#566 LESNEY TOYS - VARIOUS MODELS II (1957, 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1962)

The first models made by Lesney were mostly English models, but as the line grew, other European and American models were included in the series. Despite the size, models were pretty accurate and included a great detail level.

The size of the toys was a factor for success, since it allowed to sell them much cheaper than their concurrents from Dinky or others. Matchbox as a brand was a registered to protected it worldwide.
The first models did not have windows or interiors and were made completely of metal. By 1968, Matchbox was the biggest selling brand, and their models already featured plastic windows, interior, tyres, spring suspension, opening parts, maybe some accesories... models had grown from the original 2 inches to 3 inches and there were many different types available (trucks, vans, motorcycles...)
During the Lesney era it was also defined that the standard series would always comprise 75 references, and after they reached that number, any new reference would replace an older one, so the display stands would always have the same size. This 1-75 reference system has been used almost until today, except from 1999 to 2001 and from 2008 on, with 100 references available.

Other model series have their own numbering system, but none of them is limited as the 1-75 series.

Nr. 10c - Fonden 15 Ton Sugar Container (1960-1966)
Nr. 27c - Cadillac Sixty Special (1960-1966)

Nr. 31b - American Ford Station Wagon (1960-1964)
Nr. 38a - Karrier Refuse Collector (1957-1963)

Nr. 32b - "E" Type Jaguar (other type of wheel) (1962-1968)

Nr. 44a - Rolls Royce Silver Cloud (1958-1964) - Repainted in grey
Nr. 73a - 10 Ton Pressure Refueller (1959-1962)

Nr. 75a - Ford Thunderbird (1960-1965)

Nr. 73b - Ferrari (other type of wheel) (1962-1968)

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: Fonden 15 Ton Sugar Container (Nr. 10c), Cadillac Sixty Special (Nr. 27c), American Ford Station Wagon (Nr. 31b), Karrier Refuse Collector (Nr. 38a), Rolls Royce Silver Cloud (Nr. 44a), 10 Ton Pressure Refueller (Nr. 73a), Ford Thunderbird (Nr. 75a), "E" Type Jaguar (Nr. 32b), Ferrari (Nr. 73b)
• Scale: approx. 1:64
• Year: 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1962
• Company: Lesney (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 6 cm

#565 LESNEY TOYS - VARIOUS MODELS I (1955, 1957 and 1958)

I have collected my oldest Matchbox/Lesney to finally write the story of the origins of Matchbox.

Lesney was founded in 1947 by Leslie and Rodney Smith. Despite their names, these men were not family. LESlie and rodNEY gave name to the company. Shortly after their foundation the engineer John "Jack" Odell joined the company. He was a friend of Rodney, both had worked previously at DCMT (Die Cast Machine Tools Ltd.), the die-cast company famous for "Lone Star" die-cast models.
Initially, Lesney facilites were an old pub called The Riflemen. They changed location several times until they finally moved to a factory in Hackney. In 1947 they recevied a request for toy gun parts, and they started considering toys as a new alternative to the other items they produced. In 1948 they started producing toys themselves. That first toy was a die-cast road roller similar to another one made by Dinky, followed by similar toys including a cowboy wagon and a soap box racer (from 1949, probably the most sought-after model ever in the history of Lesney/Matchbox).

Rodney left the company in 1951 because he thought there was no future in producing toys.
Only two years later, in 1953, Lesney produced the Royal Stage Coach used in the coronation of Elizabeth II in two different scales. This was an amazing success and provided capital for future expansions. This success plus a bit of luck would definitely determine the brilliant future of the company. Jack Odell built a miniature road-roller in 2 to 3 inches size for his daughter, who was only allowed to take with her to school toys in the size of a matchbox or smaller. This scale was somehow revolutionary, and we all know how successful this "scale" has been. Opposed to the classic 1:43, 1:87... scales, this new scale is sometimes referred as 1:box, because all models are around 2-3 inches long, independently of the size of the real vehicle.
That road roller would later become Nr.1 of the Matchbox 1-75 series.

