#471 MATCHBOX - CONNECTABLES (Part 1) (1989)

I was never attracted to this plastic cars. I have seen them many times from the 90s on, but until a few months ago, I never bought any. They are a nice concept, quite revolutionary at its time. These cars and vehicles can be splitted in 2 or three parts, and later recombined forming strange hybrids. The line was quite successful in many European countries, and even today, they are easy to find for very
little money.

These cars are completely made of plastic, and the only thing in common with the die-cast Matchbox are the wheels. Since the concept is quite different, these cars were sold in blister packs and bigger boxes. Those blister packs included in most cases a three-part vehicle and a two-part vehicle, or the boxes included 5 vehicles or even 12, if you were lucky enough to get the “big” box.

The catalogue from 1989 shows fifteen vehicles: 6 of them are formed of 3 parts each, the other 9 of two parts each.

Matchbox Catalogue 1990

Matchbox Catalogue 1991

Matchbox Catalogue 1991

Some incomplete vehicles I have

The next year, the Connectables line was expanded notably, with the release of new boxes (although with the same contents), some extra features (like the 5-part long themed vehicles or the Motorized Connectables), new alternative lines (like the Micro Connectables and the Convoy Connectables), some extra bigger vehicle/playsets, like the Truck Transporter, the Connectables Copter, the Connectables Mini Playsets or the extender sets.

These “extenders” are some kind of bars that allowed to connect several vehicles in parallel, creating very strange forms. At some point they were included in the blister packs as a bonus. I was experimenting myself with two bars I own, and I created two vehicles. The bars have some pegs to which we could attach different plastic accessories, but unfortunately, I don’t have any of these.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: Connectables
• Scale of the cars: 1:64 aprox. (cars), 1:100 (tucks)
• Year: 1989 - 1993
• Company: Matchbox (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 7 cm (2-part vehicles)