In bedrooms, in offices, on walls, in dressers, and tucked away in storage tubs all around the world you’ll find small diecast recreations of all kinds of vehicles. For seven decades, Matchbox has been making scale models of all kinds of cars, earning fans from kids to adults. To kick off the occasion, Matchbox is releasing limited edition vehicles that use recycled zinc.
Growing up, Matchbox cars were a critical component in honing me into a car enthusiast. I collected hundreds of Matchbox and the occasional Hot Wheels car until I had at least a few thousand of them.
In those early years, I spent countless hours arranging my Matchbox cars into highways brimming with traffic and citys full of action. My collection had a little bit of everything, too, from box trucks and semis to low-slung British and Italian supercars. I even had some Matchbox vehicles that weren’t cars, but boats, helicopters, and a McDonnell Douglas DC-10.
As an adult, my collection is much smaller–roughly 400 vehicles–but still pretty diverse. If anything, the Matchbox, Maisto, and Hot Wheels cars that I have left reflect who I am today.
I mean, in the mixed Matchbox and Hot Wheels collection is a GM RTS bus, about six school buses, five Mazda Miatas, and all kinds of VAG products.
Most of my little diecasts stay in a literal suitcase since my apartment doesn’t even come close to the necessary space to display the collection.
I’m sure so many of our readers have similar stories-albeit on a smaller scale-about how Matchbox and even Hot Wheels have left a lasting impression. It’s why I’m chuffed to hear that Matchbox is still going after 70 years and Mattel is still doing things with it.
70 Years Of Die-Cast Wonders
Mattel, the owner of Matchbox, explains that in 1947, after serving together in World War II, Leslie Smith and Rodney Smith launched Lesney Products. Working out of an old pub in London, Lesney was an industrial die-casting company. At the time, the Smiths-who were unrelated-rented space to an engineer named John W. “Jack” Odell, who would become a partner in the operation and ultimately, the one to spark the Matchbox brand.
Lesney got its start making small die-cast parts before transitioning to larger-scale die-cast model toys, including a die-cast road roller and a miniature version of Queen Elizabeth II Royal Coronation Coach that sold over a million examples. As Mattel writes, in 1953 Odell found himself creating something new. His daughter apparently went to a school where the only toys allowed were ones that could fit in a matchbox. He took the road roller, scaled it down to fit in a matchbox, then sent it to school.
The first Matchbox vehicles were industrial vehicles, but a year later, the Matchbox car-a 1954 MG TD Roadster-was born. Lesney, in partnership with German distributor Moko, created more vehicles until the catalog had reached 72 designs by 1959, with nine more on the way for the next year.
From there, Matchbox cars continued to expand and evolve, from King Size Matchbox vehicles in 1960 to the Superfast line in 1969, which was made in response to the successful launch of Mattel’s Hot Wheels. Hot Wheels cars may have been less-accurate replicas, but they came in vibrant colors and with low-friction mag-style rolling wheels. Hot Wheels cars also came with accessories like racetracks and since Hot Wheels is an American brand, it also featured more American style.
Going into the 1970s, Matchbox expanded further, getting into action figures, dolls, games, and other types of toys. The cars also got more complex, from high-speed industrial vehicles to the Rola-Matics, cars featuring a lug on one of the wheels that engaged and moved parts like spinning fans or moving engines. There were also Battle Kings military vehicles, Streakers colorful cars, Sea Kings model ships, and Sky Busters aviation models.
Though Matchbox was popular, Lesney struggled financially. In 1982, Lesney went bankrupt, and Matchbox became a part of Universal Toys. Later in the decade, Matchbox acquired one of its British competitors, Dinky. And in 1992, Matchbox sold to Tyco Toys, which then became a part of Mattel in 1997.
Today, Mattel still owns Matchbox and the brand continues to expand. You’ll still find new cars, Superfast is back, and despite inflation and everything else happening in the world, it’s awesome that you can still get a cool car for dirt-cheap during your grocery runs. Heck, my wife still comes home with new cars that she thinks I’d like.
Now, Matchbox is 70, and Mattel wants to celebrate with limited-edition die-casts that are made from recycled zinc:
The celebratory line will include special 70th anniversary die-cast vehicles featured in seven different assortments across the Matchbox line, all honoring the platinum anniversary with special platinum details. These selections are a combination of collector favorites and iconic vehicles spanning seven different decades and regions around the world.
