Lot Ended
Description
Period wartime Matador 4x4; now with Booth's livery; runs, drives and
stops; ideal show vehicle
Offered here is one of the
most iconic vehicles of the Second World War.
Dating from 1939,
this Matador must have been one of the first to leave the AEC works as
production had commenced late in 1938. Likely to have been put into
active service immediately, it could have been used for all sorts of purposes,
including towing field guns and general recovery duties.
If they survived the war, many remained in military service as
general purpose vehicles well into the 1960s. This Matador is believed to
have been used by Blakes of Manchester soon after it was retired from
military duties, before being acquired by well-known sign writer and
commercial vehicle restorer, Graham Booth, in 1979.
Graham restored a
huge number of heavy commercials over the years, but this Matador
was the first project that he took on and he came to
regret selling it. When the opportunity arose, he couldn’t help buying it
back many years later. No doubt many of you will have seen it at shows, along
with the Scammell elsewhere in this auction (Lot 44), as part of ‘The Graham
Booth Collection’.
Our vendor acquired both the
Matador and the Scammell from Graham in 2023 but storage space has now
become a problem – an issue familiar to anyone who collects big commercial
machines!
Road registered, running,
driving and stopping, this would be ideal for any collector and perfect to wow
the crowds at shows across the country.
Contact - [email protected]