Matchbox 25d; Ford Cortina GT

I really like this one. In the late sixties as a teenager I bought one of them with the intention of keeping it in its box. Forty four years on I eventually sold it through Little Wheels, it is the brown metallic one below. I did however paint in the grille & steering wheel with aluminium Humbrol paint and stuck decals on the doors, now mostly gone. While I was doing this another young man, unknown to me and a couple of hundred miles away, bought another one, his was the blue metallic Superfast version. He unfortunately passed away in 2010 and I was fortunate enough to be able to buy his whole collection from his widow. I am so pleased to have had both cars as it is such an attractive model.

The Ford Cortina GT was released in the 25d slot in 1968. In 1970 it was converted to Superfast wheels and remained in the range until 1972. Meanwhile in the real world Ford deleted this model of Cortina in 1970 and brought out the MkIII.

The regular wheels version has a version of steering where you press down on one side of the car to turn the wheels, this is removed in the Superfast version. Generally speaking the regular wheels versions are metallic gold and the Superfast ones are metallic blue. If you can find them the other way around you have a rare and more valuable item. Blue ones with regular wheels are really very rare indeed. Other than this there are some darker blue Superfast ones which will get a premium.