The odd Chipperfields Parade Vehicle

 

You may remember that a collector wrote to me some time ago about this Chipperfields Circus Parade Vehicle with its odd olive green rear section. I hadn't seen one before and, as this appeared to be an all original model, I wondered whether it might have been an early sample.

Then the one shown below appeared for sale on Ebay last week.

The seller did mention that it was different to the usual models but he was referring to it being a blue Land Rover and not red! The blue was some really bad painting that someone had done. As the base was still intact I decided to try and see if I could get the blue paint off and, with some scraping, I've managed to get most of it off, although some splodges remain on the rear section. I shall attempt to mask everything like the windows, wheels and that rear piece and restore what should be red and add a sticker to the bonnet. I can't do much about the missing speakers, of course, and it's never going to look that great but it's worth keeping. I may even install a clown if I find one that's complete and inexpensive in a wrecked normal model somewhere.

So it may be the case that a batch of these were made with that olive plastic rear section. I can only imagine that this would have been an initial issue (assuming it isn't a factory sample) and that there will be a few around, although, from my experience over the last 10 years or more, they're by no means common!

I've never been a fan of the Circus models and I had to go back to 2014 for a photo of the normal #487 issue from my own collection. I did wonder whether the Chipperfields blue plastic might fade in the sun to that olive colour but this seems not to be the case. Where a piece has broken I can see the same shade of green inside and even areas which would get no light are the same colour. So I am now hoping to find a little more information about this one. Whether a factory sample or an early issue to dealers, this would seem to be quite a valuable model if you have one in reasonable condition. Mine will probably remain in a collection of oddments without any significant value but too mysterious and, maybe, rare to discard.