Matchbox Monday evolves a Jeep Hot Rod

So I am still waiting for new items to arrive (as are many MANY people around the world). But as I said last week, I don’t want to sit around and twiddle my thumbs doing nothing in the interim, so I am coming up with random filler blog reports to pass the time until I can showcase new items again. Items could arrive at any time. So I am busy working week to week in taking photos and preparing a report. This week I decided to go Jeep crazy. So if you really despise classic Jeeps then I am really sorry. It was nice seeing you, and I will see you next week for something different. But if you enjoy a good old fashioned Jeep, then boy is this report going to be up your alley.

I begin with a prologue. Back in 1964 Lesney created their first Jeep casting, adding it to the basic range. It was a Jeep Gladiator Pickup and it ran in red from 1964 until 1968. After this, they decided to go with a classic look and created the standard Jeep (this I believe was a CJ5) and added it as MB72 in 1967. It was always sold in yellow and in 1970 made the transition from regular wheels to Superfast wheels for what would be its final 2 years in the range.

During these 2 years we saw a variety of shades to the yellow and of course the model never updated the rear end. It still sported a spare tyre which originally was able to be swapped with one of the 4 on the main wheels, but as a Superfast was just a piece of plastic on the back. In 1971 Lesney were coming up with new ideas for creating more bizarre vehicles, and came up with this.

The MB2-B Jeep Hot Rod. Now considering they were often good at creating new vehicles out of existing castings, for some reason they decided that this particular model would be an entirely new build. It was built from scratch using no parts that were on the original casting.

Now the pink look was the main look for this casting. Debuting in 1971 it ran for 4 years like that. This meant there was going to be a lot of variations to look for. For starters, how many shades of pink was it available in? I do personally have 7 distinct shades when viewed by the naked eye. But when you try and put too many together in one photo, they tend to start blurring into each other. So I am limiting this to just 3 that I felt really stood out well in picture.

The interior was also good for a shade or 2. Well actually 4, as it was found in white, ivory, pale yellow and dark yellow. The dark yellow one is still elusive for me, but I hope to nab one some day.

And of course the base was painted green. Again, always good for shades. I have to admit I have not deliberately hunted these down, but in getting shades of pink I have naturally picked up some great base shades too.

As 1974 was finishing, they had a plan to change the model to red with a white base for a final year. But what the R&D people in the offices have in their minds is always different to what actually happens on the factory floor. Especially in the Lesney factory. Pink with green base, red with white base. Simple, yes? Huh? What? Was that pink with white base?

No the white base goes on the red model. Ah! Oops! We did some pinks with white bases…. Oh well, too late now. Oh dear. We have a bunch of green bases and have already switched to red bodies.

Ah well, nobody will notice. Yes, transitioning model designs during the Lesney era was a huge amount of fun for collectors, as the variations were countless. One thing that always amazed me with this model was the exhaust pipes sticking out of the top. They were also used on the Baja Buggy except those were red. They did accidentally put black pipes on the Baja Buggy, but I have never seen a red piped Jeep Hot Rod. I have heard that at least 1 exists, on a red model too. After 1975 the model was dropped from the basic range, replaced by a Rescue Hovercraft in 1976. And this is where things go completely nuts.

Because as 1976 arrived, the Rescue Hovercraft was not out immediately on Jan 1 so the Hot Rod would have still have a few production runs left. But they decided to include the model in the new twin pack series too. The model was paired with a Hondarora as TP-11. But the huge exhaust pipes sticking out the front were not exactly army real. So they modified the casting to cover up the front.

And to differentiate, they also wiped the no2 and Hot Rod parts of the base for the army model. Of course some of the early army Jeeps have the No2 and Hot Rod on their bases. I haven’t attempted looking personally as if it involves having to turn a model over to find the variation, I don’t bother with it.

But there was a twist. As quickly as the old Jeep Hot Rod was gone, a new Jeep casting was debuting in the MB38 slot. MB38-C was simply Jeep. Although this new basic range issue did have something the twin pack model didn’t. A gun on the back.

So this meant another small modification needed to be made. The gun was sticking up too high so they made a divot into the top of the window piece to accommodate it and to help keep the gun in place. The thing is, once they made that divot, that was it. It stayed forever!

So obviously the twin pack models all started being sold with a divot in the top even though they had no gun on the back.

Early models were in what is known as olive drab but after complaints from store keepers over them being unappealing because they were too dark, later production runs brightened the colour up.

