Matchbox 5b; Leyland London Bus (57mm)

The London Bus was first released in 1954. In 1957 the it was updated with a new casting and 5a became 5b, this model remained in the range until 1960. Both 5a and 5b are models of the Leyland Titan bus and are superficially very similar. The quick way to tell them apart is by counting the downstairs windows. the older 5a has five windows and the later 5b has four windows. The later model is also a little longer at 57mm.

There are three key variations on the 5b bus which are defined by the advertising stickers on the sides of the upper deck. The first releases had 'Buy Matchbox'. The next release was 'Player's Please' and last came BP Visco-static'. The Buy Matchbox buses are the most commonly found, in the middle comes Players and the BP Visco-static release is very hard to find indeed and consequently significantly more highly priced than the other two.