56 http://www.modelcollector.com | auguat 2019
| pre-production prototypes
My prototype has one-piece
grey wheels and displays 352
XMY number plates. These,
again, do not feature on
the set of number plate
stickers that were
issued with the van
that went on sale, so did
Lledo have a photo of
352 XMY in the BEA livery
that it modelled?
The final three models of
Lot 111 are all diecast pre-
production colour samples,
and once again their decoration
comes in the form of stickers.
The grille and bumpers are
now a chrome plastic moulding
sandwiched between the upper
and lower body casting, as per
the actual production models,
with the edges either side of
the grille painted in the body
colour. All of these prototype
vans have the indicators picked
out in orange, which I find quite
strange as most early Thames/
Anglia vans sported white
indicators, as they also
incorporated the sidelights.
Lledo Vanguards
pre-production model
for VA4004, Whitbread
The first of the colour pre-pro-
duction samples in this lot is
the Whitbread van, which was
yet another model that would
appear in a two vehicle set:
the Whitbread Service Vans
set. The prototype is painted
in brown, with a grey plastic
interior and black steering
wheel. It has a large maroon
Whitbread sticker affixed to
each side, a royal crown on
each front door, the fleet
number F.1066 at the rear of
each front wing and the
Whitbread and Co Ltd Head
Office address applied to the
rear of the doors. The van
does not have any holes in
the wings for wing mirrors, so
none are attached. The brown
wheels have silver hubcaps
and there is a FOO 836B
registration number fitted
front and rear. Other than the
fact the decoration has been
printed on to this prototype,
it is pretty much mirrored by
the models that actually rolled
off the production line.Lledo Vanguards
pre-production model for
VA4007, London Transport
This model is painted red
and has a black plastic
interior and steering wheel.
The livery consists of a London
Transport roundel and an
address on each side of the
van, with the words ‘LT
Posters Abbey, 1234’ on
each of the front doors.
There is also a sticker
across the back doorsreading ‘London Transport’
in white. The van has black
wheels with silver hubcaps
and the same registration
number as the Whitbread Van,
FOO 836B. Unfortunately,
it has lost one of its wing
mirrors. Once again, the
prototype is very close in
colouring and decoration to
the production model issued.Lot 96
This ‘Lot’ of box lid artwork
for ‘Vanguards’ special limited
edition sets trial samples is a
little bit of sequence, but I felt
it was better to be dealt with
at the end of the article, and
hopefully it will be obvious
why as the article pans out.
The ‘Lot’ contained six
prototype boxes, of which two
are associated with the Ford
Anglia. Both of the Anglia
boxes feature a ‘Vanguards’
background piece of paper
stuck to a square yellow box.
On the front of this paper
are cut out shapes featuring
artists impressions of the twovehicles there were intended
to appear in the box. The first
box shows the artwork for
the two-piece ‘Post Office
Telephones Service Vans of
the 50s and 60s’ set, featuring
the Ford Anglia van in green
GPO livery and the Morris
Minor van. The two vehicle
illustrations are also repro-
duced to a smaller scale and
stuck on the side of the box.
The second prototype box
shows the artwork for the two-
piece ‘The Broadspeed Racing
Anglias of the 1960s’ set,
featuring the maroon and
white Broadspeed Anglias
that were raced in the 1960s,
although the No. 7 car does not
feature a gold roof. As with the
previous box, the two vehicle
illustrations are reproduced
to a smaller scale and stuck
to the side of the box.
The icing on the cake for
me is that I now have twoThe Vanguards resin prototype
BEA Ford Anglia Van.Whitbread pre-production
Diecast model looking how the
final production model lookedThe London Transport
pre-production diecast
sample.The pre-production sample (left) alongside the final production model (right).