Question about MB 1972 Siva Spyder

[drummingbulldog]

I have a Siva Spyder in red with black band with 4 spoke wheels like the wheels you would see on the Blue Shark. I do not see this variation in the Matchbox books or Wormans books. Is it rare? I do not ever see them like that on eBay either. Any expert help with 69-82 Matchbox Superfast would be greatly appreciated.

I have seen the real car as a friend of my oldest brother used to own it. The real car is silver. It can be seen on the link below.

http://freespace.virgin.net/dr.dean/who1/othersivas.htm

SIVA SPYDER (S160)


The 'S160' began life as a project for Marcos as a GT with a Hillman Imp engine. However, Marcos dropped the concept and SIVA re-designed it into the SIVA S160 Spyder. The car debuted in the 1971 Racing Car Show. The 'Spyder' was based on a VW beetle floorpan. The Spyder was unique in that all the car switchgear was housed in the driver's door. A bare bodyshell was available for £525 or a completed car was available for £895. There were 12 'S160 Spyder' produced in total.

Interestingly, the SIVA Spyder was produced as a toy car by 'Matchbox' around 1972 and appeared as #41 in their range. A few variations of the toy were available and even today these are often seen for up for sale.

[SMS88]

Its is much rarer than the 5 spoke version but not many collectors seek this variation so its not easy to get extra money for it....checkout this link to all the known issues of this casting -there are a lot, and for me the standout is the first issue with the chrome plated strap.Many of the common blue Streakers issues are very clearly blue sprayed over the original metallic red -Lesney obviously painted a lot of bodies that were not assembled but instead were repainted into what the company hoped was a more saleable colour - perhaps this was one of the less popular castings of its time.Great link to the factory pix, interesting to see that the real car had a slimmer waistline and proportionally bigger wheels than the more portly Superfast toy.
Not one of my favourites , oneday I will pick up a chrome strap example but meanwhile I just have the streakers issue with red showing through the Lesney blue
http://www.mboxcommunity.com/cfalken.../ChF-LS41b.htm

[drummingbulldog]

Thanks SMS88. Yeah I always thought the blue versions looked sorta chumpy regarding the paint.

[SMS88]

Originally Posted by drummingbulldog

Thanks SMS88. Yeah I always thought the blue versions looked sorta chumpy regarding the paint.

Lesney must have realised that they had hundreds of thousands of red painted bodies that they couldnt sell,so sent them back down the paintline for a thin coat of paint which wasnt dark enough to hide the red underneath on the edges and high spots.This issue is so common that they clearly overpainted a huge number,and today it is still a casting that is almost never discussed online- few collectors would put it on their favourites list,and i guess not many kids favoured this over the rest of the range if it was overproduced.....