| 10.20.2017 – There have been several Earth movers and construction vehicles ever produced under the Matchbox brand. Most of the castings have been retired, discontinued or even damaged from excessive production.
But one vehicle stayed and this one has several different names, but the casting and appearance stayed the same. Well minor running changes and reused into another vehicle now known as the Turf Mauler is a Matchbox Classic returns in 2017. (Please CLICK on the title for the full article) |
Originally known as Faun Quarry Dump Truck produced by then Lesney England with its casting from 1976 to 1983 that had running changes to its appearance and the materials used that also have several names like Faun Dump Truck, Dump Truck, Earth Mover, Dirt Hauler, Transporter, and Planier Raupe in German, literally Angledozer Caterpillar, but planierraupe means bulldozer as noted in Matchbox Wikia that has long description from its evolution to the present.
The original casting featured metal chassis and bed, with the name FAUN cast into the front chassis below the cab and to the right of the grille (to the left, when facing the front of the truck). In the late 1980s, Matchbox dropped the FAUN name from the model; this version is number MB209. By 2007, the bed was changed from metal to plastic (MB710) and currently for 2017.
There have been two other variations that reused the same chassis namely the Mobile Crane (1984-1999) with crane cab and boom. The other is Water Hauler (2012-2017) with tank replacing the bed.
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A Hauler’s Return
Now known as Turf Hauler with a copyright year stamped in 1989 and its current name doesn’t change for its entire body still known as the Faun Quarry Dump Truck. Its one of the original Matchbox castings before Tyco bought the brand from Lesney and currently with Mattel.
The current Matchbox Team that’s handling the brand has done a great job keeping with heritage and bringing one of its classic vehicles. For those who are parents and grew up with the original Matchbox some of them won’t forget this dump truck. For the others who have owned one and lost it this was an opportunity to revisit nostalgia.
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Earth Moving Machine
The Turf Hauler if it can be compared to real world Haul Trucks is based from these heavy-duty mining vehicles hauling tons of rocks. But this might be slightly smaller than the actual quarry trucks for its 1970s design. It’s still an imposing truck but compared to the other Matchbox vehicles it’s actually off scale.
It has a functional bed able to dump its load and can perform a 90 degree angle when it’s raised all the way up. This is actually a direct reissue from the 2010 Construction 5-Pack using the same “J Construction 1975” and “710” tampograph, but for the 2017 it uses a different wheel type similar to the 2014 release of the Water Hauler.
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“Turf Hauler” is numbered 45 0f 125 diecast cars released for Matchbox in 2017 and it was acquired at Big W in Westfield Marion for $2.00 AUD (priced reduced from original retail of $3.00 AUD) or PhP 80.00 in Philippine Peso. Matchbox is distributed and sold in the Philippines by Richprime Global Inc now retailed at PhP 119.75 pesos!
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