Matchbox Freightliner M2 106 Fire Truck (Pumper)

Matchbox fire trucks are fun to collect.  I think they bring the kid out in every collector.  As a child, fire trucks and police cars were the most dramatic cars in any Matchbox collection.

The current Matchbox Heroic Rescue Series offers plenty of cool fire trucks.  The latest fire truck in my collection is this Matchbox Freightliner M2 106.  This is a very realistic looking die-cast truck.  I like the tires and the detail of the paint job.

Matchbox Freightliner M2 106 Fire Truck

This truck is number 60 out of 125 in the MBX Heroic Rescue series.  I was fortunate to find mine in a Dollar Tree. 

Matchbox MBX Heroic Rescue Fire Truck (Freightliner M2 106)

This truck looks very good against a line of brush.  I could see it rushing to a typical California brush fire.

Matchbox Freightliner M2 106 Fire Truck Head On

This Matchbox fire truck makes a great addition to any collection of die-cast fire apparatus.

Matchbox Freightliner M2 106

Freightliner trucks are available in many configurations.  However, if you are wondering what a Freightliner M2 106 looks like in real life as a fire truck, here is one from Wikimedia Commons.

Freightliner M2 106 photo by order_242 from Chile (Freightliner M2 106 Crew Cab 2014) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Matchbox Superlift F-350 Super Duty Brush Fire Truck

This is my Matchbox Superlift F-350 Super Duty Brush Fire Truck.  It comes from the 2015 Heroic Rescue series of Matchbox cars.  According to the Matchbox Wikia, this truck has been made in various color combinations since 2012.

Matchbox Superlift F-350 Super  Duty  Brush Fire Truck

The Heroic Rescue series is a very cool set of Matchbox cars because you can just visualize tons of play scenarios with the aggressively style action-oriented little cars.

Matchbox Superlift F-350 Super  Duty  Brush Fire Truck

Matchbox Superlift F-350 Super  Duty  Brush Fire Truck climbing a hill!

Matchbox Superlift F-350 Super  Duty  Brush Fire Truck

Matchbox Blaze Blitzer Fire Truck

This is my new Matchbox Blaze Blitzer Fire Truck.  It's a very cool addition to my collection.  As I was looking to find a suitable place to photograph this one, I took a close look at it.  Initially, I thought it might be a airport fire truck due to it's self contained nature.  But, then I noticed the crown on the door and realized that this Matchbox Fire Engine is probably inspired by European fire trucks.  Here in the United States most fire trucks carry some of their heaviest hoses externally along the sides.

The angled windows and the headlights on this Matchbox model strongly resemble Scania fire trucks.
 

 Here is a similar cab in Hastings Fire Service.

Hastings 561 - Type 3 Scania Fire Appliance - photo By Derek Qiinn (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

This Scania fire engine in Lausanne, Switzerland, shows the external doors and the roofline in more detail and again the same angle for the windows.

Fire Engine in Switzerland By Rama (Own work) [CeCILL (http://www.cecill.info/licences/Licence_CeCILL_V2-en.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

The presence of a fire nozzle on the roof of the Matchbox Blaze Blitzer brings me back to Scania Airport fire trucks.

You'll see more similarities in this Manchester airport fire engine.

Manchester Airport Fire Engine - By pit-yacker [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Ultimately, the inspiration truck doesn't matter as long as the Matchbox Blaze Blitzer makes it to the fire on time!

I have a few other fire vehicles in my collection.  For example, this Chevrolet Corvair Fire Chief's car is pretty cool as is this Johnny Lightning Fire Chief's car.