Being built in the BMC and then British Leyland era ensured that straight forward marque badging of their J4 was never going to be an option! Starting life in 1960 badged as either an Austin or Morris to placate the separate dealer chains it then became a BMC badged product after the merger in 1968. Never one to resist poking the fire whilst Rome burnt it then became an Austin-Morris product where it saw out its days until 1975 by which point it had become a major embarrassment and well behind the competition from Ford and Bedford.
Its fitting that some of the first examples of the new Oxford Diecast models come in liveries reflecting some of the bigger institutions who bought them in big numbers for their fleets and no doubt extended the life of this ancient slow and noisy old van in the same way the Dodge Spacevan and Bedford CA vans continued well past their natural sell by dates.
Oxford Diecast obviously know their stuff and have badged various versions of their J4 to reflect the different times they were built. Morris means this beautiful Royal Mail edition harks back to the 1960's and is faithfully reproduced in their usual manner. The prices of 1/76 Oxford products seem to rise every time I buy them making them an occasional treat but when they look as scale perfect as this its hard not to resist. Every panel is intricately detailed right down to wheels and bumpers and the casting itself is pure rounded forward control J4! I hope the upcoming Austin Maxi looks as good as this. Mint and boxed.
Tags: oxford diecast morris j4 van diecast bmc british leyland
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It only seems like two minutes ago when the fledgling Oxford Diecast company were the purveyors of a very limited range of vintage vans aping Lledo. I half expected them to disappear but in the space of just over a decade they must now surely rank as one of the most progressive and extensive model manufacturers out there. A continuous amount of fantastic releases mirrors that of Mattel and yet they remain a pretty small company who's products are largely sold in specialist model shops and online. Still no sign of a 1/64 line so for the time being I will have to settle for their more known 1/76 scale stuff.
My latest find is their newly released J4 van which typically and most thoughtfully of Oxford actually comes in a variety of different marque names to reflect the different eras and changes of management these vans witnessed in their long lives. This BMC flavoured example dates from after the merger with Leyland when their light commercials were badged BMC before changing again in the early 70's to Austin Morris.
There is a lot of affection for these cute and cuddly looking vans now even if in reality they were a noisy and slow experience even back then and were quickly outgunned by the far far superior Ford Transit. Large patriotic fleet orders kept this anachronism in production until 1975 when it was finally replaced by the Sherpa, itself only a lightly modified J4 using a lot of its original panel work.
The model itself is of course pure joy, its small scale still reveals a whole host of beautifully crafted detailing with a lot of painted features and accurate looking wheels. Bought recently from 2K Technologies. Mint and boxed.
Tags: oxford diecast bmc j4 bmc van british leyland British Rail
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Only there relatively small size and increasingly expensive purchase price has prevented me from buying masses of Oxford Diecast products. If they ever swapped to 1/64 scale and appeared at ASDA would I officially declare myself bankrupt! ;-p Their products are perfectly tailored to U.K. collectors which is a rarity these days with a seemingly never ending array of new castings of both modern and classic street vehicles.
This truly gorgeous Land-Rover Series II Fire Appliance is typical of their output with maximum detailing applied to a 1/76 scale model, clearly not for young children to play with! Almost every external feature has been beautifully presented, beautifully sculptured and beautifully finished. Oxford Diecast products are usually only found in specialist model shops but I was lucky enough to find this in my local Bargain World store where it was being sold for half the price of anywhere else. Mint and boxed.
Tags: oxford diecast land-rover series II diecast
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Highlighting how difficult it can be to correctly badge a British Leyland product is the gorgeous little Sherpa by Oxford Diecast. The van itself had a long life, most of which was spent being built by a company who had a penchant for frequent corporate upheavals and changes of marque badging. Leyland, Morris, Freight Rover, Leyland DAF and finally LDV are all names which have graced this plucky parts special van and so modelling it must pose a problem when accuracy is required.
This era accurate British Rail Minibus version wears a W reg plate which would make it a Morris but Oxford have used its earlier chrome grille and Leyland badging so thats how I shall catalogue it even if it isn't actually quite right. Phew! LOL
The casting itself has been totally nailed here, that infamous narrow track body and BMC J4 panels have been captured beautifully and as ever for the scale, quality and detailing are top notch. This would look even better in 1/64 scale but alas its not something Oxford have really dabbled in yet though it might just be a blessing as the price of their 1/76 products has nearly doubled over the last four years! Bought recently from 2K Technologies. Mint and boxed.
Tags: oxford diecast leyland sherpa british leyland diecast
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France has Norev, the Americans have M2 Machines, Greenlight and Autoworld, the Germans have Schuco and the Japanese have Tomica and Kyosho yet strangely British collectors have no comparable premium 1/64 ranges to collect, a huge and very lucrative market which has yet to be exploited! The closest thing for me is the 1/76 Oxford Diecast series which although is a bit too small for my liking has a truly huge and diverse range of modern and classic vehicles with a particular emphasis on ones from Britain. The makers obviously know their target audience well and explains why you will find some of British Leylands finest cars in miniature form and surely they don't get more magnificent than the Austin/Morris/Wolsely 18/22 / Leyland Princess/Austin Morris Princess range! A fabulous slice of 1970's wedge styling with amazing amounts of passenger space and Rolls Royce beating comfort dragged down by the usual Leyland own goals of initial poor reliability, quality, lack of a hatchback and a damn confusing branding strategy. To this day everyone calls it an "Austin Princess" when technically it was never called this, Princess was unconvincingly meant to be a marque name in itself though no one outside their marketing department ever saw it that way, not even the DVLA! This Tahiti blue version is the latest recolour of this casting and for the scale its reassuringly well detailed and styled, those unique trapezoidal headlamps are present along with badging and pretty much every external panel is accurate right down to the side coachlines. The price of these little Oxford models continues to rise so they will only ever be an occasional treat though one day hopefully a cheap alteration to the old will produce a nice Austin Ambassador! ;-p
Bought recently from my nearest model shop called 2k Technologies. Mint and boxed.
Tags: oxford diecast leyland princess british leyland diecast
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