Until the late 50s, Lesney toys were distributed by Moko. Moko was founded by MOses KOhnstam, and from there its name. Toys distributed by Moko were marked Lesney/Moko in the boxes. At one point, Lesney bought Moko, and started distributing their own toys.

From there on, a great expansion would follow until the first bankruptcy and receivership in 1982. Then, the company was reformed as Matchbox International Ltd. (a division of Universal Holdings/ universal Toys) and started producing in Macau. Jack Odell founded then Lledo (the surname spelled backwards).

Nr. 1c - Aveling Barford Road Roller (1958-1962)
Nr. 2b - Muir Hill Site Dumper (1957-1961) - Probably Reedition
Nr. 18a - Caterpillar Bulldozer (1955-1958) - Reedition

More Information:
www.hgm-matchbox.de/default.htm

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: Aveling Barford Road Roller (Nr. 1c), Muir Hill Site Dumper (Nr. 2b), Caterpillar Bulldozer (Nr. 18c)
• Scale: Unknown
• Year: 1958, 1957, 1955
• Company: Lesney (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 6 cm

#564 G.I. JOE – MOTORIZED ACTION PACKS, SERIES 1 (PART 1) (1987)

An interesting concept, which is present in many important action figure lines that include figures and vehicles, is the “small vehicles”. These are normally quite simple and, I would say, cheaper to produce than the figures themselves. They are normally priced as a single figure, and mostly sold in blister cards like the figures.

Who knows if G.I.Joe took this concept from Masters of the Universe (see for example #188)… the action packs are small, can be carried as a backpack, and have a wind-up motor that can be triggered on/off by a switch.

There were two series made of this, the first one consisted of 8 machines, 4 for G.I.Joe and 4 for Cobra and/or Dreadnocks. The second series, next year, counted only 4 small vehicles. Today I want to show a few of the first series, and I will complete it sometime, when I can take good pictures of the other machines I have.

The motorized action packs were:

G.I.Joe:

• Anti-Aircraft Gun
• Helicopter
• Radar Station
• Rope Walker

Cobra:

• Earth Borer
• Mountain Climber
• Pom-Pom Gun
• Rope Crosser

All of them were packaged in a blister card with a generic card, and included were a sheet of instructions in the “blueprint” style and a sheet of stickers. There were no filecard or whatever at the
back, only small pictures of all the available items.

Radar Station (G.I. Joe)
Guest Starring: Mainframe

Helicopter (G.I. Joe)
Guest Starring: Astro Viper v2 (yes, I know it is a GIJoe vehicle, but I took the pictures with the wrong figure)

Mountain Climber (Cobra)
Guest Starring: Firefly v2

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MOTORIZED ACTION PACKS HELICOPTER, RADAR STATION and MOUNTAIN CLIMBER.
• Alternate Names: Aparatos de Acción (Spanish), Engins d’Action (French)
• Toy Line: G.I.Joe (wave 6)
• Year: 1987
• Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 3 ½¨ or 8 cms.

#563 CORGI - RENAULT 5 TS and RENAULT 5 TURBO "CALBERSON" (Nr. 293 and 307) (1977 and 1981)

This is one of my favorite cars of all times, the Renault 5 in its rally version:

• Scale 1:36
• Practicable doors and bonnet (rear)
• Released February 1977, discontinued in 1980
• License Plate 692

And to make this entry a little more attractive, I include here the same car, but in standard version. It is curious, that this model came out when the previous one was discontinued, so there were not two Renault 5´s in the same catalogue.

Scale 1:36
Practicable doors and trunk (rear)
Released April 1981, discontinued  in 1982
Sold 236,000 times
License Plate 837

 
Both cars are made in 1:36 scale. You can read more about Corgi Toys in this scale at entry #99.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: RENAULT 5 TS and RENAULT 5 TURBO "CALBERSON" (Nr. 293 and 307)
• Scale: 1:36
• Year: 1977 and 1981
• Company: Corgi (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 10 cm