Benbros Mighty Midgets
No.35 Army Land Rover
Benbros continued the Mighty Midget Land Rover models with an Army version which had the same body and base castings as the previous No.34 AA Road Service Land Rover but without anything cast on the sides. In some ways this was a missed opportunity because adding, say, 'Military Police' would have been little more difficult than having plain sides. Interestingly, the picture on the Mighty Midget box appears to show an insignia on the side so perhaps that was originally intended.
No.35 Army Land Rover was a functional but not particularly exciting model but of interest to collectors because Benbros produced it in three distinct shades of green, and some models also carried a 'regimental' decal square.
The first Army Land Rovers were painted a glossy olive-green which included the base, nail-head & crimped axles and large metal wheels. Silver trim was added to the front grille and bumper but on this version there was no decal.
The second and third variations of No.35 Army Land Rover were dark-green in a matt or semi-matt finish including the wheels, with an added regimentel decal. As before, silver trim was applied to the grille and bumper. There were two types of decal used, a large red & yellow square on the rear tailgate (variation 2) or a small dark-blue & yellow square on one of the front wings (variation 3).
The final run of Army Land Rovers were painted bright green along with most of the other Mighty Midget military models at the end of their lives. Silver trim was again added to the grille and bumper at the front. For this variation Benbros applied a small red & yellow square decal on the rear tailgate.
No.35 Army Land Rover is not widely found but there are sufficient variations to make it interesting to collectors. Although scarce, it does not have a high valuation.
Variation 1 : olive-green, no decal
Benbros No.35 Army Land Rover
Variations
All models had Mighty Midget boxes
(1) GLOSS OLIVE-GREEN, NO decal, pmw
(2) MATT ARMY-GREEN, large RED/YELLOW decal at rear, pmw
(3) MATT ARMY-GREEN, small BLUE/YELLOW decal at front, pmw
(4) BRIGHT GREEN, small RED/YELLOW decal at rear, pmw
Variation 2 : matt green, large rear red/yellow decal
Variation 3 : matt green, front blue/yellow decal
Variation 4 : bright green, small rear red/yellow decal
Benbros No.35 Army Land Rover : colours & front decal
Benbros No.35 Army Land Rover : colours & rear decals
Benbros No.35 Army Land Rover: base detail