Matchbox Lesney 62B TV Service Van

Matchbox Lesney 62B TV Service Van

Rear roller door stuck

This Commer van is found in two liveries, Rentaset and Radio Rentals, but the paintwork is always cream. It harks back to the days when you never bought your telly, you rented it. TV was an expensive and not very reliable technology and I guess most people could not afford to buy one and then fork out for repair bills, renting spread it all out.

The van came with red plastic extras, there was a ladder and an aerial for the roof and three TV sets to go inside. These were provided on a sprue. The rear shutter opens so you can put your tellys inside.

Some of these are quite rare and will get a high price, the common versions though are very common, also to get full value you need both the box and the plastic parts still on the sprue. The rule of thumb is that grey wheels are worth a lot more than black wheels, fine tread grey wheels are worth more than knobbly grey ones and grey wheels with Radio Rentals graphics are worth most of all. The van was released in 1963 and remained in production until 1968.