Vintage Rolls Royce Convertible Comparison

If you've just read my prior post, you know that I love the Lesney-era Silver Shadows...  ...and I also love the "Silver Shadow Coupe", as Rolls Royce itself initially called the 2-door coupe that would soon be renamed the "Corniche", a name it would hold for the next 20 years.  Matchbox stuck with the original name even after Rolls Royce renamed it as the Corniche, resulting in a Corniche Convertible called a Silver Shadow Coupe.  Which I find confusing...

Regardless of the confusing name, it's a great model in both thin and thick-wheel transitional versions.  Technically it doesn't QUITE meet the strict definition of a transitional - as it was never available as a regular wheel model - but it was made during the era of the Transitionals, and thus is sometimes considered an honorary transitional.  It typically is seen in an aqua-ish blue, but occasionally can be found in a yellowish-greenish-gold color.  For most diecast enthusiast, it is the only known vintage model of a Rolls Royce convertible.

But the fascinating thing is that it is NOT the only vintage casting of a Rolls Royce Convertible...  Instead there are not one, but TWO other contenders within my collection - and they are both very interesting and worthy contenders...:  1.  Majorette did a lovely and highly detailed casting of the Corniche as part of their premium series (red with the brown interior).  And Impy LoneStar Roadmaster SuperCar (did you get that full name?) did a Silver Cloud convertible (red with the ivory interior). 

So with 3 distinct and beautiful castings, the obvious question is...   ...which is best?

Frankly, it's a hard question.  All 3 castings are great castings in their own right, and each have certain virtues and advantages to them.  But while all 3 are fascinating, picking a least favorite is a quick decision. 

The Majorette is an amazing piece.  The amount of detail is over-the-top crazy.  The lights are real plastic (not just painted - and the other 2 don't even have painted lights).  The wheels are correct replicas of a Corniche's wheels, rather than standard Matchbox or Impy wheels.  The interior appears to have individual seats rather than a 1 piece molded interior.  The are decals on the dashboard for dials.  The list of detail goes on and on and on... 

But while the detail is amazing, the model has 2 primary and over-arching flaws that limit it's ability to compete....  First, its BIG.  And while I like big models of big cars (and the Corniche was a BIG car), this model is TOO BIG.  It is overly large.  It is closer to 1/55 scale rather than 1/64th scale.  In the photos you can clearly see the size difference vs. the other models. 

Secondly, its got no heft.  It feels very light and plasticky.  It looks nice, but as soon as you touch it you feel let down by it's lack of substance.  You find yourself tapping the panels to see if anything is made of metal.  So in the critical "gotta-have-it" factor, the "pick it up and play with it" factor, the Majorette drops in contention compared to it's correctly scaled and HEFTY less detailed competitors, and ends up with a strong, but still third place, finish. 


Which brings us to the next casting - the Impy.  I've always been kind of fascinating by Impy's, with thier castings of atypically modeled cars, and multiple openings.  Impy is the only true vintage toy-maker (at least in 1/64 scale) who regularly offers opening doors AND trunks...  ...and sometimes even hoods. 

And this Silver Cloud is so cool that it might just be my favorite Impy casting.  The opening doors and trunk instantly give it a leg-up over the Lesney casting, but a closer inspection reveals that the hood opens as well - in TWO central hinged pieces!!!  A total of 5 opening parts in an era when you were lucky to get even 1... 

Scale-wise, the model appears slightly narrow (although full-size Clouds always look narrow to my eye - so maybe its actually accurate/correct?).  I've never been particularly sold on the Edsel-ish look of the Cloud's headlights and grills -  and I don't like it anymore in the casting.  But - its a pretty accurate representation  (and very well done!) of an ugly front-end.

The casting is identified as a Silver Cloud MPW, where MPW stands for Mulliner Park Ward - Rolls Royce' in-house coachbuilder. 

With 5 openings in the model, it's hard to argue with the level of detail.  And unlike the Majorette - this one is undoubtably made of metal.  In fact, this rare casting is SO solid, and the detail is so great, that I find myself wondering why Impy's like this one haven't been driven higher in price.  How is a Hot Wheels Redline worth so much more than this car?!?  But while the Impy Silver Cloud MPW is an amazing piece - is it good enough to de-throne the traditional king of diecast Rolls Royce Convertibles? 

