Matchbox Monday doubles up with a 911 call

As I mentioned yesterday, my examples of the MB1152 ’80 Porsche 911 Turbo that were a part of the Leipzig convention weekend arrived just as I was ready to post my “slightly early” report. So I thought I would get myself back on to the regular Monday morning post (well if you live in the UK or Europe that is) for showcasing them.

Okay, I know I am biased when it comes to these. It is my favourite car. Why would this not be the most amazing thing for me to behold? 4 different examples of the Matchbox moving parts casting in full premium clothing. I absolutely love them.

Dirk Schleuer has 4 different examples of them in total. From top to bottom we have the show model (orange, limited to 300 examples), the convention model (white, limited to 125 examples), best buddy model (black, limited to 75 examples) and ladies (pink, limited to 25 examples). He may still have some examples left, and if you are interested you can email him at info@moyshop.de to ask for more information. However, you might want to check www.moyshop.de for online ordering of the orange one, or perhaps check out his eBay page (https://www.ebay.de/str/moyshop) too. And remember, check out yesterday’s post as it also included the part C auction lots which you would also email Dirk (they are only be email) to get on the bidding train.

But this is me, and you know I am not going to keep these trapped inside those plexi-glass cases.

So, I am going to go in order. We start with the show model. For the last 2 years, they were in yellow, but this year the Porsche 911 Turbo is in orange. There were 300 examples made of this model in total, so let’s take a closer look.

Taking off the lid to bring us closer to the model, the actual shade of orange is actually quite deep, and the photos do seem to brighten it up slightly. It has a matte finish to it, and the tampo printing is done with ink jet printing.

So when you open completely and take a photo which enhances certain aspects, the ink jet printing does look to be slightly rougher than how it looks to the naked eye. When viewed in person you do not see the speckled effect of the printing, and the lines appear much sharper and smooth. So please remember that as you view these pictures.

The model has a full range of printing, and even has Porsche written across the window.

The wavy lines on this one are yellow, red and blue. Although where the stripes overlap, it also gives us orange and purple in them too. So in this case we are getting 5 different colours in the stripes.

The date is N39, meaning the 39th week of 2020 for production. This is fairly late in September, which shows we were cutting it fine to get there. But get there they did.

The Modell Hobby Spiel logo appears on the doors on the models.

The next most common model is the standard convention model. This is in white, with a black, white and grey striping system.

As we start opening this 1 of 125 edition, I can confirm that the white model also has a matte feel to it.

And as I stated before, this zoomed in photo enhances the ink jet printing which does not look as pixelated in real life. This looks really nice in an old fashioned black and white look, with only the Porsche badge and lights showing any signs of colour to it.

A few more angles of this one because, it’s a Porsche!

Who? Me? Biased? Yes, I really am. I am loving these.

A final shot on its own with the doors open.

So that’s 2 models down. What’s next?

Best buddy! As I noted in the report yeaterday, usually the convention would have a lot of people attending, and the first 75 models would be for the early bird attendees. The other 125 would be for the rest. However, with only 40 people attending due to the current climate, Dirk came up with a different scenario for this event. Those who brought a friend or a family member with them for company, they were rewarded with an additional “best buddy” model.

I have to admit, out of all the 4 models, this is my favourite one. I absolutely love it! This is in matte black, and features a yellow, red and grey wavy line system (and Porsche on the window is in yellow instead of white).

This is a stunning example of the model.

I am just drooling as I write these up. They are sooooo good.

A final shot of this one with the doors open.

And that is 3 models done. That leaves us with just the one left to showcase, and this is the rarest.

What Dirk refers to as the ladies model, as this is the one that is given to those who help him set up the convention, as he appreciates the help he gets in setting it up.

It is pink, with a pink, purple and white wavy line design. There were only 25 made of this one.

The rarest of the 4 models, and again, this pink has a matte finish to it.

So I was busy setting up a few solo shots of the model to showcase all the design being added to it.

A final shot with the doors open. The attention to detail is just amazing. Even the little things like door handles depicted are all there.

And that is the set of 4. All done for the Leipzig convention, and all in limited numbers.

A reminder, orange is 1 of 300, white 1 of 125, black 1 of 75 and pink 1 of 25.

All 4 feature a different colour combination of wavy stripes and as stated the black also has a yellow window strip.

Another little thing, I am not sure if people noticed at all as I was showing the models. The license plates on the rear. They are numbered L&MOYSHOP 1 – 4. The higher the nunber, the rarer the model. So again, many thanks to Dirk for sending me examples straight across to showcase on the Lamley blog, and if you are after 1 or more, please contact Dirk directly using the methods noted after the stack of plexi-cases pictures.

But this is me, so I can’t just leave things there can I. I have a habit of pulling out other models to photograph with them.

