CCV03 : 1957 Chevrolet Corvette
Back in 1997 Mattel under the banner of Matchbox Collectibles released this 1/43 scale 1957 Chevrolet Corvette and the larger scale really does allow much more detail than the miniatures and this casting is no exception. With only three outings its easy enough to collect all three variations and each of those came with 2 removable roof pieces so in effect you could have a roof off convertible or a choice of roof colours to complete your car.
The initial outing was in light blue was coded as CCV03 and came as part of the 1997 Corvette Collection
You can see from the photos just how much detail can be afforded a casting at this scale which makes it such a shame that Matchbox no longer produce these models.
The second outing was coded CCV03/SA which was the practice at the time by Mattel to add SA, SB and so on to differentiate releases to new variants. The new variant was part of the Chevrolet 40th Anniversary collection which as well as the vehicles in the set also contained a Chevrolet Bow Tie styled wall mounted display.
Matchbox Collectibles RCC01 : Chevrolet Bow Tie DisplayThe third and last outing for this casting was as a Dinky branded vehicle and for this the coding was changed to DYM92139, this was released as a single release by Matchbox Collectibles.
It would be nice to know if Mattel / Matchbox still held the molds for this and other castings like it and that maybe one day we will see them return to the Matchbox range