The MB186 Dodge Dakota was brand new to the US market in 1987 as MB17. It featured a slightly raised suspension, as well as chrome roll bars with spotlights in the rear bed too. And yes I do know that one of spotlights on mine got slightly squashed. It happens with these and I have recently changed the way I store this model before they all ended up either bent or broken. The model was then added to the ROW range as MB50 in 1988 too. The thing is, it was only sold like this in the basic range. The ROW range dropped it after 1990, but it continued in the US range until 1993. Always in this red design, with a small caveat if you read on. In 1993 an Intercom City series was release, where this saw a fluorescent orange look with a Fire Chief design and the IC logo on the model.

In 2017 it nudged up to MB62 in an El Segundo Fire Dept theme. They even managed to sneak in a third tampo print to a basic range release, which these days is not easy to do. Next up after seeing the first use of a casting, we now saw the last use of a casting. The MB877 International Pumper had been going since 1999 and saw a change in 2012 to incorporate the lighter bar into the window section. This particular MAN number only saw 3 uses, and Boone County happened to be the last one. It was in the 2015 Supreme Heroes series. This was the first year that proper premium products returned to the Matchbox brand after Lesney Edition was dropped in 2011. Boone County was in the last year of premium (the Ambulance) and the first year of the rebirth. Boone County is quite the significant license isn’t it. Of course if you are anything like me and hunting for shades everywhere, you might have found the yellow stripe does change between a lighter and darker shade too. It is a very good casting with lots of play features, and for this release was given a Mobile Hospital themed outing. Very VERY important during the last year, that care was given to those who needed it. But it is really nice seeing the new Ambulance casting getting more use. Plus being a real one is always nice too. Again, this is a nice colour scheme, and a white ambulance always works week with a real license.It debuted in 2019 as MB41 in red with, oh look, an El Segundo design on it. I see lots of recurring themes here. It was also added to the 2008 Best of British series too also in red as red was its most logical colour, they were going with variations on a red theme. A nice blue and really funny design. To me it looks like they are throwing a box at your home. Ha ha! Again a very nice design. These models all look to have been very tastefully and respectfully created honouring those who just kept on going during the most difficult of times.

Next up is the MB1178 International TerraStar Ambulance. This is sporting the Boone County Fire District Emergency Medical Services livery. Or MCI vehicle as it is often referred to, standing for Mass Casualty Incident vehicle. You might notice on the door it states MCI 514. Picture courtesy of Keith Hoskins This is a really impressive set, and I can imagine that Keith, and those he works with, are extremely happy with the way it all came out. This is white with brown striping a Boone County Sheriff on the side. A very simple design and also very striking. I like the look of it. What is a “recue”? Is that when you go to cue something up, make a mistake and recue it? Ha ha! Still, I am not exactly fussed, because I took that photo, and well, 30 seconds later I took this one…. This model does not particularly look out of place among the other Ford Interceptor Utility models in the collection. I think it was very tastefully done.And as well as this one, we have also seen this is in the Thank You Heroes set at the start of the year.

Which again has a habit of not being applied to the doors. After 1974 the model was dropped from the range and never used again. It makes this issue stand out from the others. I did wonder about having 806 on the side. Often they tend to put the MAN numbers on there, but that was 817. But then I notice the real one has 806 on the side, so it makes sense. There was quite a lot to take in with this one. I am really impressed with it. I just wanted to share some pictures of the Thank You Heroes set that was released at the start of the year. I have shown 2 of them in this report, which should have been after showing these pictures, but as I was delayed in showing these I will just show them again. I did find a shade, but I don’t think my camera and set-up really showed it off well. So I won’t bother showing it. Oh wait, I already have.So the Hazard Squad fills the gap very nicely, as it is extremely realistic without being an actual licensed vehicle. And it works. For 2000 it continued on as a US exclusive, this time as MB87 in silver with an EMT design on the side. Being in the US series in 2000 meant a Matchbox 2000 logo appearing somewhere. For this model it was in the side window in the rear unit on the first 10,000 examples before being dropped for the rest of production. It was also chosen by Everett Marshall to be the fundraiser for the 2019 annual Golf Tournament too. As per usual, models get made half in red and half in pink (the latter half for Breast Cancer). Each 1:64 scale vehicle is highly detailed from bumper to fender with realistic accents like rolling wheels and lifelike decos. Box is gone. Recue/Rescue, it makes no difference to me. I am all about these 5 really cool little models. They are all based on vehicles that are in the Boone County vehicle pool.