254 Police Range Rover (1971-80)

The rear hatch of my Police Range Rover is not painted. Is this a factory error ?

I have one also with an unpainted hatch -- if an error it was not an uncommon one.

Surprisingly, later versions of the Police Range Rover have the back lights highlighted in red. I have also seen early examples of the Range Rover Fire Chief with the unpainted rear window surround.

Jacques, as always I greatly appreciate your painstaking work in keeping information even about later Dinky Toys, which so many collectors do not appreciate. Also your guesses about the chronology seem to be valid. I am amazed about the number of Police Range Rover versions, and very glad that I am not a variations collector. I parted with my unpainted hatch version long ago, feeling that whether or not it was a factory error, it was unattractive. Today I have only a #4 on your list.

The rear window surround on the real Range Rover was black, rather than body colour. Maybe Dinky thought that leaving it unpainted would look more authentic, and then later realised that it just looked like it had been left unpainted by mistake?

That's very interesting, Fred -- I never realised that about the Range Rover window surround. I think your guess about why it was originally unpainted makes a lot of sense. (Of course it would have made more sense to paint it black, but these were already the days of steady cost-cutting at Binns Road.)

Dear Johnny, I have looked at a number of Police Range Rover and found that there are at least eleven variations. There are probably more variations with different wheel hub covers and interior colour. The unpainted hatches are not an error, I have found four, all of them belong to the versions 1 and 2, the only versions with a radio aerial.1 ) light blue interior, plastic Speedwheels with six spokes hub covers, black steering wheel, radio aerial, jewelled headlights, solid orange band paper stickers, yellow end flaps box 2 ) as above but with five nust wheel hub covers 3 ) light blue interior, plastic Speedwheels with five nuts hub covers, black steering wheel, radio aerial, jewelled headlights, orange band paper stickers with blue surround, yellow end flaps box 4 ) dark blue interior, plastic Speedwheels with five nuts hub covers, black steering wheel, no radio aerial, jewelled headlights, orange and blue stickers, yellow box 5 ) dark blue interior, plastic Speedwheels with single nut hub covers, white steering wheel, no radio aerial, cast headlights, orange and blue stickers, hanging box 6 ) dark blue interior, plastic Speedwheels with five nuts hub covers, black steering wheel, no radio aerial, cast headlights, rear lights painted red, orange and blue stickers, hanging box 7 ) light blue interior, plastic Speedwheels with five nuts hub covers, black steering wheel, no radio aerial, cast headlights, rear lights painted red, orange and blue stickers, hanging box 8 ) red interior, plastic Speedwheels with five nuts hub covers, black steering wheel, no radio aerial, cast headlights, rear lights painted red, orange and blue stickers, hanging box 9 ) red interior, plated solid plastic wheels, black steering wheel, no radio aerial, cast headlights, rear lights painted red, orange and blue stickers, hanging box 10 ) light blue interior, plated solid plastic wheels, black steering wheel, no radio aerial, cast head lights, rear lights painted red, orange and blue stickers, hanging box 11 ) as above but with unplated solid platic wheels I have tried to write this list in chronological order but I may be wrong. If you know some versions which are not in this list, please advise me and post a picture.Kind regards. Jacques

Fred, You are probably right. I did not realise that the actual Roange Rover had a black hatch.