Okay, up to now the US & UK sets have been reasonably easy to nail down - and as we have seen Canada holds a few surprises for Speedtrack fans.
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But here we have the PT-1500. You may remember I thought this was a central Europe product but it turns out it was made in the UK for the UK as later as 1982.
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My solitary ebay bid turned out to be the winning one and I now have it sat in front of me.
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The Lancia Beta and Vauxhall Chevette on the box artwork were sketchy marker pen renderings. A small disclaimer on the box lid actually states 'CARS ILLUSTRATED NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF CONTENTS' . I expect Matchbox chucked in every 6v car they had left fairly randomly but this particular set appears with the excellent Fiat Abarth and Triumph TR7.
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The vendor swears he bought this set from Woolworths in 1982. In which case it makes it a 'bargain basement' product to sell off Matchbox stock. I suspect it might have been designed to a budget which might explain the poor track contents.
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Perhaps the most intriguing thing is the 6v electrics. I suspect Matchbox were flogging the remains of their 6v bits from catalogue mail order returns. By 1982 Matchbox were well into 12v(!) Powertrack Plus and heading for the wall...
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Aside from the frankly crap box art the box is half the height of normal sets and the pieces have been cleverly interwoven between a strong Cardboard carcass. no doubt cheap but along way from selling itself. Clearly, these boxes were fully vacuum sealed, unlike regular Powertrack cartons where only the base part of the box was vac-sealed. (This at least enabled you to open the box and then get annoyed that the instructions obscured the view of the other car in the set!)
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One final thing is the inclusion of new stickers on the crash barriers. Philips, Porsche, Dunlop and a new Martini logo make an appearance.
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PT-1500 comprised:
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1 x Fiat Abarth
1 x Triumph TR7
1 x Terminal Track 9"
4 x 90 degree Curve (9")
1 x Straight 9"
4 x Straight 15"
1 x Mains Transformer (6v)
2 x Hand controllers
4 x Crash barriers
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I suspect this set probably retailed under £15 in the UK.
