You're Going to Need a Bigger Bus!

Hi,

         By the 1990s, Matchbox were aiming many of their models at adult collectors, and several lines were grouped together as Matchbox Collectibles. Including various film and television tie-in models.

This large, modern bus started out as CY-47, in the Convoy series, most of which were heavy tractor/trailer rigs. The name of the model was MCI Coach, a tour bus built in the USA by Motor Coach Industries.

In addition to the normal Matchbox-sized Star Car Collection, a number of tie-in liveries were applied to this model under the name Star Car Bus Collection. These were not intended to depict vehicles seen on screen, they simply carried a version of the film poster, or an image from TV opening credits.

The Jaws model is painted blue and white, with the poster image of a very large shark heading straight up, towards a swimmer, on each side. The movie title JAWS appears in red, with 'See it...Before you go swimming !' in white.

The base is black plastic, and has the MCI Coach name, a copyright date of 1999, the Matchbox and Mattel names, and its country of manufacture - China. The lights are picked out in yellow, red, and white.

The model came packed in a large window box, sitting on top of a long cardboard box that could also house the coach. This secondary box carries further images of the shark.

Six photographs from Worthpoint.

Paul Adams from New Zealand