Food Trucks vs. Food Trucks! (AKA Roach Coach’s...). I'm hungry just looking at them!

Matchbox vs. Matchbox vs. Tomica vs. Tomica vs. Corgi Jr. vs. Majorette...

1950s vs. 1980s vs. 1990s vs. 2010s...

Ice cream truck vs. Kebab van vs. noodle truck vs. Roach Coach...

Classic American vs. International...

This has the makings for one of the more fun comparisons I’ve ever done, comparing vastly different vehicles from different companies and across different eras, but whose basic purpose was the same;  To bring the food to the people, rather than making the people go to the food!

And the cool thing is that every entry into this compare is an interesting entry.  There’s not a loser in the bunch!

First up, the mint green Majorette ice cream truck on a Fourgon chassis.  It’s in mint condition with beautiful paint, a nice heft courtesy of the full metal casting, an actual suspension, an open and highly detailed ice cream truck interior, a trailer hook, and even a retractable red awning.  Definitely a contender!

Next up, the first of 2 Matchbox entries, and easily the oldest truck in this test, the blue regular wheel Lesney ice cream truck on a Commer chassis.  This particular example is not only the oldest casting, but it’s also the casting that’s been in my collection longest, since before I was born.... It was actually in the collection of my Dad and Uncle Warren, and “mysteriously” migrated into MY collection at some point in my childhood (funny how those things happen!).  Although it’s got a crack in the plastic roof window, it’s in remarkably good condition given it’s age, especially in comparison to other castings of my childhood collection!

As a contender, it wins originality points, and the ice-cream man and detail in the back  are brightly visible due to the roof-top moonroof.  The metal detail on the truck is nice, and it obviously wins some personal memory points from me.  On the other hand, it is a little under-scale relative to the other trucks, and as a pre-superfast Lesney it has zero suspension travel.

Next up is the newer Matchbox entry, a casting 50 years newer than the Lesney, also in blue, a traditional "roach coach" taking pre-made sandwiches to work sites.  This one is a non-licensed casting, meaning that it is a generic "truck" vs. a Ford or an International.  But even so, it looks pretty good.  It has no opening parts or windows on the sides, but very surprisingly again has a roof skylight offering a view into the nicely detailed food truck interior.   It has tough looking wheels - probably the best wheels of any of the trucks.  Oddly, the base is metal but the body is all plastic.  While many of the above points would typically be show-stoppers, the overall effect is surprisingly powerful.  This is a strong contender!

Next up, the red and yellow kebab truck by Tomica on a Suzuki Carry chassis...  This one is just plain funny, mostly because of the flip-open kebab booth with an actual rotating kebab (but unfortunately not geared by the wheels - ala Matchbox rolamatics) and a painted-in somewhat angry-looking kebab man!

The chassis itself is a little generic, a typical Tomica small truck chassis casting, in this case, of a Suzuki Carry.  Typical of modern era Tomica castings, it has a wonderful soft suspension feel.  (Interestingly, I have another roach-coach style Tomica food truck again on a Suzuki Carry chassis - but I didn't enter it since I haven't yet attached (and now can't find!) the 50+ food label stickers that came with it.  Without the stickers, its hard to know that it's a Roach Coach, so I nixed it from this comparison test...). 

After the Kebab truck comes the other Tomica entry, an older casting of a noodle truck, though ALSO on an (older generation) Suzuki carry chassis.  This one looks vintage but is still modern enough to be made in China vs. Japan (it also has a plastic base).  The detail on the back of this truck is very pronounced, contributing to a high quality feel of the overall casting.  Again, its got the Tomica magical silky-soft suspension...

The final casting in this review is the Corgi Junior, a "mini-shop" truck set-up in a Mercedes van.  This one is one of the more basic of the castings, with the detail in the mini-shop simply printed/painted on the walls of the van rather than cast into the plastic or metal.  However the van itself is reasonable, with clear windows showing the interior of the driving cabin, and a reasonably soft suspension on standard issue Corgi wheels.

So now that I've introduced the players...   ...which one is the best food truck?

Frankly, they all are likable castings, with things to recommend each of them.  The variety is off-the-charts, with 50 plus years between the oldest and newest, and an incredible variety in types of food trucks and how the food preparation detail is shown.

