The Battle of the Matchbox Ford Full-Size Luxury SUVs: Lincoln Navigator vs. Ford Expedition!



I love toy car SUVs.  I'm not sure why - perhaps I had so few of them as a kid.  I always wanted the Hot Wheels Ford Bronco, and the Ford Flareside Pickup (Baja Bouncer - which I know was a pick-up not an SUV....), so when in '97 Matchbox introduced the full-size SUV Chevy Tahoe and Ford Expedition, I had to have them. 

Within a year, Matchbox introduced a more expensive version of each of them as part of a 2 car pack, one painted and one unpainted, with rubber tires, fancy rims and a highly detailed paint job.  I bought both the Tahoe and the Expedition.  The 2 Ford's shown are from that pack, the blue as the original painted Expedition, and the white was a John Carroll special of the unpainted version.  I appreciated the casting, and just wished Matchbox would follow it up with a slightly longer model of a Ford Excursion... 

They never made the Excursion.  But a few years later, when Matchbox was going through their mid 2000s renaissance, they brought out this excellent casting of a Lincoln Navigator.  The Navigator is slightly larger than the Expedition, and squarer relative to the Ford's curves.  I loved it instantly, and bought it in several colors. 

So, time for a showdown!  Which Matchbox Ford Full-Size SUV is the better casting...? 

 

Well, actually, its no contest.  As much as I appreciated having the Ford model, I never thought the real life truck was very handsome (its a bit too rounded for me) and I don't like the model version's plastic base.  The Lincoln on the other hand was a handsome squared-off formal design, and Matchbox did a great job with the model.  Of the 4 colors that I have, the maroon is interior-less and so the obvious loser.  The basic dark blue one has nice wheels.  The $2.99 upmarket beige version is kind of an uninspiring color, and I never liked those wheels. Which leaves the beautiful light blue version with the super handsome 5 spoke wheels.  The detail is spot on, the sunroof looks great, the size of the casting fits right into 1/64 scale, and paint and wheels are great.  Overall, a great casting, and the winner of the Ford full size luxury SUV challenge!