So this was the basic plan. The twin pack issue would sport no gun and feature a simple star label. The basic range issue would have more, both in terms of parts and label. A gun would be in the rear, and the label would sport a 21 and 11 tab on each end. Easy enough right? Wrong!

Tab labels, you know, the “extra” label for the model with the extra parts. Or as the factory called it; Jeep label.

The simple label without tabs for the model that has no extra parts. Or as the factory called it; Jeep label. No wonder they kept getting mixed up! Either label appeared on either casting. And yes, either casting was also found in single or in twin pack use too. And trust me, I haven’t even started on bases yet.

Or wheels. Army model, don’t chrome them! Oops! Too late.

The default base for this model has no38 Jeep on it. Even on those that were in the twin packs. The thing is though, the twin pack model ran until 1978. The basic range model ran until 1979. This led to so much more confusion.

Ta-Dah! A US Mail Truck. In 1978 Lesney were trying to encourage more sales in the USA market, and came up with a set of 10 limited edition models exclusively in blisterpacks for that country. These were mainly older models that were no longer in use, slightly retooled, and mainly renamed. But one of them was another variant to the Jeep. They added a canopy to the top of the model, painted it powder blue and sold it as Sleet-n-Snow. These limited edition models were only available this one year, and were all given unique numbers using Roman Numerals. This was number II.

The model turned darker blue very quickly for the remainder of the limited edition run and powder blues are not the easiest to find. But with this new casting officially, came a new base. It was a very simple alteration where they just created an alternate base with a tab over the original No38 Jeep with NoII Sleet-n-Snow on it.

Except the factory had no clue what was happening and were just flinging on whichever base they felt like flinging on at the time.

In 1979, with the success of this particular model as a limited edition, they decided what the heck, let’s just put it in the basic range. It was added to the MB5 slot and they renamed it US Mail Truck. With this came another new base alteration. The NoII Sleet-n-Snow tab was replaced with a No5 US Mail Truck tab. To the factory workers it was just another base to throw into the random pool of bases.

Of course another thing with this model was that it had a canopy. To hold the canopy in place they cut a square hole into the seats on each side of the rear of the model.

And what that meant was that all Jeep related castings would see this hold in the seats look too. Now the Jeep with Gun casting went one stage further by adding a tab to the rear over the tow hook. I have no idea why they did it to that casting, but other did not have the massive hole in the middle where the gun would go and as such were not updated with the tab.

Another twist was that the TP-11 was now gone as of 1979, but there was another Jeep in twin packs too. Launched in 1977 was TP-7 Gliding Set that had a yellow Jeep towing a Glider transporter. Originally it was going to be metallic silver, then they changed their mind and went with yellow. This model was still a part of the twin pack series and as such was seen with either the No38 Jeep, NoII Sleet-n-Snow base or No.5 US Mail Truck base. It didn’t have a gun in the back (although a pre-production one does exist, as does a US Mail Truck liveried blue Jeep with gun), so never saw the tab over the rear tow hook, but as it ran beyond the debut of a certain Jeep with canopy, this did also see the change to the seats.

However, they were noticing that the canopy wasn’t holding very well in a plastic seat. So they decided to alter the casting again. By the end of 1979 it had been changed so that the holes for the canopy were now a part of the metal body section which allowed the canopy to hold in place better. Of course with a US Mail Truck you would have to remove said canopy to see which was which.

But on Jeeps with more open rear ends, this was much easier to see. The TP-7 Jeep was going to turn red in 1979. It didn’t. They just kept rolling with yellow and it faded out in 1980. So late run hole in metal body models are easier to find. The MB38-C Jeep with gun was dropped at the end of 1979 and as such those final run models with a hole in the metal body are much harder to find. I am still looking myself. You may notice this particular late run yellow Jeep also had a white base. That’s because as of 1980 there was only this and the US Mail Truck still being produced. It seemed easier to just do white bases all round. This was soon dropped leaving the US Mail Truck as the sole remaining Jeep in production.

That one finished up in 1981. It remained pretty much unchanged on the surface, although as noted, the base could say a variety of things, the interior could see the rear seats with holes or the altered metal body with holes to accommodate the canopy. But apart from oopsie models (we forgot to chrome the wheels, we forgot to put a red sticker on the canopy, we forgot to put US Mail on the front) there was a very late change. For 1982 they decided they were going a different way with the Jeep and one of the 2 new directions involved making a change to the canopy. A new wider hole canopy was created for the 1982 model, except nobody can count in the factory and they ran out of the original canopies before they ran out of US Mail Trucks to put them on. So the last ones off the production line saw the new wider hole canopy debut a little early (in white, as it was going to debut in red).

