Benbros TV Series & Mighty Midgets
No.21 Foden Diesel Wagon
The third of the Foden trucks in the Benbros TV Series & Mighty Midgets was No. 21 Diesel Wagon, another eight-wheeled vehicle which Benbros called a wagon but which could more correctly have been called an Open Lorry. The model used the same cab & chassis casting as the No.20 Flat Truck but with a different body representing a load-bed with fixed sides.
The Diesel Wagon shared many of its colours with the Flat Truck including the first issues in orange & green. The cab & chassis were painted bright orange without silver trim, and the body either pale-green or dark-green. The wheels were unpainted metal on nail-head & crimped axles. Underneath was cast 'Benbros' with the logo 'Qualitoy' and the usual 'Made in England'. The models were sold in TV boxes (TV3) with a picture of the model in reverse colours (green cab and orange-red body).
Two more models were sold in TV boxes, one with a bright red cab/chassis and the other with a metallic blue cab/chassis, both with yellow bodies and unpainted metal wheels. These had no silver trim but Benbros was starting to apply it to models at this time on the grille, bumper and headlights, and a few are known to have had it added (see picture of variation 3).
After the launch of the Mighty Midgets, all the models were painted in just one colour. To start with, Benbros overpainted earlier models in metallic green or metallic blue including the wheels, and these all had silver trim added to the grille, headlights, bumper and fuel tank.
Both metallic blue & green colours were also issued with unpainted wheels, as was an unusual beige model with red trim. These were followed by a red version and another in mid-blue which had unpainted wheels to start with but black plastic later. Nail-head axles were used on most of the models but round-head & crimped were fitted to the red and mid-blue versions.
The final models, like the previous Flat Truck, were painted dark red, dark blue or green with silver trim and black plastic wheels on nail-head & crimped axles.
Several of the colours of the Foden Diesel Wagon are difficult to find despite the model being popular and when they do turn up they are often playworn. The early TV Series box is rare.
photo SAS Auctions
Variation 1: Orange cab/chassis, pale-green body, umw
Variation 2 : orange & dark-green, no trim, umw, TV3 box
Benbros No.21 Foden Diesel Wagon
Variations
(1) ORANGE cab/chassis, PALE-GREEN body, NO trim, umw, TV3 box
(2) ORANGE cab/chassis, DARK-GREEN body, NO trim, umw, TV3 box
(3) RED cab/chassis, YELLOW body, w/wo trim, umw, TV3 box
(4) METALLIC BLUE cab/chassis, YELLOW body, w/wo trim, umw, TV3 or MM box
(5) METALLIC BLUE including body, silver trim, PAINTED mw, MM box
(6) METALLIC GREEN, silver trim, PAINTED mw, MM box
(7) METALLIC BLUE, silver trim, UNPAINTED mw, MM box
(8) METALLIC GREEN, silver trim, UNPAINTED mw, MM box
(9) BEIGE, RED trim, umw, MM box
(10) RED, silver trim, umw, MM box
(11) MID-BLUE, silver trim, UNPAINTED mw, MM box
(12) MID BLUE, silver trim, BLACK plastic wheels, MM box
(13) DARK-RED, silver trim, bpw, MM box
(14) DARK-BLUE, silver trim, bpw, MM box
(15) GREEN, silver trim, bpw, MM box
Variation 3: Red cab (with silver trim), yellow body, umw, TV3 box
Variation 4: metallic blue/yellow, umw
Variation 5 : metallic blue, pmw
Variation 7 : metallic blue, umw
Variation 8 : metallic green, umw
Variation 9: beige, red trim, umw
Variation 10 : red, umw
Variation 12 : mid-blue, bpw
Variation 13 : dark-red, bpw
Variation 14 : dark-blue, bpw
Variation 15 : green, bpw
Wheel variations : pmw (front), umw (centre) bpw (rear)
Dark- and mid-blue (non metallic)
