Barlow Motor Sales
Issued in 1985 this model was based upon a breakdown truck which was owned by Barlow Motor Sales of Rockville, Connecticut, USA. Gerry Tekerian, the Models of Yesteryear manager, telephoned Malcolm W.Barlow to get permission to use his company's logo. The Research and Development team at Matchbox Toys used a Y21 Model 'A' Ford as the basis for their model. They modified the cab and fitted a simulated canvas roof and opened up the rear to hold a plastic crane jib and hook. Early mock-ups and toy fair samples had modified roofs taken from the Y13 Crossley. They had much larger green hooks and orange painted plastic bumpers. On all production models the front bumper was made in orange plastic whereas the rear bumper was made in metal and painted orange. The box containing the 1985 issue had a gold and red sticker label for the 1986 Calendar offer. With the move of Yesteryear production to Macau, the baseplate was altered and models bearing the Macau baseplate began appearing to the market in mid 1987 and a new type of paint was used. Total production of models in Macau was 2.760 models.

Livery: (Tampo)
Cab doors: 'BARLOW MOTOR SALES' in black with white shadow effect and 'QUALITY CARS, ROCKVILLE, CONN. EST. 1939' in black.
Body sides: 'WRECKER SERVICE, TR5-2538' in black with white shadow effect and '24 HOUR, PHONE' in black.

Variations/Rarities: Baseplate variations.
One hard to find issue had the crane molded in a much lighter green.

Shell Service Station
Introduced in May 1988 as a new standard livery for this model. Modifications were made to original Y21 and Y22 baseplate by including Y7 as the baseplate component was common to all three models. As was the case with the 'Barlow' model the baseplate component continued to have one hole and a further hole through the sump. A well received addition to the range with only two reported variations and generally thought to be a most attractive model.

Livery: (Tampo)
Cab doors: Three dimensional sketch of petrol can in red, white and black.
Body sides: 'SHELL' in red with black shadow effect and 'SERVICE STATION' in black.

Variations/Rarities: Front bumper in yellow or pale yellow.
The crane/winch unit could be grey or light grey. The light grey crane/winch unit has a slight metal sheen and resembles unpolished aluminium.

Scale: 1:40

Barlow Motor Sales

Shell Service Station