Yesteryear Collection - Heinz; Gherkin On The Roof

This model was released in 1986 with a greyish-green body and roof with a dark green chassis,coming after a consumer offer by Heinz as part of their Centenary celebrations. An early batch (1000 boxed models) were sent to Heinz to be used as samples. These boxes had a mis-spelling of word 'Gherkin' and the tampo printing differed slightly from later production models. As this model had a gherkin mounted on the van roof, the mould was modified to have two bosses on the underside, complete with holes in which to hold in place the gherkin. Once the 'Heinz' production run was completed (160,000 models) these holes in the roof were blanked off, but the underside bosses remained. These bosses can be found on the final run 'Pepsi-Cola' and all 'Rosella' models. It should be noted that all 'Heinz' vans were fitted with the gherkin in a bright green plastic with the word 'Heinz' in white lettering on both sides.

Livery: (Tampo)
'H. J. HEINZ CO.' in red with black surround on both sides of van.
'PURE FOOD PRODUCTS' in grey on red with '57' and 'VARITIES' in red and also 'HEINZ' within green gherkin on both sides of van.
'15' in red in black circle on both cab doors.
Coachlining in black.

Variations/ Rarities: The seats were black or very dark green. It is not easy to distinguish between black and dark green seats in anything other than very good light and by comparing one with the other.
It usually had a gold plated radiator and windscreen frame but one issue had these components in chrome plate.
The rear doors were the engraved type 3 version.
It can be found with maroon, bright or dark red or gold plated 12 spoke wheels.
The baseplate usually has "MATCHBOX © 1985 ENGLAND" inscribed but the hard to find first issue had a "LESNEY © 1978 ENGLAND" and the last version had a "MATCHBOX © 1986 ENGLAND" baseplate.
The first issue had a dark green plastic gherkin on the roof whilst the later issues had a bright green gherkin and the last issue had an emerald green gherkin.
Models with the gherkin fitted the wrong way round (stalk at front) are more often than not fitted with the hard to find 1986 bases!


Heinz; Gherkin On The Roof		Gold 12 spoke wheels	One model has a red roundel and text on the van side, the other has pinky red decoration	Lighter green chassis/baseplate; Dark green chassis/baseplate with "Varieties" in thick lettering; Darker green chassis and lighter green base

Information as from "The Yesteryear Book 1956-2002"
R: HEINZ
Issue	Year Of Release	Colour	Roof	Seat	Grille	Wheels	Plated Parts	Rear Doors	Rear Lights	Tampo Decoration Large Roundel	Baseplate	Rarity	Box
1	1986	Grey green body, dark green chassis	Grey green	Black	Gold	Bright red 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	Grey green	Dark green gherkin, dark red roundel & VARIETIES in thick lettering	LESNEY © 1978 ENGLAND	VR	J
2		Pale green grey body, dark green chassis	Pale grey green	Dark green	Gold	Maroon 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	Pale grey green	Bright green gherkin in bright red roundel & VARIETIES in thin lettering	MATCHBOX © 1985 ENGLAND		J
3		Pale green grey body, lighter green chassis	Pale grey green	Dark green	Gold	Maroon 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	Pale grey green	Bright green gherkin in bright red roundel & VARIETIES in thin lettering	MATCHBOX © 1985 ENGLAND		J
4		Pale green grey body, dark green chassis	Pale grey green	Dark green	Gold	Maroon 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	Pale grey green	Bright green gherkin in bright red roundel & VARIETIES in thick lettering	MATCHBOX © 1985 ENGLAND	S	J
5		Pale green grey body, dark green chassis	Pale grey green	Black	Gold	Maroon 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	Pale grey green	Bright green gherkin in bright red roundel & VARIETIES in thin lettering	MATCHBOX © 1985 ENGLAND		J
6		Pale green grey body, dark green chassis	Pale grey green	Dark green	Gold	Dark red 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	Pale grey green	Bright green gherkin in bright red roundel & VARIETIES in thin lettering	MATCHBOX © 1985 ENGLAND		J
7		Pale green grey body, dark green chassis	Pale grey green	Dark green	Gold	Bright red 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	Pale grey green	Bright green gherkin in bright red roundel & VARIETIES in thin lettering	MATCHBOX © 1985 ENGLAND		J
8		Pale green grey body, dark green chassis	Pale grey green	Dark green	Chrome	Dull red 12 spoke	Chrome	Type 3	Pale grey green	Bright green gherkin in bright red roundel & VARIETIES in thin lettering	MATCHBOX © 1985 ENGLAND	D	J
9		Pale green grey body, dark green chassis	Pale grey green	Dark green	Gold	Gold 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	Pale grey green	Bright green gherkin in bright red roundel & VARIETIES in thin lettering	MATCHBOX © 1985 ENGLAND		J
10		Pale green grey body, dark green chassis	Pale grey green	Black	Gold	Bright red 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	Pale grey green	Bright green gherkin in bright red roundel & VARIETIES in thin lettering	MATCHBOX © 1985 ENGLAND		J
11		Pale green grey body, dark green chassis	Pale grey green	Dark green	Gold	Maroon 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	Pale grey green	Bright green gherkin in bright red roundel & VARIETIES in thin lettering	MATCHBOX © 1986 ENGLAND	S	J
12		Very pale green grey body, dark green chassis	Grey green	Dark green	Gold	Maroon 12 spoke	Gold	Type 3	Grey green	Emerald green gherkin in pink roundel & VARIETIES in thin lettering	MATCHBOX © 1986 ENGLAND	R	J
Rarity: D - Difficult; S - Scarce; R - Rare; VR - Very Rare; ER - Extremely Rare
Box: J - Red 'Made in England' with clear panel