Matchbox 5e; Lotus Europa

There was no transition model at No.5 in the range. Regular wheels ended in 1969 at No.5 with the withdrawal of the Routemaster Bus and Superfast arrived in the same year with the new Lotus Europa. It was made until 1978. There is actually a modern Mattel Matchbox Lotus Europa which is stunning, like so many of that excellent range.

The Lesney model is known as a red pre-production model which is seriously valuable. The first production run was metallic blue in 1969/70, from 1970 to 1975 the colour was metallic pink. After the model was deleted from the core range in 1975 there was a special Japanese release in black (1977/78).

Red pre-pro examples aside, blue ones are better priced than pink, especially look out for blue ones without the word 'Superfast' cast into the base.