25o Ford camion laitier (1950-55)

Without its wonderful box, but in very nice condition, this no. 25o Ford milk truck. This one is the final of four versions, with the inside roof 'quadrill' and the open blue lettering NESTLE. Three points of view below:

One of my favorites of the French Ford 25 series of trucks. It and it's Studebaker companion always captured my eye when I was a young boy. Just the design and those unique, removal milk canisters are special enough! Below is an image of that special box that the French Meccano factory supplied.....in this case with my Studebaker Laitier snugly inside.Best regards, Terry

This Ford having been introduced in 1950 and discontinued in 1955, and the Studebaker version introduced in 1949 and discontinued in 1954 gives a remarkable, long overlap in availability of five years. In the catalogues they were advertised under the shared neutral name 'Camion laitier', so without 'Ford' or 'Studebaker'. The attractive boxes are similar too. Unfortunately I do not have such a box with my example of this camion laitier. Now I wonder if the same size boxes were used for both version, or is the box for the Studebaker some 1 cm longer than the one for the Ford (which model is 11 mm shorter indeed). Kind regards, Jan

Apparently our French colleagues are not online these days. However, I traced the solution myself, browsing in the Dinky Toys sries 25 et 500 etc. book by Thierry Redempt and Claude Wagner (Edition Drivers, 2007): Coffret de Studebaker laitier mais avec cale dans la boite pour compenser la dimension plus courte du Ford, or, translated: Box for the Studebaker dairy truck but with packing piece inside the box to compensate for the shorter dimension of the Ford.

Jan, I don't think this is the complete solution yet. According to Roulet, in the beginning the Ford was indeed sold in a long red box from the Studebaker filled with a block of yellow cardboard to prevent the Ford truck from sliding. From 1954, the Ford was sold in a shorter red box of the right size. I show with pictures the difference between my 2 long red boxes with the Sudebaker and a box for the Ford, which is currently for sale on Ebay UK dead ebay link Because of the location of the holes for the milk cans in the inner carton, you can clearly see that the box for the Ford is shorter than the box for the Studebaker. The seller on Ebay also describes that it is the shorter box. The length of my boxes for the Studebaker is 112 mm and I asked the seller for the length of that shorter box and hope to get an answer on it. Kind regards, Jan Oldenhuis 30 November 2020

Yes, Jan, that's the complete story indeed! Thank you for the wonderful comparative pictures. Kind regards, Jan

Jan O is absolutely right, there are three solutions.As I am in hospital at the moment with a mint unboxed diecast hip (in titanium, not in zamac) I do not have access to the Encyclopeadia but there are also variations with the triangular label and I think also with the yellow label. Please refer to your Encyclopaedia, to Claude Wagners book and to Roulets.Kind regards.Jacques

Jacques. I wish you a speedy recovery. I got a new hip last year and it got better. I wish you the same. Kind regards, Jan O.