A Civil Car Turns Into A Police Car

Although I don't collect Matchboxes with regular wheels, they sometimes appear in my restoration program. Just like this Matchbox Ford Zodiac Mk4. When I saw it the first time, I knew that it will be a police car - the Lesney only produced as a civil one.

In this case the body and the windows were ok, needed no spare parts, so I could start the work.
 

 

 

I had to drill a hole on the roof for the rooflight which was originally a miniature LED bulb.

It got the white colour, and I designed for it a unique Police Car decor, which should be somehow similar to the real UK police cars. 

At the end it got an own L-type box, too.

A Big-Big Mercedes

This Mercedes 600 SEL (W140) was a big car, looked bigger than any other Mercedes, so in Hungary its nickname was 'Bálna' means: whale. The Matchbox version is a fairly correct model, but a rarer one. 

Originally it looked like this:

It got a dark red metallic paint and I detailed it, too.

And finally I made a custom box for her.

A Smaller Brother of the Renault 18

 The Renault 14 looks like a shorter version of the Renault 18.

I found this Norev-made model still in 2021 autumn. It was quite naked, wearing no paint at all. Two original wheels were missing, too, so they had been replaced with Welly wheels.

 I thought, it should be a nice metallic green car with the realistic details on.

I made a unique paper box for it.

A Sweet Transformation

This was not a restoration, but a repaint with new identity. This is my favourite car, the Volkswagen 1600 variant (Type 3), but how the Hot Wheels painted it... 

I could buy it at a fairly good price - although it is a rare model in Hungary - and I thought, I will make another, much more attractive car from it.

I knew at once this German car must be a Milka chocolate delivery van. So after I removed the original coat, I painted it Milka-lilac.

The I assembled the parts and then made Milka-stickers.

I designed a custom box for her.

Didn't Stop At The Checkpoint...

This time I wanted to do something weird, something new with this Majorette-made Renault 25. Why the rear window was a bit broken, came the idea: this car is shot up! It is a smugglers' car with booze and cigarettes, which was shot up, because it didn't stop at the checkpoint.

Originally the chassis was metallic grey, but I wanted it black, because it fits better to a gangster car!

I found some 1:72 scaled soldiers - from my former collection, still from the eighties - to complete the diorama:

An Old Police Car With New Decor

It is always a joy to restore a Matchbox Mercury sedan Police car. It is not too easy to find a model for restore, but with good parts. Luckily in this case I found a proper one from the early SuperFast era.

As I disassemled it, I thought, I'd make not the usual Matchbox Police car.

The chassis was white and it is white - what else could it be - and the interior became light blue instead of the original cream colour.

It got a Missouri State Highway Patrol decor, not the known Lesney's Police car's stickers. I painted the details and the policemen, too.

A Fiat 1500 as a Taxi

I like this little Matchbox Lesney Fiat 1500 which had been issued in mint and red colour originally. I thought, I'd make something different, something new from it. So, it became a taxi!

The chassis and the widows were in good condition, only the roof luggage had to be replaced.

The new colour is taxi yellow - what else could it be?

And after assembling the car got its taxi-decor:

And last, not least, I made a custom garage for it!