So 1982. Lesney created 2 new looks for the Jeep. All previous incarnations were no longer in use. The casting was altered with an all-new base section, and a new roll bar piece was created for one, as well as a bull bar front on that one too. They went to all that trouble, and nobody though to fill in the divot that the gun had been resting on. As I mentioned, the gun itself was stopped after 1979. But that divot for it remained.

The model with the biggest alteration was MB005. 1982 being the year that the MAN number system was introduced, due to a brand split in 1981 causing way too many hiccups at the factory. The first 75 models in the MAN number system were the ROW 1-75 series. This had debuted as MB5-D replacing US Mail Truck worldwide. Now the base for both literally just said 4×4 Jeep on them. But to distinguish we just went with the obvious. MB005 is 4×4 Jeep with roll bar. The first year’s production was in England. It was in metallic golden brown with a Golden Eagle hood design. The one at the front here I actually had in 1982. Not held up too badly as I was 10 at the time and still really into playing with them. I did as a collector later on go for an upgrade, but that was significantly darker and was added alongside it. I will upgrade it eventually, but there is not rush.

The other model was given the MAN number MB095. This is because it was not sold in the ROW range. It was a US exclusive release MB20-C 4×4 Jeep. Which we call “with canopy”. As I said, this was the new canopy piece that they had to rush release a little early on a final run of US Mail Trucks due to not getting quantities tabulated correctly.

But Lesney decided that to further differentiate this from the other 4×4 Jeep casting, this one would not have bull bars on the front of the model, and as such had a different interior piece. This also saw some nice shade variations to the model, this time based around the Desert Dawg 4×4 tampo printing. It ranged from quite a light orange to an almost red look.

And well, this was Lesney. You just knew they would mix things up. But as we know, Lesney were to go bust in late 1982 and Universal swooped in grabbing the company to keep it going. One of the first things they did was to move production of various models. Now the majority of ROW only issues were left in England. The majority of US only issues were sent to Hong Kong, and the models that were being sold worldwide went to Macau.

But this one was a bit of an anomaly. With MB005 being worldwide, and MB095 being US only, the majority of parts were being shared, so they decided they might as well just send this all to Macau. Macau took one look at the parts, and said why is there 2 interior parts? One with a bull bar on the front and one without. Does it matter? No? And they chucked the interior without bullbar. This pre-production sample is a test mule of the interior with bull bar being attached to the canopy. All looks good. Yes, let’s make it.

MB005 just carried on. Production now was just in Macau for 1983.

But as you can see, the final look for the Macau made 4×4 Jeep with roll bar was quite noticeably different to either of the English ones. A much deeper, browner colour.

But the other model for the US range? That was all new for 1983. Black with a white roof, red interior/bull bar and a Laredo design. The Laredo package was one of the trim levels that Jeep were making in real life between 1980 and 1986 on this vehicle. Although funnily the Laredo package involved adding lots of chrome, mainly around bumpers and front grille. Something the model did not see.

After 1983 the MB5 Jeep was dropped from the ROW range and from 1984 became a US exclusive. At this time they also changed the model from brown to red, while keeping the same hood design.

But in a twist, the MB20 US exclusive from 1983 became a worldwide release as of 1984, when the Laredo looking Jeep with Canopy was added to the ROW range as MB14. 1985 saw no change.

But in 1986 another twist occurred. The Laredo trim package was not exactly well know worldwide, and they thought that perhaps outside the US market, the Jeep might do better not saying Laredo. So what did they do? The ROW MB14 they switched to look like the US MB5. Except the ROW MB14 had a canopy, the US MB5 had a roll bar.

Plus they also gave the ROW model a grey interior. But in the US, MB20 was still the black Laredo model. This was how 1986 and 1987 looked. ROW markets with an MB14 red Jeep with canopy, US markets with an MB5 red Jeep with roll bar and MB20 black Jeep with canopy.

They started to have a little fun with the casting too. In 1986 it was added to the Superchargers series. A new Monster Truck series with huge wheels. This was joined by Mud Monster in the early 1990s, as part of a new Mud Racers sub-set, this time with a huge engine sticking out the front too. I do not have that one as it was a US only release. This was in black with a Hawk design as SC-8. In 1987 Road Blasters were created and underneath all that extra body armour is an MB005.

