General Information

The following information has been collected from original newspapers, catalogs, and magazines, some of which are freely available for reference below. The rest can be found in the site’s gallery. No aggregate catalogs (BrickLink, Brickset, etc.) were used.

Text title here

Short description of this text.
▼

Advertised Part Count(s): 147 pieces

Set Box

First Year Confirmed Available: 1968 (USA)

All 1967+ Model Makers are incredibly hard to track as they were not typically advertised like the larger assortments/models. The 330 Jeep and the 343 Ferry are more so confusing as the form numbers of their instructions place their preparation in very late 1968. Neither appear in 1968 dealer catalogs, but based on the form numbers alone, a 1968 release date is likely, just not very evident in external sources.

This set might've had a Canadian release, but I currently have no evidence of such. This is likely more a problem of a lack of sources than reflective of Canada's production.

Most Likely Retirement Date: 1971(USA)

Unless other evidence arises, the set might've continued production until 1971 as it appears in 1970-1971's idea book.

Last Year Seen Available: 1971

1971 Dealer Catalog

Aliases: Ferry

Retail Price(s): $????

Note: Samsonite discontinued listing RRPs for sets in 1967. As a result, prices for Model Maker sets can vary. I've theorized this to be a reason 1968+ Model Makers include a secondary number, you can read about it here.

Rarity Score(Index): 5/7

Box/Overview

Different from the 1967 Model Maker line, the 1968 line required the import of many unique pieces from Denmark to create the new vehicles. None of the sets or parts are of Samsonite's own design—they'd already been available in other countries. This continued with the 343 Ferry (Train Ferry in other countries).

As usual, the 343 inherits its images from Europe. Starting in 1970, sets were given a sticker to indicate imported parts were in the set:

box top image

The 343's long box is mostly due to its long baseplate:

Contents

As the images are not from Samsonite, they picture different elements than would be found in the North American version. 1x6 and 1x8 bricks were likely to be hollow bottom, a baseplate with way more studs, etc.

The North American version of the 343 also commonly substituted red windows.