Mystery model

 

I would be grateful for any help anyone may be able to provide in identifying this model which I found in a Charity Shop a few years ago. Obviously not a Corgi, I know! It's just been troubling me for ages and I can find nothing like it anywhere.

You can see that it's almost certainly 1:10 scale, measuring over 40cms in total. It weighs nearly 1½ kilos and appears to be made out of some type of heavy non-metallic material for the main body.

The wheels are metal with hard plastic-like tyres. The interior is a hard material made to look like cloth for the seats, with a quite detailed but roughly hewn dashboard.

In appearance only, it resembles products made in the Vintage Transport range by Lesser & Pavey Ltd. However their advertised models are all tin and their sales people didn't recognise this from an earlier time.

Nothing opens and there's no steering, nor is there any sign of brand on the base. So I do wonder if it was made by someone from some mould and parts supplied for the bumpers and steering wheel. The addition of silver, black and orange paint definitely looks less than professional but the overall cream finish is interestingly 'weathered' in appearance and not the finish you'd expect from an amateur.

Perhaps someone out there might recognise this and help me. I am not expecting it to have any great value or to be particularly ancient. It's a nice object to have sitting in the office but is starting to get in the way. However I need to be sure I'm not giving away or selling too cheaply something I later discover to have been valuable.

Update 6 January 2026:

Since writing the article I am delighted to have had some very much appreciated assistance and advice from Chris Pearson, a long-standing colleague who regularly provides further information for me on Corgi Toys and who also has a good knowledge of many other model brands. He writes:

Regarding your Citroen Avant Light 15, I've seen many of these in France in souvenir shops around 15 -20 years ago. It's one of several large scale models, made in India or Bangladesh. They are made from a light resin type material mixed, believe it or not, with papier mâché! 

I have just spoken to a friend who has a Citroen like yours but in pale blue and it was imported from India by lesser & Pavey Ltd. Some of their models used tinplate but by no means all/ Several used plaster to skim the surfaces, especially the London Buses and Land Rovers.

So that would appear to resolve matters and my chance spotting a similar finish on a tractor with a Lesser & Pavey may not have been far off the mark, although they may not be only firm to have imported products like this and, of course, it may have been brought to the UK by someone who found it abroad in the 80s or 90s. As for value, it has little, other than as an interesting conversation piece.