Matchbox Volvo 760 GLE: A Fine Detailed Brick

Rolling out of the Matchbox China factory around the same time as the Saab 9000, the Volvo 760 GLE was produced under Matchbox International Ltd, when it was owned by David Yeh during the 1980s and early '90s. It was produced by Matchbox for a little over 10 years, from 1986 to 1997. 

The first Matchbox 760s were produced in 1986, two years prior to the release of the Matchbox 9000. It was produced in the same 1/60 scale, and also featured similar features like opening doors and a simulated suspension.

The first models produced in 1986 were available in silver, like the example here. During its near 10 year production run, however, not many colors were available. 

The other most common color was red, also seen here, and white, which is a pretty hard to find color in the collector's market. The red model has the only distinction (except for the Ultra model) to have painted headlights. 

Like the 9000, an Ultra model was produced for its final year of production, which featured rubber tires, fine detailing (trim, headlights, and tires), and was also available in silver. These ironically are more common than the white model, but still ask higher prices than the red and silver cars.

Currently, I have the two regular red and silver models. 

The Volvo 760 seemed to be a rather popular model to produce by diecast car manufacturers because Majorette and Corgi also produced models of these around the same time as Matchbox. It makes sense as to why too. The 700 series in real life had debuted a few years prior, and was pretty successful, despite being overshadowed by the 240 in popularity. There was the 740 Turbo, which had the most creative advertisement campaign in the 1980s, allowing it to become a legend in the automotive world. I think these diecast companies saw the 700 series and the turbo as a successful new car and decided to go with the trend, and produce a model of one. 

This Matchbox model is probably one of the best models of the 700 series to date. The detailing on the car alone is remarkable, and is honestly what makes it the best model in my opinion. 

I particularly like how the air dam is a part of the car body molding and not the chassis. It gives it the ability to have a matching colored air dam, much like how the real 760 would've had. How they executed this was pretty creative too. They left a gap in the chassis molding for the body to slide into, and voila! We have ourselves a color matching air dam!

Other details that stand out include the tail lights, which you can see below. It again shows just how good Matchbox got the fine detailing on this car. 

With Matchbox's new model of the Volvo 240 sedan coming out this year, I can't wait to get my hands on it, as many people that have had said nothing but good things about it. But, it's also appropriate to go back and look at some of their earliest Volvo models, like this 760, and see just how good they got it back then. This 760 GLE is truly one of the best Matchbox models of the 1980s, and holds up incredibly well today, even 40 years later.

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