There it is. Roadblaster was a lot shorter run, as it only lasted the one year (officially, as due to a side deal with Tomy they did return in Japan later).

In 1988 we were back to this for the basic range. The US market only selling them. But as the 1980s ended, so did metal bases.

This was the new look running until 1992. Another twist, the ROW range decided to pop the red Jeep with roll bar into the range as MB56 in 1990 too. It lasted a brief 2 year stint before going again. The ROW range had a thing about Jeeps lasting 2 years didn’t they. As such the model rolled through Macau production and Thailand production as they tools were moved at the end of 1990.

I am starting to get ahead of myself a little here. Because 1989 saw another side issue of the Jeep with canopy. It was a part of the Commando series, in Strike Team colours, and because these ran through 1989 and into 1990, the base of this also went through the cost reduction too.

After this, all Jeep issues were now sporting a plastic base. The next was the My First Matchbox release. It debuted in 1990 and ran through 1992. Therefore early production was in Macau before it moved to Thailand alongside the basic range model. At first the red wheels had green hubs, but these were later left plain.

The next side adventure was a proper adventure. In 1991 Matchbox released a playset called Jeep Jamboree, and included in this set was a special yellow Jeep with roll bar featuring a 50th Anniversary design.

1993 was significant. This was the year that Matchbox launched the brand new all unique 5-packs, which still run to this day. Until then, random multipacks had been sold throughout the history of the brand, but apart from random variations, or throwing in unique items randomly to get rid of surplus stock (looking at the MP-1 from 1980/81 which was a dumping ground for many models scheduled for Japan before they cancelled the unique range there), this was one of the first things that Tyco decided to do when they took over the brand. The first year only saw a few sets, but each one was great as each model included was in a unique look. One of those sets was the Off Road set, and featured a version of both Jeeps. The roll bar model in blue and canopy model in yellow. Some used to class these as a US only issue, but Woolworth in the UK used to sell them. That was where these 2 came from, as that first year I picked up all 3 sets from my local Woolworth.

But that wasn’t it. Each casting saw another unique look that year. The roll bar model, well that was in pink with a white flash over the front. It was in a Dream Machines 3-pack that year. It was part of a push from Tyco, which at the time seemed perfectly normal, but would probably be frowned upon now, to try and market Matchbox towards girls more. The 3-pack featured artwork on the back to be cut out to create a little play scene.

The canopy model, well that also had a new look. For the basic range! Yes, after debuting the Laredo black model in 1993, a decade later for 1993 they gave it a desert army look.

Of course MB5 for the US range was still the same red Jeep that had arrived back in 1984. But that wasn’t about to change after a decade because 1994 saw the 2 Jeeps unchanged for the US range.

But 1994 did see a few other items. This higher detailed blue Jeep with roll bar was a part of the Collectors Choice series, taking the number 18 slot in the set of 24. These were created through White Rose and they were going to do more series, but White Rose finished their contract with Matchbox before any more got made.

We also saw 2 different promotional issues, both in red. One was plain red with white headlights as a part of a Belgian promotional set (pictured) and the other had Wolff Systems logo on the hood and no white headlights, and was a US promotional issue (not pictured because I haven’t got it yet).

It was 1995 when the MB5 US exclusive Jeep in red finally saw a new look. IT was now purple with a Bad to the Bone livery.

And was one of 20 models that saw a deliberate variation by Tyco, aimed squarely at the collector, where they removed some of the tampo print later on in the year.

The 2 models were also featured in 5-packs again. This time though, they were in different packs, as the amount of packs was being increased. The white model with black patches was in the 1995 Off Road 5-pack, and the tan with camouflage model was in the Military pack.

We were close to seeing some more. Plans were underway to introduce a special series known as Chromers, which featured models in, well, coloured chrome looks. But the series never got off the ground and the models only appeared in pre-production form.

1996 rolled around and amazingly both the US basic range models were given new looks. The MB5 was still sporting a Bad to the Bone livery, but was now charcoal. The MB20 was now in army green with a star livery.

But 1996 proved to be the end for the Jeep with canopy as a basic range model. It was dropped after that year. But the roll bar variant had 1 more year left in it for basic range outings. This final look was blue with a yellow and pink hood design and bright yellow interior. Of course as it had stretched to the 1997 range, this also meant it got a Gold Challenge model too.

