Matchbox 23c; Bluebird Dauphine Caravan

Tow bars were very fragile. Hooks broke off cars and tow rings came off trailers so easily. I don't think any of the toy makers ever really came up with a sensible solution. Like so many other of my toys my Bluebird Caravan lost its towing ring, however as an enterprising kid I removed the base and drilled it adding a home made tow bar using fuse wire - this must have been around 1965 and I would have been about 10 years old. I still have it somewhere.

The Bluebird Dauphine Caravan was added to the range in 1960 and continued in production up to 1965. The bodywork is metallic mauve or lime green, the base can be mauve or crimson, wheels can be grey, black or silver, sometimes the door is black and some late examples have windows. This wide variety of versions leads inevitably to there being scarce and valuable examples.

The top value caravans are mauve with crimson base, black door & grey wheels or mauve with silver wheels & green windows. Lime with grey wheels and mauve with black wheels are both also scarce and worth hundreds of pounds.