1988 Prototypes and Pre-Production Collections

There were a few differences in 1988 between the published pictures used in catalogues and blistercard backs
and the actual sets released into full production, most of these changes were just colour schemes, however
there were two instances where a vehicle was replaced with another.
The instance of pre-production sets in the published images differing from the released sets was not
confined to one year, it was a regular occurrence. The reason is that the photos for publication were
usually taken well in advance of the sets being released, using prototypes or test shots, collections were
then often modified before finally being released.





The differences between the pre-production and production sets here were just the colours, in the released
set the '64 Stingray was white and the '87 Vette was black instead of both red.







The published picture for the European collection shows it to still include a Rolls Royce as in the 1987 set,
The actual released collection had this replaced with the red MG-TF which was also in the Street Racers set.







This collection only changed some of the colours from the published image, the red Charger was made yellow
for production and the black 'Cuda became blue.
The red charger and black 'Cuda did however make producion in other sets.







In the City Service collection, the pre production set looks normal and largely the same as the 1987 set
(except for colours), however when it came to general release, the 'Cuda cop car had been replaced
with a '69 Camaro cop car (painted in the same livery). The Ambulance was also slightly different, the
white details on the sides were now painted blue instead.
Interestingly the 2 cars shown in the published image were produced and released, I have examples of them.
They were used as bonus vehicles that came with the Travel City playsets. The Ambulance came with the
1987 Hospital and the blue/white 'Cuda cop car came with the 1988 Police Station.







Only one vehicle differed before and after production here, the published image shows the 1987 Wrecker
from the City Service collection, perhaps standing in for the correct vehicle for the purpose of the
photoshoot? The actual vehicle was the Semi (MAC Truck) as in the 1987 collection.