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Lesney Matchbox 18b Caterpillar bulldozer

Moko Lesney Matchbox 18b Caterpillar bulldozer

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The Lesney model of the 18b Caterpillar bulldozer joined the Matchbox 1-75 series in 1958,
It was made in two parts, the body and the blade assembly which was joined to the body by two pins on the jockey wheel housing which located the blade and by the front axle pin holding it all together,

It was painted all over yellow including the dozer blade and is always found without any silver trim.
The rollers were 8mm grey metal on flat head or dome head axles with crimped ends and 24 tread green rubber tracks,
As it used the same body casting as the 8b Caterpillar crawler tractor quite often it is found with the wrong body casting as it had a number 8 cast in to the base instead of number 18 which probably makes the 18b unique as it was also had the number 18 on the rear of the dozer blade so the model can actually display two different numbers on it,

Apart from this there was only one casting variation, The early models had an air filter in front of the driver, on the later issues with the number 8 cast into the base the air filter was removed and the air pipe was cast with a rounded end where the filter used to be.
The 18b was packaged in 'B' type boxes although it has been reported in 'C' type boxes but the originality of this combination can not be confirmed.
Note that the 18b was 50mm long as the next issue of the bulldozer the 1961 version 18c was an almost identical model but slightly larger.

code number general rollers & tracks axle type number air filter
code 1 yellow body & dozer blade 9mm metal rollers, 24 tread green tracks flat head crimped No 8 with air filter
code 2 yellow body & dozer blade 9mm metal rollers, 24 tread green tracks flat head crimped No 18 with air filter
code 3 yellow body & dozer blade 9mm metal rollers, 24 tread green tracks dome head crimped No 8 with air filter
code 4 yellow body & dozer blade 9mm metal rollers, 24 tread green tracks dome head crimped No 18 with air filter
code 5 yellow body & dozer blade 9mm metal rollers, 24 tread green tracks dome head crimped No 8 without air filter

box types notes
B2 (box as 18a)
B2 small picture & licence text on flaps
B2 large picture & licence text on flaps
B3 none
B4 none

values

all models £40

values are for mint models in mint boxes
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