Individual die-cast vehicles will be rolling into retail throughout the year and will be available throughout Matchbox’s 2023 die-cast product line. The limited-edition line is just the first of the many ways that Matchbox will be celebrating, with more announcements to come in July 2023.
Along the way, Matchbox will be continuing its trend of making cars from sustainable materials. In 2022, Matchbox released a Tesla Roadster made from 99 percent recycled materials. This theme will continue as Matchbox seeks to release more EV die-casts as well as accessories related to die-cast EV models like charging stations.
It looks like there’s a little bit of everything in there from a Boeing 747 and a Routemaster bus to a Jeep FC, a Ford Taurus Police Interceptor, an Audi RS6 Avant, a Dodge Charger, and even a Ford F-150 Lightning! I think I’m going to pick myself up that bus, plane, and Jeep FC. Oh heck, I’ll take them all. Matchbox says that these will be released onto global markets, so keep your eyes peeled.
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
Not really related, but that’s an awesome Fordite pendant. That stuff is so cool.
In my neck of Canada, we had Hot Wheels, but it was predominantly Matchbox for me, with an exception for some Corgi stuff. In hindsight, the Corgi stuff was awesome: I had a 1:43 Spy Who Loved me Lotus that had pop-out submarine gear and fired missiles out the louvers, and a 1:100 Goldfinger Aston Martin DB5 with a damn functioning ejector seat.
Also has a couple of Kenner Fast 111s, which did seem to roll smoother and further.
My most vivid memory of Matchbox/Hot Wheels as a child is watching my friend’s mom beat him with a segment of HW track. We were acting up doing whatever, and she came in and grabbed the first thing she thought adequate. After the initial shock, we just laughed, which didn’t help the situation. Ahh, the early 70s.
Matchbox really faded from the shelves a few years ago but once they started to make a comeback, I started paying attention to them again more even if the cars are not quite what they once were. Some of the best selection seemed to be not at like a Target but at Five Below. Somehow, MB/HW cars seem to be the few new cars defying the pace of inflation.
For their 50th anniversary, MB did a “cars across America” series with a unique car representing each state, and if you collected all of them for a region, you could mail off the UPCs to get a unique car ‘representing’ said region, and DC was a bonus one for all 4 (it was a limo but one of the few non-actual cars MB did, I think they were branching out some then). I kept track of the states I had, but naturally not all of them were everywhere in our area.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but my parents put out feelers to family & friends in other states to keep an eye on ones that I didn’t have – I think it was Christmas or something I started to get some of the missing ones. Maybe they ordered online too but that wasn’t as easy or simple to do today, or probably not as worthwhile to ship for a $1-2 car. Anyway, to make a long story short, I did end up with a full set plus all the regions, thanks to my parents being maybe even more invested in the collection than I was. Probably because they thought it would be worth money some day…which doesn’t seem to have panned out whenever I sometimes peep ebay. But still a nice little story and was a change from me having too many car things around – usually that complaint was levied against my car brochures though.
There was a time that I could not walk by a display of these type toys without buying one, or several. If I had to count them there are probably thousands of all sizes stashed in my spare bedroom.
I blame my Grandma. She started bringing me Corgis and M Box stuff home from her European trips in the very early 1960s.
Am thankful for Mattel ending up with the MB brand, but quality seems to be on the decline. Hot Wheels are fairly cool, but again quality seems to have gone down as well.
BTW I need to downsize my collection. Does anyone know how to do this in a way that avoids E Bay, Amazon, flea markets?
Thanks as always Mercedes for great stuff here.
I said it on Twitter but I’m actually pretty underwhelmed by this news. I recently stopped buying Hot Wheels because I realised I was buying them out of habit.
I’d like to have seen some re-pops of older genuine Matchbox models in period packaging, assuming the tooling still exists.
I’m assuming you mean pre-Superfast by older, but at least that GMC tow truck is over 35 years old. As well, I spy a Routemaster, although I assume it shares absolutely nothing with the vintage model (which is surprisingly tiny).
They did this once in I think the 90s, complete with a reproduction matchbox; IIRC, I have a fire engine somewhere.
Yes, I’ve got a ‘69 Camaro (I think) somewhere with seventies Superfast packaging and wheels, that was definitely not one of the original models.
