Here you find the various Garages, Service Stations and Fire Stations offered by Lesney as accessories for the MATCHBOX 1-75 series. Through the years Lesney produced a selection of ( plastic ) buildings as accessories and additional play value for the Matchbox series, several of these buildings have been grouped with related vehicles and were offered as giftsets. These stations are highly collectable today and the boxes are again highlights regarding their graphic designs.
The first ever Garage/Service Station offered by Lesney was the one-storey MG1A in red & yellow from 1958.
The 1st Garage/Service Station offered by Lesney in 1958 was still produced by another company because Lesney felt they had not gained enough experience with plastic moulding yet. The one-storey building and base were available in either red & yellow or reversed in yellow and red. The base already had markings for positioning the A1 "ESSO" pumps but that accessory pack had to be bought seperately.
MG1B two storey Garage/Service Station issued in 1961, yellow & red with "ESSO" livery.
In 1961 this fantastic, now two storey Garage was issued by Lesney featuring a rear ramp to drive your vehicle up to the upper level. First issue in red & yellow with "ESSO" livery, again the base was showing markings for the A1 "ESSO" pumps and sign pack. This is in my opionion the hardest to find version of all the Service Stations, especially with later colour picture box.
MG1B two storey Garage/Service Station issued in 1963, green & white with "BP" livery.
In 1961 this fantastic, now two storey Garage was issued by Lesney featuring a rear ramp to drive your vehicle up to the upper level. Second issue from 1963 now in green & white with "BP" livery, again the base was showing markings for the A1 "BP" pumps and sign pack. In 1963 Lesney switched anything related with gasoline to the british "BP" livery including models and service stations. The very first issues of the "BP" version were produced with cream rather then the usual white plastic parts, these are quite rare today.
New, modern Service Station MG1C issued in 1968, one storey.
1968 Lesney issued this new, ultra modern Service Station, now back to a one storey building. And it was now officially called a "Service Station". It was first released in 1968 as a stand alone building without an cardboard rodway, in early 1969 it was upgraded with an cardboard roadway ( which was noted on the box too ) and in 1970 that roadway was updated with now showing a spot for the newly introduced A1C service ramp. Very early buildings have been moulded in cream plastic but it's usually found in white. This station was produced until 1974.
The first and today hard to find version of the MF1 with a green roof from 1963.
This rare version of the fire station with the green roof was created out of embarrassment. It was planned to release the same building as a Fire Station with a red roof and as a Ambulance Depot with an green roof, but the Ambulance Depot was never realized. In order to discard the already produced green roofs these were used on early Fire Station buildings, this version also got it's own box with the correct colour illustration showing the green roof. The cover artwork on this box completely differs from the normal "red roof" box. There are plenty of variations within these stations, especially the decals ( first a decal with a brown background, later labels with a red background) and the plastic parts (white or cream) with the cream buildings are being rarer.
2nd issue of the MF1 Fire Station, now with a red roof, released in 1964.
The very popular millionseller MF1 Fire Station with red roof and white building. A fantastic accessory for the MATCHBOX 1-75 range which had plenty of related vehicles available.