Category:Matchbox Series

Toy Brands and Manufacturers

Matchbox Series

1953 -

1955: "Matchbox Miniature Models, a Moko-Lesney Product". 18 models listed. [image info]

1956 Moko-Lesney trade advert [image info]

1957: b&w copy of the colour 1957 fold-out product sheet. 42 models listed [image info]

1959: Lesney catalogue cover: 72 Matchbox models listed, plus accessories and Models of Yesteryear [image info]

1972: Front cover of "Lesney Matchbox 1-75 Series Diecasts", by Maurice A. Hammond [image info]

1989: Front cover of "Collecting Matchbox Diecast Toys, The First Forty Years" ISBN 0951088513, showing a "1-75" Matchbox dealer display stand [image info]

Lesney Products' Matchbox Series range of small diecast vehicles appeared in 1953, and were one of the classic ranges of "playground, carpet, garden and sandpit" toys. With no pretence at even attempting to use a common scale, Matchbox toys were individually sized to fit a matchbox, and were sold in matchbox-styled packaging.

Even though these were very much marketed as simple toys rather than models, the level of detailing specific to the original vehicle was pretty impressive, and the earliest-released models are particularly revered for their charm and attractiveness.

1956 "Matchbox Series" artwork, from the catalogue cover

The "1-75" Series

The range of "playground and sandpit" toy vehicles became a runaway success, and after the initial launch in 1953 of three models, grew to eighteen in 1955, seventy-two in 1959, and finally seventy-five in 19xx. Seventy-five was considered a reasonable upper limit to the number of models that a retailer could be asked to handle, and not having a range in the hundreds meant that all the vehicles could be fairly distinctive, and make it easier for the customer to succumb to an impulse purchase without being confused by an overwhelming degree of choice.

At seventy-five models, the range "froze", with newcomers to the 1-75 Series" displacing older models. For retailers, this had the advantage that the existing point-of-sale display stands (with unlettered spaces marked 1-75) didn't need to be changed when the range changed.

Scale

The Matchbox range defiantly ignored any concept of unified scale, or an obvious unified theme, as typified by the initial three models, a diesel roller, a dumper truck and ... a static cement mixer (why a cement mixer, nobody knows, but it appeared to be perfectly scaled for gauge 0, and consequently appears on a lot of gauge 0 model railway layouts). The requirement that all models be roughly the same size meant that a Matchbox double decker bus was around the same size as a single-seater racecar (or a cement mixer!).

The 1959 range:

We've taken these scans from the 1959 catalogue, as representative of the early range – it's still only about six years after the initial launch, but has a range that almost reaches the magical "75" (72). Some models had already been changed by this point – the #1 Diesel Road Roller now had more modern slanted front roof supports, and the "Caterpillar Inc." vehicles had different engine cowlings (D4 rather than D2?)

1 – Diesel Road Roller, green
2 – Muir Hill Dumper, green and red
3 – Cement Mixer, blue

4 – Massey Harris Tractor, red
5 – Red Double-Decker Bus, "Player's Please"
6-B – Euclid Quarry Truck, yellow
7 – Horse-Drawn Milk Float, red
8-B – Caterpillar (D4?) Tractor, yellow
9 – Dennis Fire Engine (listed as "Fire Escape"), red
10 – Scammell Scarab Mechanical Horse, red cab
11 – Road Petrol Tanker, red
12 – Land Rover (with towbar)
13 – Fordson Thames Wreck Truck, crane
14 – Daimler Ambulance, Red Cross, cream
15 – Prime Mover six-wheeler truck cab, red
16 – Atlantic Vehicle Transporter Trailer, orange
17 – Bedford Removals Van, "Matchbox Removals Service", green
18 – Caterpillar (D4?) Bulldozer, yellow with green tracks

19 – MG MGA Sports Car, white
20 – ERF Heavy Lorry, "Ever Ready for Life!", blue
21 – Bedford Duple Long-Distance Luxury Coach, "London to Glasgow", green
22 – Vauxhall Cresta car, pale pink
23-B – Berkeley Cavalier Caravan, yellow-green
24 – Weatherill Hydraulic Excavator, orange
25 – Bedford 12 cwt Van, "Dunlop", blue
26 – Foden Cement Mixer Lorry, orange
27 – Bedford Low Loader Articulated Lorry, green cab
28 – Ford Thames Compressor Lorry, orange
29 – Bedford Milk Delivery Van, cream
30 – Ford Prefect car, with towbar
31 – American Ford Customline Station Wagon ( "Country Sedan"), yellow
32 – Jaguar XK140 Fixed-Head Coupé, off-white
33 – Ford Zodiac car with Towbar, green
34 – Volkswagen Microvan, "Matchbox International Express" blue
35 – ERF Marshall Horse Box Mk.7, red cab
36 – Austin A50, green
37 – Karrier Bantam Coca-Cola bottle lorry, even load
38 – Karrier Bantam Refuse Truck, "Cleansing Department", grey
39 – Ford Zodiac Convertible car, with Towbar
40 – Bedford 7-Ton Tipper, red cab
41 – D-Type Jaguar racing car, green
42 – Bedford Van, "Evening News", "First With The News", yellow
43 – Hillman Minx Mk.2 car, two-tone light blue and grey
44 – Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, silver
45 – Vauxhall Victor car, yellow
46 – Morris Minor car, dark green
47 – Trojan 1-Ton Van, "Brooke Bond", red
48 – Fenn & Wood Meteor Sportsman Sports Boat on Trailer, blue and wood-effect
49 – US Army M3 Half-Track Personnel Carrier, green
50 – Commer Pickup Truck, buff
51 – Albion Lorry, "Blue Circle", "Portland Cement", yellow
52 – Maserati 4CLT single-seater racing car, red
53 – Aston-Martin DB2/4 Mk I car, metallic light green
54 – Alvis Saracen Six-Wheeled Personnel carrier, green
55 – US Army DUKW-353 "Duck" Amphibious Vehicle, green
56 – Red London Trolleybus, "Drink Peardrax Sweet Sparkling"
57 – Matchbox No.57, Wolseley 1500 car, pale green
58 – AEC Coach, "British European Airways" (BEA), blue
59 – Ford Van, "Singer", green
60 – Morris Commercial J2 Pickup Truck, "Builders Supply Company", blue
61 – British Army Daimler Ferret Mk1 Armoured Scout Car, green
62 – British Army AEC Militant ("Milly") General Service Lorry, green
63 – Ford 3 Ton 4×4 Service Ambulance, Red Cross, green
64 – Scammell Army Breakdown Truck, green
65 – Jaguar 3.4 litre Sedan, blue
66 – Citroën DS19 car, yellow
67 – British Army Alvis FV601 Saladin six-wheeled armoured car, green
68 – British Army Austin Mark II Radio Truck, green
69 – Commer 30 cwt Van, "Nestle's", crimson
70 – Ford Thames Estate Car, two-tone red and white
71 – British Army Austin 200-Gallon Water Truck, green
72 – Fordson Major Tractor, blue

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Lledo

Lesney went bust in 1982, after which Jack Odell came out of retirement, bought some of the more "retro" Matchbox moulds and produced a new Days Gone range under the name Lledo.