Right before the pandemic hit us (that’s why I remember it), I went against my usual type and picked up a repro Superfast Blue Shark when at the store. It’s sitting on my desk as I type, on top of its cardboard box.
I had the original of that. Probably in Mother Dearest’s loft somewhere.
In the mid-1950s, my father began bringing home Dinky and Matchbox cars. I inherited the collection, then lost them during a disastrous relocation. During the time I had them, I nearly doubled the collection, with cars from Corgi, Schuco, etc., etc.
If asked I could probably list darn near all of them. One of my fondest dreams/hopes is to someday meet up with a collector who is willing to sell, and replace at least half of those I had….
Never got into the Hot Wheels “thing.” If you ask me, they didn’t — and still don’t — have either the charm or quality of the classic Matchbox and Dinky offerings. Or maybe I’m just prejudiced, and would prefer having a tiny Mercedes W196 streamliner to a Hummer EV….
My uncle, who will be 75 this year, still has all his Dinky, Corgi and Spot-On toys from when he was a boy in the fifties and early sixties. All mint and boxed, but he doesn’t display them.
He promised them to me when he croaks, and my feeling is the bottom is going to drop out of the market for these. I’ve bought a couple (AMC Rambler, 68 Camaro 350) and paid about £90 each for them. I think as the older generation dies off that had them as kids younger people won’t be interested in the same way.
As one of the Older Generation, I’d simply like to have a few back on my toy shelf before I die off!
I can remember checking values some 30 years ago when I still had my collection. The total was pretty high, higher in fact than I estimated. A downward “readjustment” of the market would suit me fine.
On one of the numerous antique/toot/old junk format TV shows that make up the bulk of daytime programming here in the UK, the other week a guy had about 35 mint and boxed old Dinkys and Corgis. The dealer offered him £400 which the guy took. That’s only just £10 each, even at £50 each which I would consider cheap that would have been £1750.
It went to a toy fair last year, and didn’t really pay much attention to what diecasts where there. It feels as if the market for toys has really shifted towards eighties stuff, especially TV and electronic things (as my Gen tries to relive it’s childhood).
Is it just me or does it look like that 747 has an extra pair of engines in those pics?
It does. They probably couldn’t get the license which seems odd.
I didn’t had many die casts like these when I was a kid (scarce where I lived, perhaps?), but I always liked Matchbox more for the realism and (usually) complexity.
But the true bread and butter for young me was Corgi toys – I don’t know why, but this appeared to be the ONLY brand that offered a die cast VW Beetle – seriously, my folks knew I was obsessed, and they found exactly ONE in my first 10 years on this planet – the “Custom VW” or “Hot Rod VW” (memory fails me now).
This car actually got an interesting story, in that I lost it when I was about 9, and then found the remnants semi buried on the street one year later (an eternity for a kid). I reconstructed it the best I could, but lost it again the next year, victim of an ill fated house cleaning.
I had to start from memory, and was fortunate enough to find a compatible VW die-cast that my little brother destroyed. Many years later I got the original online, and was amazed of how close I got to the real thing 🙂
Anyway, that is a completely unrelated tangent, and what I wanted to say about this commemorative line is “Nice, hope to find some where I live” but also “R U KIDDING ME HOW COME NO VW, MATTEL?”
Even when I was a kid my issue with Matchbox was that the vehicles are not to scale. For that reason it’s weird having 2+ Matchbox cars next to each other. Like the Original Mini that is bigger than the Double Decker Bus.
That being said I’ll definitely get that Jeep FC. That’s my dream Jeep and I wish they’d make a new one based off of the Wrangler. Just put a tiny engine with lots of gearing and it would be amazing!
In this age of flash over substance, I’m surprised and delighted to see Matchbox still around. I always preferred Matchbox over Hot Wheels, even as a kid. I valued the realism of Matchbox over the flash and fantasy of Hot Wheels, plus Matchbox made models of interesting average vehicles, like a 1st gen Dodge Caravan or a Mercury Sable wagon. Although Tomica was always my favorite and spurred my love of old Japanese cars.