The thing is though, MB1152 doesn’t have an awful lot of variations. It debuted as part of the 2019 Superfast series in blue.

Of course production did throw up some variations as the shade of blue did vary quite a bit (often between doors and main body too).

And of course earlier this year did provide us with this awesome red Moving Parts version.

But that is it. 2 standard releases and now 4 promotional releases. So, where does this leave me? I know exactly where it leaves me. Time to pull out my favourite model of all time.

The 1978-1997 MB003 Porsche Turbo. Oh yes, this is going to be a long one….

Although I say 1978, the story actually starts in 1977. I do have in my possession a copy of the original blueprints. And these are massive. It is folded into 8, and each section is 16.5″ (42cm) x 13″ (33cm).

A little zoom in to the bottom right corner to find a certain A.J. Wallace was the designer, and the blueprints were dated 9/5/77. This was UK so that is 9th May 1977. That is when I class the model as conceived, born in 1978.

Although before it got to that stage, there was a case of setting up prototypes and practice runs. These orange and white prototypes are early examples before S-AN 161 was cast into the license plate.

As was this baby blue example.

Once S-AN 161 was cast, there were still a number of pre-production samples to work through. Like this dark green or olive green.

A lovely metallic gold example.

And 3 that are not too far away from each other. A pale pastel plum with red interior, darker plum with red and with tan interiors. Oh yes, there are a lot. I know others who have more prepros too. I am always still on the look out for more too.

But finally production gets underway. The first year was brown and came with either a light yellow or pale yellow interior. It could also be found in either gloss or matte finishes.

In 1979 it turned silver, and early examples still came with the pale yellow interior, but this soon turned to red and then tan.

Shades of silver do exist, and I have found a baby silver compared to regular silver too. There is a rare dot-dash wheel variant but I am still looking. Bases do vary but I have not been collecting those.

In 1980 it turned green where it would run for 2 years. This has always been a lot of fun for variations. Shades of green are abundant.

And again, interiors are all over the place, with red, pale yellow and orangey yellow to be found.

After 1981 they decided to work on some ideas for tampo prints. Here are a few samples of thoughts in their minds. The QXR one was a cool design.

But in the end they went with a red 90/Turbo design for 1982. However, this one isn’t a production one. Again it is a prepro. It has a red interior. It never came with a red interior.

Production saw either white or tan interiors.

And again shades were abundant, from an orangey-red through to a dark red.

We even found some examples sporting glow windows, and both interior types were found like that.

The model continued on through 1983, with the front being a 1983 issue. It was not so varied.

As production moved to Macau at that time, and it appeared quite consistent during that time.

They had plans for this black issue in 1984. It was going to be part of a Matchmates twin pack tied in with the Porsche 928 in a blue design, together with a Porsche badge. But it never made it past the pre-production stages.

But we did see a black version in the basic range. The tampo design was the same as on the red, except now it was in gold.

But in Japan, things went berserk! As well as the black issue, they had 2 additional releases exclusively for the Japanese market. Number 28 in the Japanese market was a racing designed white version, and number 78 in the Japanese market was a realistic red with black detailing example.

The black basic range (as well as the 2 Japanese exclusives) carried on for a number of years (the black until 1986 and Japanese until 1987), but we still saw various other items. In 1985 the UK ran a promotion for 2 models, one being a Porsche Turbo and the other a Porsche 935 Racing. These are 2 of the ideas that were being mooted for the Porsche Turbo. Polos are a british mint sold in tubes with (as it says on the model) a hold in them. Rolos are chocolate truncated cones with a caramel middle, sold in the UK since 1937, and now available in a number of countries. But with the 935 Racing sporting a Cadburys Button design, they decided to go a slightly different way.

It was blue with a Wrangler design. I even managed to find the Wrangler printing in a lime yellow shade or bright yellow shade.

It was actually based off the original 1984 Matchmates design that had been cancelled.

In 1986, the UK was going to have a BP promotion. Things were progressing for a set of 12 exclusive models, and production began on the first 6. At the last minute BP pulled out, and this left Matchbox with a run of 6 models sporting a BP logo on them somewhere. So they took these 6 models and simply overprinted the BP logo with something else. A BMW 323i Cabriolet was thrown in ROW window boxes and sold as a single, but the other 5 were thrown in multipacks and sold in USA. Anybody who owns this if they catch it at the right angle, they will be able to make out a BP logo under the large “3” on the doors. There is a preproduction example with the BP logo, but again I am still looking.

In 1987, Matchbox had a deal with a company called Trol to produce Matchbox models in Brazil unsing their Inbrima name. They made samples of both red and black model with a rather familiar look to them.