As mentioned earlier, the Lesney/Matchbox casting, is a lovely casting, with nice size, nice weight, nice detail, a soft suspension from the glory days of the Transitional SuperFast era, etc.  I particularly like it with the thin rather than the thick wheels (the yellow/gold one shown has the later thicker wheels while the blue has the thin wheels).  In mint condition with an undamaged windshield (they are fragile so poor condition cars frequently have broken or bend windshields) and a tonneau boot cover still in place (again - these seem to get knocked off easily), it's a grand-looking car.  The grill and headlights are a single stuck-on metal piece - similar to the Silver Shadow Sedan's, which looks high quality until you compare it to the Impy - when it suddenly looks "stuck on".  Overall, it's a favorite casting of mine, and (before seeing the Impy) I would have had a hard time believing that anyone else also modeled it - let alone modeled it better...

So the real question is - can the Impy knock off the Lesney Matchbox and take the crown of best Vintage Rolls Royce convertible?

This one is definitely going to come down to personal choice.  The Impy is the more interesting casting.  And is of an older and even more rarely done model.  With 5 opening panels.  Including a SUPER cool center hinged hood.  In contrast, the Matchbox is a traditional Lesney Transitional - big and square and nice, a favorite model of mine for several decades.  How do I choose?

In the end, although I changed my mind a few times, the quircky charm of the rare Impy Cloud overwhelmed my loyalty of the traditional Matchbox Silver Shadow Coupe Convertible... 

Hope you enjoy the photos!

Can you spot the common (but uncommon) theme among these vintage die-cast models?

What you see before you are 4 vintage die-cast models from the 1960s (and in one case, the 1980s).  A Matchbox by Lesney Mercedes 300 SE, an Impy Roadmaster Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, a Road Champs C4 Corvette, and a Topper Johnny Lightning Cadillac Eldorado.  With the exception of the Road Champs Corvette, all are highly regarded and sought after castings... 

But do you know that there is a common - but actually very uncommon - theme that unites these 4 castings?  Can you guess what it is? 

These castings unusual trait that they all share, is that all have 2 types of opening pieces - both doors and trunk/hood! 

It wasn't unusual for die-cast cars of this era to have an opening part.  In fact, most models had something on them that moved.  For Lesney era Matchbox, it was typically opening doors.  When Mattel's Hot Wheels burst onto the scene, they ushered in the mainstream era of opening hoods.  But in almost all cases, there was just ONE opening item, not doors AND hood or trunk... 

This may not seem unusual today, when M2 Castline models have hood, doors and trunk that all open.  But while that seems nice in theory, the M2 Castlines - and other premium cars of today - just don't have the heft and allure, and are never are able to capture my interest and imagination the way that the vintage toys do.

This Matchbox Mercedes is the ONLY Lesney era (and non-Super-King) Matchbox model that I know of with 2 opening features!  And even more interesting, once it converted from regular wheels to transitional superfast wheels it gradually LOST its opening doors.  Therefore the gold transitional model is available both with opening doors and with cast shut doors (though the trunk still opens on both - see below photos).  If you are ever shopping for this transitional superfast car, be aware of the difference, and try to find the one with the opening doors!  

The car was also available in a superfast "Staff Car" army green version, with NEITHER opening doors nor opening trunk.  This is actually a model that I don't have... 

I prefer the classy blue paint color of the regular wheels model to the more gaudy Harvest Gold of the superfast - it just looks more aristocratic and elegant - befitting of such a high-end car....  The regular wheels car is also available in green - though the blue looks nicer!

Some of you readers may know that while the Matchbox Mercedes is unusual in it's line for offering 2 opening features, the Impy Rolls Royce is unusual in IT'S line for ONLY offering 2 opening features.  Many of its stable-mates actually had opening doors, trunk AND hood...!  (At some point I'll do a post just about Impy's so you can see this....). 

I hope you enjoyed this post.  Let me know if anyone actually guessed the common theme before reading about it...!