Yesteryear Collection - Captain Morgan Rum

The Captain Morgan Rum was released in 1983. It had a black body and chassis with a white roof.

This very attractive label was originally produced as a one piece covering for the entire side of the van and cab doors. The design of the model is such that this door section is a seperate casting from the van body and a small gap exists between the two areas. It was soon discovered that early productions were prone to cracking at this join and the label was therefore redesigned to become a two piece section. Matchbox Toys decided it was time to follow other diecast munufactures and deviate from the unwritten agreement that children's toys would not feature either alcoholic or tobacco brands. This model was the first to feature an extra hole at the rear of the baseplate to assist in the painting process.

Livery: (Label or Transfer)
'CAPTAIN MORGAN' in white below figure-head of Captain Morgan in blue, black and red on both sides of van.
'CAPTAIN MORGAN RUM DISTILLERS DACRE STREET LONDON SW1' in gold on both sides of van.
'BLACK LABEL' in gold and 'RUM' in red on both cab doors.
Coachlining in gold.

Variations/Rarities: It had either brown seats or the hard to find black seats.
It had a gold plated radiator and windscreen frame.
Released with gold 12 spoke or red 12 spoke wheels.
The Captain Morgan van had Type 3 engraved rear doors.
Early issues had a one piece "Captain Morgan" label which had a small "RUM" printed. Later issues had a two piece decal which had a larger "RUM" printed.
The last issue had a hole cast into the underneath of the rear body.

I have lost count of how many different colours I have seen this van come in but most popular seems to be red. The label is removed from one model and then attached to one of another colour. Easy to do and fakers have even been known to scrape the sticky glue from one label to use on the fake one so if tested they are the same as used in the factory.


Captain Morgan Rum		Dark red 12 spoke wheels	Red body (Pre-production)	With base hole at rear of van body

Information as from "The Yesteryear Book 1956-2002"
M: CAPTAIN MORGAN
Issue	Year Of Release	Colour	Roof	Seat	Wheels	Plated Parts	Rear Doors	Rear Lights	Decoration	Base Hole At Rear Of Body	Baseplate	Rarity	Box
1	1983	Black body, black chassis	White	Tan	Gold 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	White	One piece label, small RUM	No	LESNEY © 1978 ENGLAND		I
2		Black body, black chassis	White	Black	Gold 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	White	One piece label, small RUM	No	LESNEY © 1978 ENGLAND	S	I
3		Black body, black chassis	White	Black	Bright Red 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	White	One piece label, small RUM	No	LESNEY © 1978 ENGLAND	S	I
4		Black body, black chassis	White	Tan	Gold 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	White	Two piece transfer, large RUM	No	LESNEY © 1978 ENGLAND		I
5		Black body, black chassis	White	Tan	Dark red 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	White	Two piece transfer, large RUM	No	LESNEY © 1978 ENGLAND	D	I
6		Black body, black chassis	White	Black	Gold 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	White	Two piece transfer, large RUM	No	LESNEY © 1978 ENGLAND	S	I
7		Black body, black chassis	White	Tan	Gold 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	White	Two piece transfer, large RUM	Yes	LESNEY © 1978 ENGLAND	R	I
8		Black body, black chassis	White	Black	Gold 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	White	Two piece transfer, large RUM	Yes	LESNEY © 1978 ENGLAND	R	I
Rarity: D - Difficult; S - Scarce; R - Rare; VR - Very Rare; ER - Extremely Rare
Box: I - Straw coloured with clear panels