Issued 1947    Length 173mm

 

Stage Coaches and Covered Wagons were popular toys in the 1940's and 1950's. This early Morestone version was based on a mid 19th Century English mail coach. It was manufactured by Modern Products Ltd at their foundry near to the Morestone offices in Stoke Newington, London, UK.

 

The coach of Ye Olde Coach & Four was cast in two halves with a third roof section fitting into corner slots. The rear axle was housed in a raised section underneath the castings but the front wheels were part of the shaft which was attached to the underside of the coach by a central pin. This enabled the wheels to turn with the horses, and further movement was provided by the shaft itself being articulated between the two sets of horses. There was little identification on the model, sometimes nothing, or 'Made in England' on the underside of the shaft.

 

The Coach was painted yellow, and the wheels and shaft were red. There were two styles of the hollow-cast horses, either heads up or down and they came in a variety of colours, light-brown, dark-brown, or white, all with black trim on the harnesses and manes. Normally two horses of each colour were supplied. They were detachable from the shaft so could be re-arranged adding to the play value. 

 

The driver in a smart top hat was always green with flesh-coloured trim. On top of the coach there was a separate brown travel trunk.

 

The boxes used for Ye Olde Coach & Four were strong plain brown card with a lid onto which 'A Modern Product' paper label was glued extending over both ends. This was white with red printing and included the 'Made by the MPC' logo.

 

Finding original versions of Ye Olde Coach & Four is quite hard and not infrequently a horse or the driver are missing.

 

In 1983 the foundry and business of Modern Products Ltd was sold to an engineering firm called Starcourt Ltd. who discovered in the storerooms, among a lot of other items, a number of unpainted models of Ye Olde Coach & Four with original boxes.

 

These were released for finishing and sold to collectors in similar colours to the original models although the coach colour was more orange-yellow and the horses were coloured brown, tan or grey without any black trim. Also, the driver was sometimes given a black top hat.