With the roll bar variant getting so much basic range action that year, the Canopy variant was given some other roles to play. Another 5-pack issue? Why don’t mind if you do. The Desert Assault Force saw another tan look with a simple brown camouflage.

And in USA, Walmart had a unique set of packs that would appear at their Sam’s stores. In 1997 a 15-pack appeared there with some exclusive models, one of which was the Jeep now in tan, but featuring the same design that had been on the 1996 basic range model.

As the model was winding down, we saw a Mountain Trails 5-pack in mid 1998 which ran through to early 1999. At first production was in Thailand, but shortly after it started the tooling was sent to China where it finished up. Amazingly the 2 factories made an almost identical finished product.

Also in late 1997 through 1998 the Jeep with canopy was a part of a small Military Hospital playset. the first run had the crosses in red, with RB104 in white, but soon after, the tampo turned all white. I am still looking for the red and white variant. One day!

Finally, 1999 saw the end of the 2 castings. The canopy variant was in the Star Cars series representing M*A*S*H. I did notice some lovely shading to that one.

And the other Jeep was also in Star Cars, this time representing Mork & Mindy.

2 rather iconic looks for the models. And as you can see, by the time the castings finished their tenure, both still had the divot for the gun. We never saw the Jeep in these guises in the 21st century. But that was still not the end of the story.

Because of Elvis Presley. Wait? What? That’s right. In the early Mattel era, they had secured a license to create some Elvis related Collectibles models, and in 2001 they released a series of 5 models called The Graceland Collection. These were of vehicles that are situated in Graceland in the Elvis Car Museum. Three castings were brand new for the series, one was the 1957 Ford Thunderbird (as he just happened to have one that Matchbox already had a casting of), and the final one was a 1960 Jeep. Well, basically, this was pretty much the MB005/MB095 body with a few tweaks. So why go to the expense of creating an all-new casting, when they can just modify what they already have. So enter MB505. A 1960 Jeep with Canopy.

They took the bare bones of the previous casting, made a few alterations and tweaks to turn it into a lovely replica of Elvis’ real 1960 Jeep, and donned it in the actual pink he had.

But they left the divot for the gun. Seriously? After all that extensive surgery to the model to turn it into a replica of his, they went and left that divot. It did make me smile. That doesn’t exist on Elvis’ model. It was a carryover from the MB38-C.

It is amazing how so much about the model was altered to accommodate the realistic look of his Jeep. But they missed that one little bit.

In 2002, part of a deal they had with Avon, who were selling exclusive Matchbox content through their catalogue, a special 4-pack of the Elvis Graceland models was sold. All apart from the Thunderbird were then cost reduced down from a premium level casting to a core level casting and packaged in an exclusive 4-pack box.

In 2003 they decided to include the Jeep in an Osbournes themed Collectibles series, but felt the look they were going for would work better with a roll bar than with a canopy, so brought back the roll bar to the new, altered casting. This warranted yet another MAN number, MB570.

And in 2004, the Jeep (with the canopy) was given the number 53 slot in the new Superfast series. This proved to be the last outing for this casting. Either as a canopy (3 variations) or with a roll bar (just the 1 variation).

Which is not bad going really, as this was technically all still based off that original 1971 Jeep Hot Rod. A casting, that in one form or another ran for 33 years.

And since 1976 with a divot on top to rest the gun on.

Although, as you can, the 2003 Osbournes special was still able to use the Roadblasters additional items, so could hold much more than a gun.

So there you go. One history of the Jeep Hot Rod, through Jeep, Jeep with gun, Sleet-n-Snow/US Mail Truck, 4×4 Jeep with roll bar, 4×4 Jeep with canopy, 1960 Jeep with canopy and 1960 Jeep with roll bar.

This casting had quite the journey. But I am not quite finished.

As obviously I started this story with an earlier Jeep before the Hot Rod casting first debuted.

Well after they finally retired at after a third of a century, it wasn’t long before they got a classic traditional Jeep back in the range again. The MB784 ’43 Jeep Willys. It debuted in 2010 and is still going strong.

Now this was an entirely new casting, built from the ground up. No parts from before were used in the build of the new model. But did you know that they purposely installed an Easter Egg to the Hot Rod?

