P is for Probably...the Best Toy in the World, Ever

[To be voiced by Orson Wells's gravelly tones!]. Or; Probably the Worst Lager in the World! ((c) 1989 Hugh Walter - I hope to sell it to an advertising agency one day and make my fortune!).
This has been on my brother's shelf for a few years, and was a sort of late Christmas present to me, although I've said I'll clean it and put it with the Detail stuff we looked at a while ago. Made by Britains, it predates the Detail range and the figures aren't compatible, neither did they go that well with the Herald figures, but are - at least - made of the same dark olive vinyl.

I genuinely think this has to be up there with the other contenders of best toy ever, if such an award could ever ignore the broad sweep of something like 'Lego' or 'kits' and look at each toy issued on it's merits.

It was a tad dusty when it arrived two days after Christmas, and needed to be stripped down and cleaned. Due to all the stickers that come with it and the fact that it seemed to be surface dust only, it was better to do a dry clean with a paint brush. Illustrated - bottom right - are three brushes typical of the type I'd use for a job like this, from the left; a chef's pastry brush (soft bristles that can get up a nice lather if 'wet cleaning'), a 1/2 inch decorators brush which is a bit stiffer and was the one used this time, and a stiff craft brush of the type kids in playgroup/kindergarten use for poster paint and glue, which is the best for getting years of grime out of detailed mouldings with doing the damage something like a nail brush or scrubbing brush can do.

The model carries a UK civilian license plate, with the 'F-Reg' dating it to an issue date (in the real world) between 1 August 1967 and 31 July 1968, and (without being an expert on Lanny's) seems to represent a late Series II/IIA?

So why is it the best toy ever - in my humble opinion!?...Independent suspension on all four wheels, front wheels steer from the spare, turning the steering wheel at the same time, two fully articulated crew-figures (with separate helmets), two-position co-driver/sentry's machine-gun, opening doors, opening bonnet (with a good stab at a Solihul engine-block), dash sticker and cab-details, pivoting twin pom-pom type weapon with removable, revolving mounting, locking towing-hook cover, radio set...

There are downsides; it's British Racing Green, not the army green of the wagons I knew (although Her Madge' always used to get a Review-vehicle in this colour when inspecting large units or parades), the main armament is totally fictitious and the bonnet tools tended to be broken by people thinking they should be removable (because everything else was!), but it was a toy, and as a toy it had shed-loads of play-value and preempted the modern irregulars 'Technicals' by a decade or two..Rock-on!

All cleaned-up and put back together, I gave the crew slightly more jaunty angles to their helmets at the same time! They're singing "There Was a Gloster Soldier" as they swing wildly between termite-hills and wart-hog holes looking for Mau-mau!!

Various aspects of this moulding (or the wheels!) produced a quite wide range of long and short-wheelbase farm and military versions right up to the early 2000's, with and without soft or hard-tops, drivers, crew or loads.

Go-on then...tell me what's better than this? Must be a single set or box not a generic like 'Action Man', what's your all-time best toy - not favourite; 'best', all-round and viewed with judge-like neutrality!

1970's catalogue illustration.