Several of them have some poorer points...  I don't like the fact that the newer Matchbox is a non-licensed generic truck, but it still looks cool.  The Corgi "mini shop" is probably not the winner, with noticeably less detail than other contenders, but I still like the casting a lot so I refuse to let it be in last place.  The Lesney ice cream truck lacks suspension and scale.  The Majorette Fourgon looks kind of campy - while the mint green paint is sharp - its just not a color I would have chosen.  The Tomica kebab truck has an overly large and unrealistic looking plastic hinge on the roof, and while the interior is funny - apart from the kebab there is no other actual detail.  And as for the noodle truck?

There is nothing wrong with the noodle truck.  Period.  The detail is exceptional.  The suspension is soft.  The cab and chassis look vintage, even if they arguably aren't.  And maybe the lack of any major flaws mean that its the winner...!  1st place, Tomica.

For second place, I have to choose the Majorette ice cream truck.  The heft and size is wonderful, with extra points for the movable canopy, the detailed interior and the reasonably-soft suspension.

And I'll declare the final 4 contenders to be in a tie for 3rd place, all vastly different from one another, but all with positive attributes.  As I said at the beginning, there is not a loser in the bunch!

I hope you enjoyed reading about these food trucks as much as I enjoyed writing about them!

I'm feeling a little bit hungry now...  Where's a kebab truck when you need one?

Does the Yatming Maserati Bora deserve a spot in the “Top 30 Yatmings of all Time”?

Two years ago I wrote a post that I enjoyed, detailing out some of Yatming’s greatest hits, and making my picks for how I’d rank them...   http://johnccarroll.blogspot.com/2016/04/top-30-vintage-yatmings-of-all-time-or.html.

But two years ago I didn’t have this car, the Yatming Maserati Bora.  It’s a classic Yatming, with a metal base, from the golden age of Yatming (wait, was Yatming ever really good enough to warrant having a “golden” age?!?  Maybe a “chromed plastic” age is more appropriate....).  Anyway, as a kid the real Bora was one of my dream cars, the last of the big V8 Maserati sports cars before Maserati became all about the BMW 3-Series-sized BiTurbos...  So with a new Yatming Golden-Age model of a favorite car, its time to determine whether the merits of this model put it into the same category as the best Yatmings?

Lesney’s matchbox also did a Bora model. Unfortunately, while 1970’s Lesney turned out absolute gems of models, like the superb Silver Shadow II, Mercedes 450SEL, Audi Quattro, Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Fury police car, it also turned out a number of oversized duds such as the recently reviewed BMW 3.0CSi (or worse, the Ford Capri) and many others.  The Bora was one of the better of the oversized models, but the combination of its size and unfortunate maroon paint conspire to make it a less-than-fully-favored Lesley model.  Can the benefits of this Yatming model exceed that of Matchbox, and does it deserve a place on my “Best-of-Yatming” list?

In short...  Not Really! 

While the size of the Yatming Bora is slightly smaller and more appropriate than Lesney’s Matchbox Bora, and while the Yatming has the critical metal base that characterizes many of the higher quality Yatmings, overall the model is not one of Yatmings best attempts.  Particularly galling is the plastic chromed front and rear lights/grill/bumper panels, which just look chintzy and plasticky. Given that they are attached to the metal base, it’s hard to see why they couldn’t have been better done as part of the metal base (in dramatic contrast to the excellent metal detailed trim on the Matchbox model).

The bottom of the side door windows were formed poorly, almost looking as if they were incorrectly stamped out, with too much metal remaining in the rear.  The models’ typically poor later Yatming plasticky wheels don’t do it any favors.  The lack of side mirrors is notable.  The body has a few examples of metal detail (air vents, etc.), but even those are offset by poor body lines that just make it look poorly designed/executed.  The Yatming relies on somewhat garish graphic stickers to try to add some excitement to the body, an approach that serves only to further cheapen the overall feel.  This is a car that feels like a cheap drugstore-brand toy, vs. a high quality diecast model. 

In short, this is not one of Yatming’s finest attempts.  So obviously it won’t be a top 10 model...  but is it good enough to at least crack the top 30?  I reviewed the top 30 list from 2 years ago, and in doing so I wondered about whether I even ranked those 30 models correctly.  How did the ugly brown undersized Thunderbird deserve a #21 spot, while cleaner Corvettes were in worse spots?  But I had a hard time putting the Bora with it’s poorly executed body, ahead of any of the 30 cars making up my list.  The top 30 list is safe...

So if it doesn’t make the top 30 list, is it even a worthwhile model to have?   For me, the answer is unclear.  It feels cheap - definitely an inferior model to the less-than-perfect but highly detailed (and much easier to find) Matchbox model.  If you are an avid Yatming collector you might have to have it, but for the rest of us...?  I'd advise you not to spend too much time looking for it.