Lledo models were the last mass production diecasts to be made in UK. Unfortunately they couldn’t compete with manufacturers from the Far East and went bankrupt in 1999. The name Lledo came from Matchbox co-founder Jack Odell writing his name backwards. The models were similar to Matchbox Models of Yesteryear. In 1983 the Days Gone series was launched.

I have five in my collection. The first one I got was the rather splendid Supercharged Bentley, which I picked up for £2 at the Wigginton Car Boot Sale (near York). From an era when manufacturing was strong in UK and Bentley wasn’t German owned. Then, I found the 1925 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost loose at Dry Bridge Market in Tbilisi for 5 lari (knocked down from 10 lari). The 1939 Chevrolet Pick Up with Standard Oil cans, this also came from Dry Bridge Market and I got it in exchange for a couple of Chinese made Soviet models, I picked up at Poundland in Newquay. The Chevrolet was part of a promotional set by Chevron. I see quite a few examples of Days Gone models at Dry Bridge Market, yesterday (11 September 2018), I picked up a Days Gone 1934 Model A Ford Truck Dunlop Tyres from around a dozen different models on sale, I liked the tyres in the back and the Dunlop livery.

Ford Model T Vans were popular with Lledo and also with Matchbox Yesteryear because the same casting could carry a variety of different liveries. There were over 170 different liveries produced by Lledo. The promotional market was Lledo’s principal source of business, and the aim was to provide variations to be offered for different businesses. I’m not a great fan of these but I did pick up an example advertising “Wells Jaffa Orange Drink” cheaply at the Wigginton Boot Sale on a trip to UK (July 2016).

To distinguish promos from traditional “Days Gone” series models, model baseplates were differentiated. Either “Days Gone” or “Lledo Promotional Model” appeared on the bases.

The majority of Lledo models are not worth a lot, they were mass produced up to 6 million models were produced in one year. The people who bought them tended to be collectors who looked after them, so there is a large quantity in good condition out there. There are many on ebay in the $2-$6 range.