Those are 2 that always pop in my mind when I think of describing my preference of Matchbox making everyday cars over Hot Wheels with a mix. I found the Sable at a used specialty toy shop years later, maybe early 00s, but have always wanted to find a Caravan somewhere ever since I found out it existed. I think it was about that time my local library had a book of MB cars over the years, sort of a history-spotter’s guide, and I’d pore over that thing picking out ones I’d like to collect but had little way of finding at the time. I should go back to a flea market, I found a nice 80s Daytona and maybe a Nissan Axxess at one a few years ago.
If you ever feel compelled to lose way too much time, there’s pretty comprehensive wikis for both Matchbox and Hot Wheels – great way to lose hours figuring out what vital car you’re missing.
The Caravan is quite neat (it has a sliding door!), I have one because my grandparents had a first-gen Voyager. Although, as outlandish as Hot Wheels gets, they sneak in some pretty mundane stuff as well (I’ve got a circa 2000 SWB Caravan from them as well, although past the first year or two of production, the paintjobs get pretty extreme).
https://matchbox.fandom.com/wiki/Matchbox_Cars_Wiki
https://hotwheels.fandom.com/wiki/Hot_Wheels
Thanks! I think I have that same Caravan too, and we had a 3rd gen Grand Voyager at the time. I have a similar grandparent story too, my grandparents had a 1st gen Lumina sedan, and my grandfather gave me the Hot Wheels Lumina van (looks like around ’98 since it’s the green one I have). I was into the Dustbusters but I’m not sure that really influenced it, just me being into cars + the Lumina part.
I had a modest (but still decent) collection of matchbox cars when I was a kid, and it was probably what got me into car culture, too. And I was the same, playing traffic jams in cities imagined in the carpet patterns of my grandmother’s living room. Hot Wheels weren’t really a thing where I live when I was that age (they absolutely are now, and I enjoy picking tracks I’d have loved as a kid for my wife’s nephew). My own matchbox cars were passed on to my (now adult) nephew to live on and probably pick up a few more chips in the paintwork along the way. Collectible as some of them may now be, I don’t think I’d want it any other way.
As an aside: the caption under the ‘Streakers’ photo – very unfortunate (but hilarious) misspelling of the auctioneer’s name. I’m reading this at 4:15am and my wife did NOT appreciate me laughing.
This is great! I’ll be grabbing that FC for my collection for sure, likely along with several others. I’ve probably got 1,000’s of MB/Hotwheels/others at this point as I’ve been collecting off and on since I was a kid, along with a couple of closets full of 1/18th and 1/24th stuff. Slowly, but surely I’ve been working on a display room although I don’t think it’s going to be enough space to show off everything. I also have at least a few that are in your collection – the green Mercedes 300TD, that Tomica school bus, and I’m pretty sure I have the same GMC bus, only in a Rio to São Paulo livery of some sort.
Which school bus here is by Tomica?
Opps, the one I was looking at is overlapped by the green Mercedes wagon, and I believe it’s actually a Maisto. I had to zoom up to see the “School District 3”.
ahh, the unbranded Maisto school bus. I had three with different variations as a kid. I did like how the front of them looked like a Ford B-Series despite being unlicensed.
Nice cameo (pun intended) of that Detroit Agate in that picture with the GM RTS bus. Great write-up! Ha, hadn’t realized this year would be Matchbox’s 70th anniversary (still adjusting to the fact we’re now in the 21st century…)
“As an adult, my collection is much smaller–roughly 400 vehicles–but still pretty diverse.”
We’re still talking about Matchboxes, right? 🙂
When I was a yute, occasionally we would visit a particular department store (long gone now) that had a glass case full of Matchboxen. On those trips I would take $1.25 out of my bank and look forward finding a new treasure. I think the cars were either $.99 or $1.09, so the buck and a quarter would cover the toy + tax. (I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time…)
I still have a lot of them, including some rollamatics and the WWII collection. One from that era was this: https://globaldiecastdirect.com/25604-thickbox_default/matchbox-roman-numeral-series-mb-iv-1-flying-beetle.jpg
I credit that toy with inspiring me to buy an orange Super Beetle for my first real car.
Nickels used to have bees on them, five bees to a quarter we’d say
Both Matchbox and HW have been knocking it out of the park in recent years. I’m partial to MBX and their subject matter, so this is great to see. Really excited for both the Willys FC and Toyota 4Runner.
