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Truck of The Day: May 31 2008; Matchbox '94 Grumman Long Life Vehicle Postal Delivery Truck
Topic Started: May 30 2008, 10:38 PM (1,646 Views)
craftymore
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Support your local demo derby.

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Today's truck is Matchbox's 1994 Grumman Long Life Vehicle Postal Delivery Truck

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Wikipedia
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The Grumman Long Life Vehicle or LLV is a light transport truck designed for and used by the United States Postal Service.

This is the typical vehicle used by letter carriers for curbside and residential delivery of mail, replacing the previous standard letter-carrier vehicle, the Jeep DJ-5. It entered service in 1986. Like the old postal-service Jeep, it features a right-handed driver's position (the opposite of the normal U.S. passenger car left-hand drive) and a large metal tray (able to hold three trays of letter mail) mounted where a passenger seat would normally be. This arrangement positions the driver on the side of the vehicle closest to the curb, enabling the carrier to easily grab sorted mail and place it into mailboxes without having to leave the seat. Other notable features are an exceptionally tight turning radius and a low-geared transmission for pulling heavy cargo.


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wiki
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The LLV was specifically designed for the United States Postal Service, and won a contract for production. The main design points of the vehicle in contract competition were: serviceability, handling in confined areas, and overall economic operation. As its name suggests, the LLV is easily capable of 20 years of operation without an overhaul, and existing LLVs will likely be in service for another 20. The body and final assembly is by Grumman, and the chassis is made by General Motors, with the powerplant (2.5L I-4 TBI "Iron Duke") and front suspension similar to those used in the Chevrolet S-10 pickup. The LLV's average EPA fuel economy is 17 mpg (16 city/18 highway)


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For more information and pics of the real LLV, please visit Grumman LLV .

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It's hard not to see one of these everyday for me as the Post Office is only a block from my house.
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jedimario
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RAWR
Neat, I don't think I knew MB made one.
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
Nice one! :thumbup:

Long live the Long Life Vehicle! ;)
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james_autos
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Minivan
Interesting model, never knew Matchbox did one as well.

What a funny looking thing by the way :huh:
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davidj94
Out hunting for JL
Great one to have for dioramas! Also, you just have to appreciate all the detailed "rivets" on this casting!
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Celica Baby
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Can you see what I'm saying?
Now this is just cool! I like it!!!

If I had one, perhaps my mail would actually be delivered on time?
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ivantt
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New casting? Quick! Take it apart!
When did MB run this vehicle? It sounds like all of missed this one...... :o
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Sak
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Ezekiel 25:17
About 1999, 2000. When I saw it on the pegs, I went, WOW! :o

I found a second one not long ago...for the diorama :)
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
Jada has recently done one as well. But of course its larger (as Jadas are), less realistic, and riding on blinged rims.

Yeah I bought one. I like postal trucks. Actually I had taken pics of the Matchbox casting to run as car of the day in the near future as well. Once I upload them I'll post them here in this thread as well. Seems fitting!
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STUTZ
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Diecast junkie
I remember buying it in 1999 or 2000.

There also was a Matchbox 2000 logo on the windshield of some of them.

The Matchbox 2000 logo was a limited production of 10,000.
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ivantt
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New casting? Quick! Take it apart!
That was during the time period when I began to look at all diecasts and started buying more than a few now and then, so I missed it. I guess the next question is why have we not seen it run again the past 8 years?? :huh:
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craftymore
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Support your local demo derby.

I'd just like to publicly thank Swifty for letting me do this truck for my week. Sean told me before my week started that he had done the pics for this casting already but still let me go ahead and do it anyway. Thank you so much Sean for the kind gesture. :wave:

Zach
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
ivantt,Jun 1 2008
08:28 PM
That was during the time period when I began to look at all diecasts and started buying more than a few now and then, so I missed it. I guess the next question is why have we not seen it run again the past 8 years?? :huh:

They have run it a few times, but always in 5 packs with children's show themes, no other realistic liveries. Likewise the Checker taxicab has been relegated to the same fate outside of the occasional Superfast version.

I guess what it comes down to is...how do you re-color this one? Best I've been able to think of you'd just change the registration number, LOL!
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
As promised, here are the pictures I had taken for car of the day:

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craftymore
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Support your local demo derby.

Great looking pics Swifty. I like that MB casted the LLV witht the sliding door partially open. A really nice touch. Thanks again for letting me steal your thunder on this one and going ahead with using this casting for my week of cotd. It's a really nice gesture on your part. :thumbup:


Zach
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ivantt
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New casting? Quick! Take it apart!
We need a REVAMP! It's been YEARS, many years!

I'd buy 6 or more, and I'm sure veryone here admiring this casting would buy one or more.

So that settles it!! SWIFTY, contact Matchbox and tell them to start production!!! :lol:
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Supraman
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Swifty's @Work Alter Ego
David Tilley is the current Matchbox Ambassador. He would know who to contact a lot better than I would. But chances are very good that we won't see this casting re-run in a realistic livery ever again, as Matchbox doesn't tend to do many re-issues in the 1-75 1-100 mainline. It also requires at least three runs through the tampo machine, and the current mainline limit is two. If there was any possibility for this I'd say it would come as a Superfast, with premium rims, more tampo strikes, and a higher price at the pegs to reflect the USPS license as well.
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ivantt
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New casting? Quick! Take it apart!
BRING IT ON!!! But who will distribute it in their stores?? In the USA, doesn't Walmart have the Superfast line locked up, at least for now?? :o
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
ivantt
Jun 6 2008, 10:47 PM
BRING IT ON!!! But who will distribute it in their stores?? In the USA, doesn't Walmart have the Superfast line locked up, at least for now?? :o

Yes they do. And I'm also sure there's no plan to issue this as a Superfast. If they were going to they would have by now, considering the new Superfast has been around for several years now.

I do remember this was a very strong seller when released- I only ever found two on pegs, and I worked for Wal*Mart at the time!
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
With several 2018 Matchbox issues being nearly re-releases of older cars, I think it's long past time to see this one return with a new serial number. My mail is still being delivered by one of these on a daily basis, as the USPS slowly determines what its replacement may be.
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corvairjim
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Fullsize
As a long term (32+ years) Postal Worker, I have a collection of Postal-themed vehicles. A couple of years ago, while I was going through one of my occasional long-term bouts of Bi-Polar depression, two of my online friends each RAOK'ed me one of these with the Matchbox 2000 on the windshield. You can't imagine the sort of pick up that gave me. I've found other LLV models since then (Jada and Greenlight), but those two Matchboxes are still my favorites because of the caring friends who gave them to me.
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pjedsel
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Muscle Car
It would be nice to see this one return to the line-up as a US mail truck. I live in a rural area so we don't see such vehicles bringing our mail to us - either go down to the post office and get it from a postal box or have a "rural" mail box and it is delivered by a contract carrier, in our case, driving a Ford pick-up with a yellow warning light on the roof. :wave: I am trying to remember if I had one of these in my collection when they were new - it was around the time I was getting more selective in what I was buying.
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juantoo3
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So sad this is a one and done, would be nice to see it back in the line from time to time.
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tksjohn
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Station Wagon
I've never really looked up the manufacturer of the USPS trucks. I was curious what a Grumman was when I saw this thread!
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Pegers
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Pony Car
a nice casting.
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