MB785 : ’71 Porsche 914

Matchbox MB785 : ’71 Porsche 914 (2021 Basic Range)

The MB785 : 1971 Porsche 914 seems to be quite a popular casting this year, firstly we saw it in a white colour released as #74 in this years (2021) basic range, then it appears in a silver grey colour in a couple of the 9 packs and now back again at #45 in the basic range but this time in red.

Its first outing for me was a nice return of an older casting having not seen this casting since the 2017 Best of Matchbox series and being a bit of a fan of the Porsche make I was happy to see it return, not sure on the brightly coloured wheels but I can forgive those for the sake of seeing this casting return.

The second outing for this year seems to be a strange one, firstly lets look at the casting and colour choice.  This one is my favourite of the year, I love the silver/Grey colour and its nicely complimented by the black roof, side stripe and the chrome rimmed black 6 spoke wheels.  The strange part is the inclusion of this one in 2 different 9 packs so far, neither times was it in the exclusive window, yet it has to date (August 2021) it has also not appeared anywhere else in the range, making it a 9 pack exclusive at this point in time.
I have no more information so can only assume that we will see this one turn up later in the 2021 model year maybe in a 5 pack or play set; time will tell.

Its 3rd outing for 2021 is back to the basic range, this time at #45 in a recolour of red, I guess whatever model was planned for the #45 position was not ready in time so a last minute substitution was made as it is not normally the practice of Matchbox to have two of the same vehicle in the yearly basic range at the same time unless as a recolour but then it would appear with the same number within the range.

Will we see more of this casting, lets hope so.  Meanwhile I will keep an eye out to see if that silver/grey version turns up elsewhere or remains exclusive to the 9 packs