The Matchbox Car Story

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: The Matchbox name originated in 1953 as a brand name of the British die-casting company Lesney Products, whose reputation was moulded by Jack O'Dell, Lesley Smith and Rodney Smith. Their first major sales success was the popular model of Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation Coach, which sold more than a million models. Lesney co-owner Jack O'Dell then created a toy that paved the way for the company's future success which was designed for his daughter. Her school only allowed children to bring toys in that could fit inside a matchbox, so O'Dell crafted a scaled-down version of the Lesney Green and Red Road Roller. This toy ultimately became the first of the 1 in 75 miniature range. A dump truck and a cement mixer completed the original three-model release that marked the starting point for the mass-market success of the matchbox series. The company decided to sell the models in replica matchboxes, thus yielding the name of the series. Additional models continued to be added to the line throughout the decade, including cars such as an MG Midget TD, a Vauxhall Crestor, a Ford Zodiac and many others. As the collection grew, it also gradually became more international, including models of Volkswagens, a Citroen and American makes. To make such miniatures, the designers took detailed photographs of the real models, even obtaining some original blueprints. This enabled them to make models with surprisingly high levels of detail, despite the small scale. The size of the models allowed matchbox to occupy a market niche barely touched by the competition. The associated price advantage made the toys affordable and helped establish matchbox as a generic word for small toy cars, whatever the brand. In its earliest years, Lesney was marketed and distributed by a company called Moco. Boxes in that era mentioned this with a text "A Moco Lesney" appearing on each of them. Lesney gained its independence from Moco in 1959 by buying out Moco's share in the joint enterprise, leading to a period of growth, both in sales and in size. Early models didn't feature windows or interiors, were made entirely of metal and were often around 2" long. By 1968 Matchbox was the biggest selling brand of small die-cast model cars worldwide. By this time the average model in their collection featured plastic windows, interiors, tyres often with separate wheels, and occasionally accessories, sprung suspensions, opening parts, and had grown to about 3" long. Some even featured steering, including the pressure-based auto-steer system debuting in 1969. The line was very diverse, including lorries, buses, tractors, motorcycles, and trailers, as well as standard passenger cars. The three dominant brands in the world at this time, all British-made, were Dinky, Matchbox, and Corgi, and all were very successful. Each had their own market niche and its own strong reputation, while innovations and advances by one were adopted by the others within a matter of a few years. Each also expanded to some extent into the others territory, though this never seemed to seriously affect the sales of any brand's core series. As part of Lesney's expansion activities, four further die-cast model ranges were introduced during the 1950s and 60s. The models of yesteryear, introduced in 1956, were renditions of classic vehicles from the steam and early automotive eras. Accessory packs were also introduced in 1956, and included petrol pumps, garages and the like. Major packs, which were larger scale models, often of construction vehicles, were added in 1957. The 1960 king-size series of larger scale trucks and tractors included passenger car models in a scale similar to that used by Corgi and Dinky. However, the main focus of Matchbox continued to be their smaller cars. Other brands attempted to compete with Matchbox, but none were particularly successful until American toy giant Mattel introduced the revolutionary low-friction racing wheels on its Hot Wheels line of cars. These models, although less true to scale and often featuring fantasy vehicles, were attractive, painted in bright metallic colours and fitted with racing style mag wheels and slick tyres, and were marketed aggressively and with numerous accessory products such as race track sets and the like. The Hot Wheels line often featured models that were decidedly American. In 1969 a second US competitor, Johnny Lightning, entered the market and the bottom effectively fell out of Lesney's US sales. At the same time, its main UK market was also under attack by competitors. Lesney's response to this was relatively quick, but not quick enough to avoid major financial worries. They created the Superfast line in 1969, which introduced low-friction wheels, at first narrow since the company needed time to retool the series to accommodate wide tyres. Racing track sets and the like were also released to allow children to race their cars. Starting in 1970, and particularly in 1971, new models appeared with wider tyres, and older models including trucks still in the line were retooled to fit slicks. The King size range was also updated, including a division into Super Kings and Speed Kings. A short-lived series of rechargeable electric cars called Scorpions was released as well to compete with similar products from Hot Wheels and Corgi. By the mid-1970s Matchbox was again a force on the world market, having completed the transition and having even updated its line to include some fantasy vehicles. The 1-in-75 series was also amended to include the Roller-Matics, featuring mechanical parts that moved when the vehicle moved, and Streakers, the latter an attempt to compete with Hot Wheels' newest innovation, tampo printing on the vehicle itself. In an attempt to reap more benefits from the regained popularity of the Matchbox brand, a last period of great expansion started with the introduction of multiple new lines, including the Skybusters range of aircraft, Battle Kings military models, Sea Kings naval models, Adventure 2000 science fiction models, and the 2-pack series which revisited the traditional Matchbox idea of a model and an associated trailer. Unfortunately, early marketing concepts of metallic painted tanks and brightly coloured ships were not consistent with market demands, and the models, many of which were quite well made for the money, were generally not successful. Second editions of the Battle Kings and Skybusters series were painted in more realistic colours, and were well received, but by this time general economic factors were seriously affecting the ability of the company to make a profit on toys manufactured in England. Of these series, only the Skybusters and to some extent the 2-Packs survived over time. The Convoy series of mostly American articulated truck trailers was an offshoot of the 2-Packs line and continues under various guises to this day. A rather simple development in this period, as much philosophical in nature as product-related, initiated a revolutionary change in the market. The Matchbox brand had become the most widely collected of all die-cast toy lines. In the 1970s Lesney began to seek contact with collectors, sending representatives