286 Ford Transit Fire Appliance (1968-74)

This Ford Transit was pubished recently in the French magazine 'Collectioneurs et chineurs', the caption reads : ' Promotionnal issue reserved to the salesmen, it is finished with specific stickers on the sides and the bonnet. A very rare model made in limited quantity.This may be right but I doubt that it is a code 1. It is so easy to make a code 3 like this, I think that if it is original, others would have already come up. What do you think ?

The magazine's giving the wrong number and dates for the model does not inspire confidence in them as a source. Count me as a skeptic regarding this model.

Why to apply a Meccano sticker on a fire engine instead of a yellow Hertz Ford transit ? It should have been nicer ! a yellow van with Meccano red letters...... For sure, this is not an item made by Meccano. The marketing office had a finest taste !!! ( I hope so ...!!!)

Anyway, Meccano did not run Ford vans, all their known vehicles were Bedfords except for a B.M.C. van in the late 70s.

Meccano Ltd. had at least one Ford Transit, which I took this photo of when I visited the factory in 1976. In addition they had a very close relationship with Ford: not only did they produce the 1,000,000 Transit promotional, but the cover of Ford's press kit for the 1,000,000 Transit was illustrated with photos of Dinky Toys. I should add that at the time of my photo, the BMC van was present too, in the older yellow and red livery, but it was looking rather tired. They clearly had switched to Ford! I cannot trace it at the moment, but I also recall that Meccano Ltd. issued a press release and/or Meccano Magazine item at the time of acquiring the Ford Transit. It was accompanied by the black-and-white photo shown, which may be all Altaya had to work from when replicating this van. In an otherwise detailed model, they got the colors somewhat wrong.