Benbros TV Series & Mighty Midgets
No.6 Milk Cart
No.6 Milk Cart with Horse & Churns was the only model in the Benbros TV Series which had its own special box. Quite why Benbros did this is not known but probably the model was already in production before the idea of the TV Series was decided on. Whatever the reason, the Milk Cart did later have a numbered TV box (TV3) and was also included in the Mighty Midget range.
Coloured a bright yellow with large red wheels, the first issue of the Milk Cart had a glossy brown horse, a white milkman (with pink or tan face, hands and sometimes his coat buttons) and two unpainted little milk churns. All these were new castings without borrowing from other models. There was no identification on the first issue but, as with the Hay Cart, this was soon corrected with 'Benbros' and 'Made in England' being added underneath the shafts.
The special boxes of the Milk Cart had either plum-red or blue printed drawings of the Horse and Cart on both faces and 'Qualitoy' with a central 'B' emblem on each side. The end flaps were plain. These boxes were smaller than the TV Series ones.
Benbros kept the yellow colour of the Milk Cart when the switch to a TV box took place but the milkman could be white with tan trim, all-white without trim, or occaisionally brown though this was probably a production error.
The Milk Cart continued yellow into the beginning of the Mighty Midget range but it was not long before a new turquoise colour was created with red wheels, a white horse, and a white milkman and two separate unpainted churns.
The next change saw the separate churns being discontinued and the creation of a new casting which added the churns into the load area on the left side of the Cart. They were painted with the cart which continued to be turquoise with red wheels and with a white horse and milkman.
Finally, the last issues of the Milk Cart were painted mid-blue or dark-blue, both with cast-in churns, dark-red wheels and white horse and milkman
Finding the yellow Milk Cart is not difficult but the other colours and castings are more scarce. The last blue variations seem to have been mostly shipped to Australia and so it is rare in the UK. The special boxes and the TV Series box are also quite hard to find.
Variation 1 : cart with churns in blue printed box
Milkman with trim
Variation 1 : cart with churns in red printed box
Milkman with trim (rear view)
Variation 1: yellow cart, TV3 box
Variation 1: yellow cart with brown man, TV3 box
Variation 2: turquoise cart with churns, man without trim
Benbros No.6 Milk Cart
Variations
(1) YELLOW cart, RED pmw, BROWN horse, WHITE (trim) or BROWN milkman, 2 um churns, Printed or TV3 or MM boxes
(2) TURQUOISE cart, RED pmw, WHITE horse, WHITE milkman (no trim), 2 um churns, MM box
(3) TURQUOISE cart, RED pmw, WHITE horse, WHITE milkman (no trim), cast-in churns, MM box
(4) BLUE cart, DARK-RED pmw, WHITE horse, WHITE milkman (no trim), cast-in churns, MM box
(5) DARK-BLUE cart, DARK-RED pmw, WHITE horse, WHITE milkman (no trim), cast-in churns, MM box
Variation 3: turquoise cart with cast-in churns
Variation 4: mid-blue cart with cast-in churns
Variation 5: Dark-Blue cart, cast-in churns
Separate and cast-in churns
Without and with identification cast under shafts
Milkmen : white (with trim), white (no trim), brown
