#942 MATCHBOX - JEEP CJ6 "MADE IN HUNGARY" (1987)

MATCHBOX "MADE IN HUNGARY" MODELS

Some Matchbox Superfast variants are gaining now some popularity and collectors started looking for them. among them are the Bulgarian and Hungarian models, which were made later than the British equivalents, mostly during the late 80s. The models from Bulgaria were manufactured between 1983 and 2005 and the Hungarian models were manufactured only in 1987 and 1988.

Unfortunately there is not much information about this topic out there. Just the WIkipedia has a couple of lines telling that dies and tooling were licensed to groups in Hungary and Bulgaria to try to gain a foothold in the Communist bloc countries...

This time I´ll focus only in the Hungarian models, although many things written here are also suitable for the Bulgarian models.

The first thing that attracts your attention is the uncommon color of the car. The British models usually had 2 versions of each reference (maybe more if it was manufactured during a long period of time, part of a bigger set with trailer…), but in Hungary, the colors were applied randomly. Each model was available in many colors mostly "basic" (mostly mixtures of two primary colors, black or white at 50% each) ones: blue, light blue, green, red, maroon, green, dark green, gold, yellow and light yellow…

The wheels could also vary, so the color of the hubcaps, as well as additional or removable parts (in this case, the canopy, could be black or brown), interiors… all the usual staff. Some come with tampographies which are not the “official” ones, but they are typically simple and mostly based in one or two colours.

The Matchbox variant page from Christian Falkensteiner registers more than 200 variants on this particular Hungarian model, while the Bristish superfast Nr. 53 only has 31 registered variants (plus boxes). Hell on Earth. I won’t be collecting these, nor the Bulgarian models, it’s OK if I get one of each. This is my Hungarian model, now I need one Bulgarian one.

At the time it was a cheap product, but considering the years in which they were made, they are much better than the Chinese Super G.T.s Why the production in Hungary was cancelled after only two years is something I’d like to know. Does it really have to do with the Communist bloc, as stated in the Wikipedia? The Communist regime fell exactly during that same year (1988) and led to the Third Republic one year later (1989), so this could be an explanation... Seeing the revolts coming, and the end of the Communist era made Matchbox reconsider the production in this country.

The production in Bulgaria lasted much longer… I would say producing in Bulgaria was even cheaper than producing in Hungary, considering only GDP numbers. Anyone knows what happened with these "Made in Hungary" models and the markets were they were being distributed? Were they replaced by Bulgarian or Macao models? I mention this because the production in these two countries continued over 1989 for many years more.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: JEEP CJ6
• Scale: Around 1:64
• Year: 1987
• Company: Matchbox (United Kingdom/ Hungary)
• Size: approx. 7 cm