1910 Renault Type AG Van

Box notes: "The chassis of this van has a wheelbase of 2.55mtr (8' 4½") and is fitted with a 2 cylinder 1204cc engine, giving a top speed of 40kph (25 mph). These vehicles were very reliable and long-wearing. They were produced with a variety of bodies and were put to many uses. This reliability was tested fully during World War One, for it was the basis of the famous "Taxi de la Marne" many of which carried French troops to the front lines" Scale: 1:38

This is one where you need to look out for casting & moulding variations. The first Perrier releases had two supports per side for the roof rack, when these were proved to be prone to breaking extra struts were added in making a total of three per side, which is what you will find on most of these vans. The next thing to look at are the grab handles on the bulkhead below the carriage lamps. A problem occurred with the windscreen mould tooling which resulted in them being filled in during the James Neale run. Several thousand were produced before the fault was fixed. The majority of the closed grab handle windscreens were fitted to the James Neale vans, but some were also fitted to later runs of Perrier, Duckhams, Eagle Pencil and Tunnocks.

I have found very many variations on this van if you count the issues listed above across the range of colours and liveries. I am sure that I don't have anything like all of them yet as it had a long production life from 1983 to 1989 while the Matchbox company was going through significant change which led to inevitable inconsistencies in production. The sign-writing on these vans is for the following brands: Duckhams, Eagle Pencils, James Heale, Perrier, Red Cross, Suchard, Tunnock's, Worthing Herald and more.

Most of these are of lowish value but keep your eyes open for Perrier vans with single supports on the roof rack and look for filled in grab handles on the versions listed above and James Neale with a dark blue chassis.