Issued 1959-66    Length 97mm

 

Using the same casting as No.206 Coal Truck, Budgie devised No.220 Cattle Truck by adding a body with its own base rivetted onto the chassis and incorporating a drop-down ramp at the rear. It was based on the real Leyland Hippo lorry and was made for Budgie by Modern Products to a high standard. 

 

The cab and chassis were one casting which was painted bright orange. The grille, headlights, front bumper and sometimes the fuel tanks were finished with silver trim.

 

Interestingly, silver trim was also occaisionally applied to the ends of the hydaulic control box behind the cab. This was originally part of the Coal Truck design but in reality few cattle trucks would have needed a hydraulic ram. When No.220 was assembled this feature became almost hidden but it does appear clearly marked in the illustration on the box.

 

The orange cab/chassis and the tan body of the Cattle Truck were consistant colours throughout the life of the model with no variants, and the rear door and floor of the body were always dark brown. In fact there were no alterations to No.220, the only slight change being on late models when the silver trim was spray-applied only to the grille, lights and bumper at the front.

 

Painted metal wheels with treaded tyres were fitted from the start and these remained unchanged despite the model being in production until 1966, well after other models had been given silver plastic wheels.

 

The Cattle Truck was first issued in the usual A1 type boxes without numbers which were soon updated to having small numbers on each picture face (A2). Later end-flap numbers were added in place of 'Toys' (A4). In 1962 a new box was introduced with large end-flap numbers and the Guiterman name on the picture faces (A8). In addition to individual boxes, the Cattle Truck was widely included in several Gift Sets. Trade boxes can also be found for this model made of white card and stamped 'Leyland Hippo Cattle Truck'. 

 

Along with many Budgie models, No.220 appeared in new-style blue & white open-sided window packs in 1965. These carried an illustration on the underside (C2). The Cattle Truck was also sold in large-scale blister-packs with a blue & white backing card.

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With such a range of boxes and packs, the Cattle Truck must have been a popular and successful toy despite having no upgrades during it long production life. Many excellent examples can still be found but finding good boxes is quite hard and the blue & white open-sided packs are very scarce. The large-scale blister-packs are among the rarest Budgie items.