When I was a kid, dad would go to the store and buy three matchbox cars—one for my brother, one for me, and one for himself. Needless to say, his are in much better condition now than my brother’s and mine. Still have most of them. May have to go digging in the basement for them.
Good times.
Aveling Barford Road Roller, I remember it well. God only knows why.
“-albeit on a smaller scale-”
I see what you did there.
Love my little cars too. I still have a hundred or so of the Matchbox/Hot Wheels/assorted other diecast I got as a kid, plus a couple hundred more I have amassed in the intervening years (I’m 53). I occasionally poke through the old cases or pick a new car up at Target, but more often I head to the far corner of the basement and run a few laps with an old Aurora or Tyco HO scale slot car.
The first Matchbox car was an MG?!? How did I not know that?
Of course – Matchbox Garage!
Where does everyone stand on the hot wheels vs matchbox rivalry? I had a mix growing up and honestly didn’t care. My sons (3 and 6) are all about hot wheels, mostly for the tracks and playsets. They will happily play with them for hours with minimal fighting.
I enjoy how they’re both owned by Mattel now.
I tend to prefer MB for the realism BUT I respect that HW will do some insanely deep dives.
I own a HW ’62 Mustang concept (the two-seater, mid-engined V4) which is rare enough, but also a HW ’63 Mustang II concept (what Ford made to get people away from the Mustang concept and toward what was actually coming out in a year). HW even correctly replicated the paint schemes – white with a centered thin blue stripe. That’s pretty impressive for a company that focuses on gravity-defying orange-tracked stunts.
It was Matchbox or Corgi when I was a kid – generally Corgi cars were larger and had more interactive parts like opening doors, boots and bonnets. Hot Wheels are far more ubiquitous now – even more than Matchbox, I reckon. I definitely wouldn’t have cared either. And I seem to recall Matchbox and Corgi sharing spaces on my imaginary roads despite the differences in scale (one was small, one was far away…).
The Bburago cars – different story. I had a Williams FW14 (and later a ‘low nose’ Ferrari F310) and Dodge Viper GTS (blue with white stripes, of course), which was my dream car at the time. They were played with, but were more delicate so we’re mainly kept for display purposes only!
Here in the UK Hot Wheels were not really in contention first time around. We had Matchbox and Corgi Juniors, and you never really saw Hot Wheels unless you went to a fancy toy shop. By the early eighties is was pretty much all over as both Matchbox and Corgi had gone bankrupt, although both had brief resurgences producing detailed collector models at 1:43 in the early nineties as the brands got passed around.
Matchbox ended up owning the Dinky brand at one point, and did a reasonable line of 1:43 models, but they eventually got buried by Minichamps and the like.
I had a mix but liked the Matchbox cars more as they had more regular cars and more ‘realistic’ features on them, so I was usually looking in the Matchbox section more at the toy sections. But that’s a good point on the sets and such – Hot Wheels had much more of those, and I would build little towns with them.
I still have many many matchbox cars, my French grand mother was PA to the managing director of Bryant and May, the math company. So what? you exclaim. Well, she was good friends with the lady who had a similar position with the company whose factory was next door and that factory was Lesney!
Small me really liked going to visit granny at work, somehow it always involved going to see her friend too. This entailed walking through the factory. It was better than the best thing in the world, the paint shop was magical, hundreds of matchbox cars whirling around on sticks like twirly merry go round horses appearing and disappearing through a brightly coloured mist.
I suspect that some of my cars were unique, never to be mass produced, but I would not know which ones, they all got used as intended and about sixty years on bear their battle scars with tiny dignity.
That’s a lovely comment. Bryant and May! Matchboxes! Do you know the Bryant and May mysteries by Christopher Fowler? Check them out! Fun, weird, and stuffed with London arcana.
Bryant and May were a match company, not a math company
While these special editions are cool, what I really appreciate is when Matchbox puts little special extra touches on their mainline models, just to show its commitment to the real world connection. This is one place where it usually tops Hot Wheels.
For instance, I have a MB Lotus Europa in the actual John Player livery colors; a Volvo P1800 in Roger Moore/the Saint white; and my Ford GT40 is clearly a rare Mk III as it has a license plate on the hood.
It’s so cool that someone at MB takes the time to include these things on something that costs a buck.
I’m on my third go-round of collecting Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars — and this is both the best and the worst news.
Hell yeah!