Have you ever wondered why a spade was cast into the side of the casting? It’s because it was cast on the Hot Rod, and ran through until the 4×4 models. Only the Mattel era 1960 models had them wiped off. So they decided to pop one on there for a little nostalgia.

And as I have them out, why not finish off with another recap of what has come so far. 2010 was in the midst of the 3-way brand split. 100 models for the US market, a selection of 75 for LAAM and a different selection of 75 for ROW. Up to the MB75 slot, any model from the US range that was in either LAAM or ROW was given the same number. Those from above MB75 in the US range that were also going to be sold in either LAAM or ROW ranges were slotted in whatever gaps were available. Sometimes the same gap if the slot was empty in both markets, but more often than not it was all different. So this, debuting as MB96 in the US market, it was given the MB65 for the Latin American market and MB61 for the rest of the world. And we couldn’t help noticing how during production of the debut issue how some wheels came out quite creamy compared to the gunmetal grey of the others.

Plus they gave us a version 2 too. 3 batches after the debut, it turned from army green to desert sand. Or light desert sand, as I did see shades to this one.

They also slipped it in the 1st Editions 10-pack at the end of the year too, in a yellowy tan, which again was good for a shade or 2.

In 2011 Mattel had a plan that year to keep any model in the same slot in the basic range in the US series. So this was still MB96. However, through pure fluke, both the MB65 and MB61 slots were also free again and so they kept it in those slots for the 2 other markets. It was a lighter olive green with an Anaconda Guides side design.

It was also a part of the 2011 Lesney Edition series, where models were featuring metal bases too. This was its only metal base release, in matte grey with a Service Patrol design and full tampo printing all round.

In 2012, with the range expanding to 120 worldwide (no split any more), models were back to the original Mattel plan of switching numbers each year, and this was now MB108. It came in brown with a Swamp Crew design, and during production this too was good for some shading.

It also saw its first 5-pack release too, in a Battle Mission pack in black.

In 2013 it only saw the 1 release. Again it was a 5-pack release, this time in matte reddish brown with an MBX F.D. design which, because I have 2, again shades, I can show both sides, as the one without the spade got the F.D. writing. The pack was simply called Desert.

2014 saw it return to the basic range as MB94 in a bright yellow Lifeguard theme.

It was also a part of a Mission Force set for the first time. The set was called Tactical, and this model was again in army green.

2015 was like 2013, where only a 5-pack release was sold. This was called Battle Mission and the model was a dark metallic green.

2016 saw 2 releases. Again it was in a 5-pack. This was called Military and the model came in black with a Military Police design. The paint finish to the black was noted to change during production. You could find it in a satin finish or a matte finish.

Another army green model was also sold in 2016, exclusively in Walmart as it was a part of the Jeep set that year.

I have often wondered if this too was a nice little nod to the Lesney classics. The star design on the front is definitely very familiar.

After that the model took a year out, before reappearing in the 2018 basic range in army green with a somewhat familiar look.

Why it was the debut release without the top tampo.

Or the front lights depicted, as they were likely done at the same time as the top print was applied. Of course the model was a noticeably different green too.

It then took another year out before seeing a new design in the 2020 basic range. MB68 was metallic blue with a Willy X design, and side details highlighted.

It was also a part of a second Mission Force set. Lunar Team was a reddish bronze with an MBX F.D. side design. Wait a sec….

Yes it was another carry forward. But just like the other one, noticeably different. The model was more of a satin finish compared to the matte of the original 2013 5-pack release, and the wheels were no longer highlighting the cogs in the middle. Although if you look carefully, it is a gold ring around the wheels, not yellow too.

And in 2021 we saw another Willy X basic range release. This time MB76 was in red, not blue, and also included some WARN logos too. Warn Industries being an American company that has been producing winches and other accessories for off-road vehicles since 1948. It is really cool seeing some real logos in use again. I wonder what it will look like next?

So there you have it. The epilogue to the story. If you like Jeeps, I hope you enjoyed it. If you really do not like them, I am really sorry I put you through all that.

But I thoroughly enjoyed getting all these Jeeps out for a photoshoot. From the pinks.

And the reds of the original Hot Rod right through to the….

Army green that is so often associated with these classic Jeeps. Next week is still being decided. As of the time of writing I do not know if I will be doing anything new or whether I will be doing a further dive back. It all depends if I get anything new arriving before I begin my next write up. But rest assured there will be something next week. Until then, have a safe week and catch you next Monday for more Matchbox goodies.