They used the design that the regular models had been using since 1982, although it was a little simplified. There are wheel variations. Gold or chrome 8-dots, and they also can be found with Brazilian own made 4-arch wheels. Looking like the usual 5-arch that the Porsche usually sports, but obviously 1 less arch.

In 1987 the regular Porsche MB3 finally saw a new look. With with a 14/Boss design. Look famililar again?

It was actually the same one that had been sold in Japan since 1984 as number 28 there, but the 14 on the door was smaller and boxed.

The design ran for 2 years, and in 1988 the windows turned clear and interior blue (were amber and tan before). The model was also included in the MP-106 Multipack that year too. But with all 3 Porsches in the set curently being sold in white as singles, 2 of them had alternate colours for the pack. The Turbo was in eggshell blue (935 was yellow, but 959 stayed white).

Also in 1988 Hong Kong saw a set of 12 promotionals for their New Year celebrations. One for each of their animals. The Porsche was the number 8 Racing Team with a dragon theme to it. I did find a rather unusual example where only the “8” on the roof was printed.

In 1989 the basic range issue changed again. This time it was blue with a yellow dashed side design. It ran for 1 year in the basic range but….

In 1990 was added to the TP-122 twin pack towing a Glider Transporter in the same design. These are actually 2 pre-production samples of the twin pack version alongside regular production. The easy way to tell is that they are Thailand based. Early twin packs were made in Macau before production moved swiftly to Thailand. These prepros are Thailand based.

So if you have a Thai based blue with yellow side design it will have come from the twin pack. A Macau based is most likely a single but may also be a twin pack.

This is because the model changed in the basic range to red before production moved. For 1990 it was now red with Turbo 911 on the doors and Porsche written in black under it. Production was started in Macau.

A new multipack was created for 1990, now sporting the 944 instead of the 935. It was called MP-804 this time, and now all the Porsches were turned to black. This came with the same design as the red, although I do own a pre-production sample where the side design was slightly altered. Not having a pre-production sample of the regular basic (yet, I am still hopeful), I cannot say if this was the basic’s planned design too.

By 1991 production had moved to Thailand, and at first the only real way to find a difference (without flipping the model over) was the check the interior. Or so you would think. Both of these tan interiors are from Thailand. Darker (very close to Macau) and lighter shades.

But by 1992 they decided to make a new change. The Porsche writing under the doors was changed to yellow. This ran until the model was finally replaced in the basic range in 1994. Not a bad run. MB3 from 1978 until 1993. I obviously was not the only person loving it!

In 1991 another multipack issue came about and with it another colour for the Porsche Turbo keeping the same design. MC-23 was a larger pack containing 4 miniatures and a Convoy. The Porsche set contained the Turbo, and all of the previous multipack models (944, 935 and 959) as well as a Daf Container Truck with Porsche on it. Of course, this is me, and I managed to get a pre-production sample of this too. The lemon yellow on the right was a hand painted sample with the model produced in a darker mustard yellow.

In 1992, TP-122 saw a new design for the Porsche and Glider Transporter set. Initial plans for the set were to be in red with a side design, but in the end they went with yellow. Although this pack was only sold in the US market for 2 years. The ROW market still sold the blue version.

1993 was proving to be a final year for the model as it was winding down. But it went out with a flourish. Matchbox had just been bought by Tyco and they set up a Fun Club for kids, and those joining would receive this exclusive Porsche Turbo with Fun Club logo on it.

It was also added to the Showstoppers series too. As I did show in my rundown of Showstopper models before, ideas floated about for a blue release, before it turned white. Even then the originally planned full colour front end ended up black and white for production.

The UK also saw a small promotional item too. Called the Sports Car Collection, this was a set of models, all sporty, packaged in blind bags and available for checkout counter display for impulse buys. Apart from a unique red Lamborghini Diablo, all the other models were older vehicles. However, these were now all made in Thailand. The Porsche Turbo was found in 2 previous designs.

The black was the older 1984-86 basic range issue, which is notable for having a butterscotch coloured interior and clear windows compared to the tan and amber before.

The white was the 1987-88 basic range issue, and this was a lot closer. The same interior as used in 1988 albeit slightly brighter, but the dark blue tampo printing was now almost black. After 1993 though, the casting lay dormant for a while.

But came back for a swansong in the 1997 Super Cars 5-pack. This was a blue with cream interior, and a white/blue side design. After this the casting was finally retired, after the best part of 2 decades.

The new casting is very reminiscent of the older one, especially when it comes to the interior. So that is my little run down of the Porsche 911 Turbo.

I hope you enjoyed my little run of Porsches. If you are a Porsche lover like me, this has been an awesome read. If you don’t like them, then…. Okay I don’t want to think of that.

Next week I will be returning to my usual run through of items received from Wheel Collectors and of course at my usual Matchbox Monday time. Until then, enjoy your week.