The Yellow car is based on a Lotus Formula 1 car I think. This came out in the late 60's/early 70's in several colour schemes and was one of the first Superfast Wheels designs, not previously made with the thicker pins and plastic wheel/tyre assembly. (Superfast saved the Company from the Hot Wheels invaders after Mattel stole a march on Lesney with their faster running cars - they were also more to scale and Corgi with their Juniors, which were much better models in terms of models but never really got a hold on the market).
The red one is vaguely based on a Trojan F5000 and appeared about 72/73, but does have the lobster claw front. Did Modus do a F5000 car? It was called team Matchbox, so not specified by Formula.
The Orange Car was also some kind of F5000 but not sure which, maybe a Surtees. I reckon that was produced c75. It was called Formula 5000 and later came out in Red.
A good example of the contrary names was the Ford Group 6 model aka F3L, I have several colour variants of this and it is outstanding.
I think i have all the pictured models somewhere but Matchbox never really went for true scale, just what would fit in the box, hence the odd proportions and non specific models designated as Formula 5000 or whatever. I will have a look for more info tomorrow and bore you all with the history!
Edited by Mark 13, 15 August 2011 - 22:11.
