Benbros Mighty Midgets
No.43 Articulated Box Van

At the end of the Mighty Midget series, Benbros produced a range of Bedford articulated models starting with No.43 Articulated Box Van. This must have been a popular toy as there were at least twelve variations made.
The first variations were unusual in having fully painted Bedford Cabs including underneath and inside, either yellow, red or orange, often with matching trailer colours. After this, Benbros only painted the upper side of the cabs on subsequent variations.
Using the Bedford Cab as the tractor unit, Benbros designed a simple box van trailer cast in one piece without rear doors. On the sides were simulated 'up-and-over' sliding doors and after a short time 'Dunlop' decals were added. Unusually, Benbros did not put any identification under the trailer.
The wheels, on a single axle, were attached directly to the trailer. The cab-trailer coupling was a simple peg with fore & aft lugs which slotted laterally into a hole on the Bedford Cab. Overall when connected the model measured 62mm in length.
No.43 Box Van was painted in a variety of colours, usually with contrasting cabs and trailers, but the first two issues had matching colours, either yellow or red without decals on the trailers, and the third variation had a blue trailer without decals matched with an orange cab. These early issues had cabs which were painted all-over including the inside and underneath, and the wheels were unpainted metal.
Within a short time, Benbros brightened No.43 Box Van models with contrasting colours for cab and trailer and with 'Dunlop' decals on each side. Trailer colours were red, beige or pale-blue (some with dark-blue undersides), all with red cabs and matching metal wheels on cabs and trailers. All the cabs had unpainted undersides.
Next, Benbros switched to black plastic wheels which were fitted to pale blue, dark blue, green, beige or red cabs, and to yellow, green, pale-blue or dark-blue trailers.
Benbros used two different 'Dunlop' decals for the Articulated Box Van. These always had a 'leaning' shape which could be leaning 'left' or 'right'. On the first type 'Dunlop' was printed in black on a yellow or orange-yellow backgound using an upright font without a logo added. Both 'left' & 'right' decals seem to have been used together so that some models had just one type on both sides whilst others had both, one on each side.
The second type of decal had the font in italics on a yellow background and included the Dunlop logo at the left end. These decals were always leaning to the right and were the same on both sides of the model.
Many versions of No.43 Articulated Box Van are scarce and mint boxed models are quite rare. The last blue issue (variation 12) is the most common.



Variation 1 : yellow cab & trailer, cab with painted underside, no decals, umw
Benbros No.43 Articulated Box Van
Trailer variations (with frequent cab colours)
All models had Mighty Midget boxes
(1) YELLOW trailer without decals, matching YELLOW cab (painted underside), umw
(2) RED trailer without decals, matching RED cab (painted underside), umw
(3) BLUE trailer without decals, ORANGE cab (painted underside), umw
(4) RED trailer, DUNLOP decals (no logo), RED cab, umw
(5) BEIGE trailer, DUNLOP decals (no logo), RED cab, umw
(6) PALE-BLUE trailer, DUNLOP decals (no logo), RED cab, umw
(7) DARK-BLUE trailer, DUNLOP decals (no logo), BEIGE cab, bpw
(8) GREEN trailer, DUNLOP decals (no logo), BEIGE or RED cab, bpw
(9) YELLOW trailer, DUNLOP decals (no logo), BLUE or GREEN cab, bpw
(10) GREEN trailer, DUNLOP decals WITH LOGO, BEIGE cab, bpw
(11) YELLOW trailer, DUNLOP decals WITH LOGO, DARK-BLUE cab, bpw
(12) DARK-BLUE trailer, DUNLOP decals WITH LOGO, BEIGE cab, bpw


Variation 2 : red cab & trailer, cab with painted underside, no decals, umw


Variation 3: Orange cab (painted underside), blue trailer, no decals, umw

Variation 4: red trailer and cab, 'right' type 1 decals, umw


Variation 5 : beige trailer with both 'left' and 'right' decals without logo, red cab, umw


Variation 6 : pale-blue trailer with both 'left' & 'right' decals without logo, red cab, umw


Variation 7: dark-blue trailer, 'left' decals without logo, beige cab, bpw


Variation 8 : green trailer with 'right' decals without logo, beige cab, bpw


Variation 9 : Yellow trailer with 'left' decals without logo, blue cab, bpw

Variation 9 with green cab

Variation 10 : Green Trailer, 'right' decals with logo, beige cab, bpw


Variation 11: Yellow trailer, 'right' decals with logo, dark-blue cab, bpw


Variation 12 : Dark-blue trailer, 'right' decals with logo, beige cab, bpw

No decals and 'Dunlop' decals with/without logo

Left & right leaning decals and font variations

Variation 6 : Trailers with pale-blue and dark-blue undersides

Trailer underside & coupling detail
