Matchbox Carmichael Commando, Skoda 130R, and 1968 Volvo P1800S coupe

Here are three Matchbox models from Europe that are unique, each having distinctive character, and are rarely seen on today’s roads or car shows.

Carmichael Commando

When fire departments need special vehicles they are limited on what they can buy from manufacturers so in an attempt to rectify the situation aftermarket conversion outfitters will redesign the specific model to a department’s needs.  That is the case behind the Carmichael Commando, a British fire truck outfitter that got the chance in the 1970’s to take the new Range Rover and convert them to six-wheel fire trucks.  The front of the truck starts life as a two-door Range Rover, then the back end is converted with an aftermarket utility body with storage areas, ladder rack carrier on the roof, and rear water pump.  To handle the extra weight of the added utility body to the two-door Range Rover at the rear Carmichael added an extra rear axle to the rear to make six wheels in total; however, despite adding two more wheels the rear axle is a dead axle that is not powered, so it still has the four-wheel drive system of the stock Range Rover.  The interior is very basic compared to modern Range Rovers (you have to remember that this first Range Rover was built as a modern alternative to the other Land Rovers at the time with aluminum bodies, not as luxury SUV’s) with right-hand drive and seating for two.  The powertrain is either a 3.5L V8 with 130 horsepower or a 2.4L turbocharged I-4 diesel with 112 horsepower through a 5-speed manual transmission and a part-time four-wheel drive system.

In red with simple Fire livery this Commando looks really good for an unusual fire truck.  The front has a Range Rover look with gray grille, round headlights, and side signal lights while below the bumper is foglights and an Euro plate.  The hood scoop and flush door handles are also Range Rover trademarks, while the roof starts to rise up to meet the new utility body with dual round amber flasher lights and a stack of black ladders in the middle.  The rear has side panel doors for storage, Rover taillights on the corners, and an open rear area where the water pump resides and of course six basic Matchbox wheels.  The base shows off the engine, drivetrain, and suspension with the non-powered second rear axle and judging by the flow of the exhaust system this has the V8 motor.  Inside the interior has two bucket seats, right-hand drive steering wheel, and floor shifter to an otherwise blank dashboard.  When I first saw this casting I didn’t think this was special to add to my collection, but after doing some research I can now fully understand the power behind the Carmichael Commando.

Skoda 130R

Now there are diecast cars made from countries that include the U.S., most of Europe, Japan, Korea, even Russia, but every now and then one comes from a small country not known for making any memorable cars and this Skoda is one of them.  Skoda is a Czechoslovakian car company that built in usual Communist fashion cars for the people instead of what people wanted and that usually meant simple, if crude, models that did their purpose well and held up over several years of use.  The 130 was a new sedan that was more modern for its time with simple, boxy look that has some influence with the Renault 8 in the back and a Ford Escort up front.  The interior offers plenty of room for five people with a simple, flat dashboard, but the trunk is not where you think it is: it’s up front as in the back is where the engine resides (like the Renault 8) and it is a 1.3L I-4 that produced 58 horsepower through a five-speed manual transmission and even has four wheel disc brakes.  Despite the old-world technology the 130 was successful on the rally circuit winning 17 years straight on the RAC rally circuit, very impressive for such a little known car outside of Czechoslovakia country. Today the Skoda brand is still alive, though owned under Volkswagen and building modern and stylish vehicles.

As usual this Matchbox casting is done as the famed rally car with rear spoiler, rally graphics on white paint, and even the rear seat has been removed and in its place is a full-size spare tire.  The front has clear headlights that are part of the windows, side signal lights, and a large grille and bumper that are part of the blue base.  The sides show large window surface, racing decals that include Duckhams oil, and 8-dot wheels that look great on this casting, while the rear has a snow shovel rear spoiler on a red trunk lid, rectangular taillights, and vents above the rear bumper to cool the rear engine.  Speaking of engine the rear trunk opens on this casting and that’s a nice touch of only it opened wider and the engine was more fully detailed inside as you can see barely anything in the small trunk opening.  The base shows off the engine, transmission, and suspension details, while the interior has front bucket seats, dashboard shape, floor shifter, and the aforementioned rear spare tire, meanwhile performance is not as great since my tester has a suspension that gave up and thus the wheels are dragging on the body.  Still, this is a Matchbox casting not many would realize was made as it was only out for a few years in one deco and likely more common in Europe than anywhere else, plus it’s a very cool casting for such and old world design.

1968 Volvo P1800S

Now for something more stylish and it comes from Sweden Volvo who produced this stylish P1800S that finally gave style to the blocky safety division.  The P1800 was designed to go after other European sports cars that Volvo wanted to do in the 1950’s, but with a small infrastructure it was impossible to do by themselves so they looked for contractors to build them and eventually settled on Jensen.  Over time Jensen’s troubles would bring Volvo to produce the vehicles in-house over the years of this model and in return there were coupes, convertibles, and even wagon versions of this sleek car.  Front fenders thrust forward, rear fenders peak up and end in fins, and the windows gracefully curve around the roof, while the interior has a basic flat dashboard with simple control layout found in may Europe sports cars at the time.  The engine is a 1.9L SOHC I-4 that was half of the new Volvo V8 truck motors at the time and produced 115 horsepower through a four-speed manual transmission.  The P1800 was most famous as the white car alongside Roger Moore in the show “The Saint” and the styling has influenced other Volvo models over the years, especially the rear hatch design of the P1800ES.

This casting took me a while to obtain because when I first saw it I thought it was narrow with a thick beltline to be added to my collection, but after obtaining this gorgeous baby blue version I was wrong.  The color does a good job showing the sheer beauty of the casting that starts with detailed round headlights that jet out past the lower signal lights and round eggcrate grille.  Adding detailing to the side trim adds some interest to the casting that starts with the rising rear fenders to the curve of the windows and the disc wheels look great on this casting.  The rear has oval horizontal taillights and VOLVO letters across the rear just above the chrome bumper, while the base shows off the engine, drivetrain, and exhaust system in a rather narrow spot.  The interior has seating for two with left-hand drive steering wheel and dashboard with visible round gauges and controls, and as for handling the car does surprisingly well considering the narrow track and wheels that are forced inwards of the body (a typical trait of classic Matchbox cars at the time for some reason), but the biggest star here is the stylish body on that gorgeous blue paint!