Matchbox 38a; Karrier Bantam Refuse Collector

Corgi and Matchbox both seemed to love the Karrier Bantam and here we have yet another light truck based on this popular Rootes Group chassis. It is what my father would have called a dust cart, no-one I know would ever refer to it as a refuse collector. I like the Australian term - Garbo, much more fun and ironic. .

Matchbox made this little wagon from 1957 through to 1963 and in its long production life there were a number of variations, some of which are harder to find. The paint is grey/brown, grey or silver and they all have (or had) 'Cleansing Department' decals on the sides. Wheels can be in metal or in grey or silver plastic.

What is not hard to find is an example with the rear door unit missing. These were push-fit and had a serious tendency to fall out and get lost. I seem to remember having one of these in my very young days where the opened up back had been filled in with plasticine.

All the grey versions are fairly commonly found and are of similar value, grey/brown ones have metal wheels and are hard to find with higher values, of the silver versions look for silver plastic wheels or metal wheels.