Matchbox 26a; ERF Cement Mixer (45mm)

Another impossibly tiny and very cute little model. The early metal wheels have little numbers '26' cast into them, this harks back to the days when wheels were not generic and each model had its own wheels cast. The wheels had the number cast in so that they ended up on the right model. Later of course wheels were standardised and not specific to a particular model.

Matchbox made this little truck from 1956 to 1961, it is always orange. Wheels can be metal, grey plastic or silver plastic. The metal wheels models can have the trim picked out in either silver or gold. The one to look for is the metal wheels version with gold trim or even better, silver plastic wheels with gold trim- they can be worth an awful lot of money. Metal wheels & silver trim are the most commonly found and lowest value, grey plastic wheels are a little harder to find and worth a little more.

The toy was re-released in 1992 as part of the Matchbox Originals set celebrating 50 years of Matchbox Toys.