There are 3 main variations of the Ambulance model issued as #14 By Matchbox Lesney with 8 Matchbox 14 Ambulance Box Variations.
The three models are the small 14a Daimler Ambulance, the revised casting 14b Daimler, and the 14c Bedford chassis Lomas Ambulance. Each of these has a number of retail box issues.
While the boxes are similar in some case, we can trace the era of issue from the changing artwork of the boxes.
Matchbox 14 Ambulance Box Variations List
The very first was the 14a Daimler Ambulance in a small scale measuring approximately 1 7/8″ or 48mm. Only issued with metal wheels.
The revised casting 14b Daimler Ambulance is slightly larger at 2 1/8″ or 54mm. Issued with either metal wheels or grey plastic wheels.
The later issue 14c Bedford Lomas Ambulance was larger again at 2 5/8″ or 67mm. Issued with grey, silver or black plastic wheels.
For each of these the box variations are:
14a Small 54mm wide box with either blank blue end flaps or with “14” in black text. The ambulance line drawing included dark shading which appears to have varied with different print runs.
14b1 Longer 65mm wide box with a revised ambulance image with less shading and a red cross on the roof. The line drawing is similar to the 14a but probably a new drawing. This box was made longer by inserting a blue panel either side of the front face. The actual image was still within the same 54mm space of the 14a artwork.
14b2 as was typical of many of the early issue Matchbox Lesney models had the artwork revised to present a yellow background on the full width of the front face. This was a simple variation to layout with the Ambulance image remaining the same as the 14b1.
14b3 marked another change with the model artwork changed and having all the model art filled-in with red ink.
The four boxes mentioned above are all B style boxes with Moko Lesney in the scroll banner on the main face. Subsequent issues were identified as “A Lesney Product” in the banner in what is now known as the C style boxes.
The C style 14b Daimler Ambulance box featured the same artwork as the preceding 14b3, with the A Lesney product change to the banner text.
At this point a model change occurred and the Daimler model made way for the 14c Bedford Lomas Ambulance. The first box for this model is also a C style box.
14c has a new line art image of the Bedford Ambulance also painted out in red similar to others in the C style range.
The next major changes were in the introduction of full colour images in the box art and the chance to the D and later E style boxes.
The 14c Ambulance had a long production run, 1962 to 1968, and had new artwork for each of the D and E style boxes.