Saracen Personnel Carrier - 54a

I came across a reference the 1:1 vehicle when I was helping one of my children with his history homework, he was studying the Sharpeville massacre which occurred in South Africa in March 1960, apparently four Saracens were heavily involved; being used to move in the armed Police. So at the time I was playing with the repainted one below in England the full size vehicle was involved in that tragic day on the other side of the World.

Matchbox introduced the model as part of a larger range of military vehicles in 1958 and continued with it in the range up to 1965 and in this long production run it remained largely unchanged. There were slight variations to the paint colour, some casting anomalies visible under a magnifying glass and the early ones had crimped axle ends, being replaced fairly early on by rounded axles.

Being a popular model over a seven year run these are not rare and consequently do not demand high prices. Most of the guides list all the versions as of equal value although Ramsay puts a small premium on the crimped axle version.