to collectors' meets, providing information to the various collectors' clubs, and informally surveying collectors' interests. This resulted at first in the creation of several models for collectors, such as a yesteryear model – the black Y1 Ford Model T. The success of this decision led the company to place models of commercial vehicles in the yesteryear line – two vans at first, a Talbot and another Model T – which were printed with period advertising such as Lipton's T or Coca-Cola. These models were the first commercial vehicles in the series since the 1950s. The concept was quickly expanded to include limited editions of models made for specific countries, such as Australian Arnott's Biscuits, German Sunlight Saif, or at the specific request of companies such as Nestlé Milk, Tasty Bread and the Harrods department store. This aspect of the business, so-called promotionals, had existed since the 1960s, but had established itself firmly in the company's culture in the 1970s with numerous models, particularly of a 1 in 75 model – the No. 17 London Bus. It immediately became evident that special low-volume models of this nature were highly desirable from both the sponsor and the collector's perspective, and were good money makers. The market expanded rapidly, leading to increased licensing as well as the development of models was no longer aimed at all at the children's toy market, but rather at the higher margin premium segment. Due more to the economic climate of the UK at the time than to the lack of economic success of the Matchbox brand, the company was in difficult financial straits by the end of the 1970s. The same forces were also affecting their British competitors. Following in the footsteps of Dinky and just a year before Corgi, Lesney declared bankruptcy in 1982. The Matchbox brand name, some tooling, moulds and other assets were then sold to Universal Toys and David Yeh. Some of the Matchbox tooling became the property of Jack O'Dell, who continued to market Matchbox products under the Lido brand, Lido being Odell's last name in reverse. But essentially Lesney and Matchbox had been sold to Universal Toys. The company was reorganised and renamed Matchbox International Limited. The company was taken public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1986 with a successful IPO. Although the company was no longer British-owned, limited production continued in England until the mid-1980s, reusing many of the old Lesney castings, but most production and tooling was moved to Macau near Hong Kong. It was during this period that Matchbox acquired the rights to the venerated Dinky brand, perhaps the mother of all toy car collectibles, and united two of the most important names in diecast under one roof. New models were created and the Dinky collection was born. Dinky models tended to be of more recent classics, particularly the 1950s, while the yesteryears tended to concentrate on older vintages. It was also during the Universal era that the Matchbox collectibles concept was developed. Due to high labour costs and the shortage of skilled workers in Hong Kong and Macau, Universal outsourced its die-casting to mainland China. In April 1984, the first Hong Kong/Shanghai joint venture toy company called Shanghai Universal Toys Company Limited or SUTC was established in Shanghai. Dyes were imported to Shanghai from Macau until the early 1990s, when Macau finally ceased producing Matchbox toys. No dies were designed by SUTC, which confined itself to decal painting, assembly and packing. As well as metal casting, SUTC also had a plastic kits and components factory. The Motor City series, Matchbox PK series and many plastic components were produced there between the late 1980s and mid 1990s. Meanwhile, Universal also outsourced its die-casting capabilities in southern China. By 1992, Universal was seeking a buyer. In May 1992, it sold the brand to Tyco Toys, the toy division which was in turn bought out by Mattel in 1997, uniting Matchbox with its long-time rival Hot Wheels under the same corporate banner. The buyout by Mattel was greeted with considerable trepidation by the Matchbox collector's community. The rivalry between the Hot Wheels and Matchbox brands was not only a battle fought by the companies. Collectors of each of the brands felt strongly about the quality of their brand of choice. For the typical Matchbox collector, Hot Wheels were inferior in scaling and model choice, making them less desirable. There were fears that Mattel would either impose a Hot Wheels-style philosophy on the Matchbox line, or actually fold the Matchbox line into the Hot Wheels series. Early concerns by collectors were countered by assurances from Mattel that Matchbox would continue to develop its own product line independently from Hot Wheels, and that it was intended that Matchbox represent real and traditional vehicles, while Fantasy would be placed firmly in Hot Wheels territory. To demonstrate the latter commitment, some very realistic Hot Wheels Caterpillar models were actually rebranded to Matchbox, although that didn't assuage customers' concerns. In 2002, to celebrate its 50th anniversary, SkyBusters made a comeback, but Continental Airlines were the only major airline to sponsor it. And in 2003, Matchbox came out with a line of special edition cars. Breaking with its 1990s commitment, Mattel revamped the Matchbox line almost completely in 2003, introducing Ultra Heroes, a series of fantasy vehicles as part of the Hero City theme. Matchbox collectors were appalled. The toys proved to be unpopular, and the line was soon discontinued. All-time Matchbox, with a new team based in El Segundo, California, started a return to the company's roots by selling realistic, well-detailed models, most of which were based on real prototypes, although mostly of American cars, or brands well known in the American market. The reappearance of the pre-2001 Matchbox logo, albeit without its classic quotation marks, signalled the return to the original philosophy. To show the seriousness of the venture and its commitment to the brand, Mattel introduced a new second 1 in 75 series parallel to the standard range, celebrating the 35th anniversary of Superfast. Models were packaged in model-specific blister packs, containing not only the model, but also individual traditional style retro boxes, harking back to the Superfast boxes from about 1970. All castings were of realistic vehicles, and some 1969 castings were reactivated for inclusion in the range. The series was strictly limited in production volume, sold at a premium price, and was a great success. Further Superfast series were released in 2005 and 2006. Also in 2005, certain yesteryear castings were re-released in 1971 style retro packaging and retro wheels as "Super Kings", considered by many collectors to be a strange name choice since these models had originally been called "Speed Kings". Mattel continues to make small collectible die-cast cars under the Matchbox name. It's a much-loved brand that's produced cars that have brought so much joy to so many kids, and big kids over six decades. If you like these videos and want to see more, then feel free to subscribe. Thanks for watching, and see you in the next video.