday, it should be of the model below. I was granted access to the Ambassador Bus before it was given to Shabbir on Saturday night, and I gave it the full photo treatment. It is unbelievably gorgeous.
If you aren’t aware of the Ambassador Bus, it is given to the Mattel-chosen Matchbox Ambassador at the end of his (or one-day “her”) one-year term. The model is a true one-off Code 1, produced at the factory in Thailand and shipped to the Matchbox team. As you can see in the photos, it is always in gold, and will include the outgoing Ambassador’s name, years of his term, and what number of Ambassador he is.
As you can see in the pics, Shabbir is #7, after John Yazounas, Jim Gallegos, David Tilley, Terry Ozima, John Nijhuis, and Chuck Wiersma.
The bus is one of the more unique Matchbox models, and I am sure Shabbir will greatly treasure it.
Matchbox Shabbir Malik #7 Ambassador Routemaster Bus:
“feeding a growing Japanese car addition”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I mean, glad I could help!
So when will you reveal YOUR role as the new ambassador to the world at large?
I follow Jeff Koch on this. Congrats, John!
It was loading fine for me the way before.
John congratulations on the title of ambassador, and please give strength to our campaign in Brazil to make a matchbox mattel bring the brand back into our country to be sold for we lovers of this brand will thank you.
Forget that, it would be so easy to recreate one of these yourself. Take a regular Routemaster bus, remove the paint, electroplate the thing in gold, slap on some custom tampos if desired, and presto! Your own personal ambassador bus without the silly politics or elitism. Go one better and put some Real Rider mag wheels on that baby, lol.
hooray for Shabbir, my frind & excellent Ambassador!!
hooray for John T.L. a well desreved position for a passionate collector!
-Terry Ozima
Good job done … and a nice add for your collection
Congrats to John for a well deserved tenure. Shabbir,
thank you for all you did and I appreciate your reports.