#992 MATCHBOX – BURNIN’ KEY CARS – DODGE CHARGER DAYTONA and KENWORTH MAGIC TRUCK (1983)

As early as in entry #25, I already wrote an extensive text about Kidco, the company that was producing the Burnin’ Key Cars before Matchbox, so please visit it again to find information about Kidco and the relation between Kidco and Matchbox.

 

This time I will just present this two excellent blisterpacks containing no less than a Dodge Charger Daytona and a Kenworth Magic Truck “Blue Chief”, unopened, but with some wear on the card and the blister. There were several of these cards made, but all of them included, of course, the key to activate the car (in an orange keyring with a sticker that passed to the car decoration). Later reissues of the cars (in new decorations) changed the key design and came without the keyring. In the pictures, behind the key there is a piece of cardboard that could be mistaken for a box for the card, but it is not.

 

 

Interestingly, one of the cardbacks still has an original price tag from Morawa, marking 49 Austrian Schillings, which is around 3,50 Euro…. Extremely expensive for the early-mid 80s, at least in my opinion. Maybe this is the reason why they are rare to find nowadays… they didn’t sold well at the time. The price tag at the front is obviously newer and has no interest for collector.

 

The backcard shows the complete series of cars (14 models) and trucks (8 models), I think these were the first series available, but it would later be expanded with new decorations for this original models, new models and even sub-series such as the Demolition Cars.

 

I guess many collectors despise them because they are not die-cast. The base is metallic, but the body is made of plastic, which is good, since it is a toy that suffers a lot of rough play, and the front part is made of a softer plastic, as if it was an oversized bumper. As a toy it is great, and the mechanism was copied by many other manufacturers inmediatly. Anybody can recognize this kind of toy and surely recalls having or playing with one of them, if not Kidco or Matchbox, from another toymaker.

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: DODGE CHARGER DAYTONA and KENWORTH MAGIC TRUCK (BURNIN’ KEY CARS)
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: 1983
• Company: Matchbox (United Kingdom) / Kidco (Macau)
• Size: Around 7 cm long

#673 KIDCO - DEMOLITION CARS (1983)

This Kidco car is the original model in which the cars in the previous entry are based, so this is some kind of continuation of what I wrote 2 days ago.

 

This type toy is known as "Key Car", because you can insert that plastic key in the rear part of the car and by pressing it, the car will run off at quite a high speed. This is achieved by means of a spring. Another quality detail is that Kidco made several different key models. Not every key is valid/do fit for/in every car.

 

 

The model looks a little like a Dodge monaco, although the front plastic car is different. I think this was added to protect the car from the many crashes that it would have during playtime, or to optimize the crash feature: When the car crashes with enough speed, the bonnet will fly out revealing the simulated motor of the car.

 

 

The car has been decorated according to this feature, since it is some kind of stunt car, in yellow marked "Demo". There are other versions in red of this same toy, as you can see in Matchbox's catalogue from 1984.

 

 

 

And finally the comparison of this Matchbox car with Kidco license and the Globetoys car: almost identical, except for the siren, the exhaust pipes behind the front wheels, the bonnet feature, the tampographies and the different key. The Globetoys model came without a keychain, which is a great detail and something that makes the Burnin' Key Cars really difficult to get complete.

 

 

 

You can read moreabout Kidco, and see this Demolition Car and other in catalogue images in old entry #25.

 

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: DEMOLITION CARS
• Scale: Approx. 1:64
• Year: 1983
• Company: Kidco (U.S.A.)
• Size: approx. 7 cm

#25 KIDCO – BURNIN’ KEY CAR KNIGHT 2000 (1982)

Kidco is somehow a very rare toy company. It only existed during a few years, and their models are difficult to find. These are not specially detailed, or well-made; I just guess the company didn’t have the time to improve its fabrication methods, before it...changed its name.

In the world of the scale cars, it sometimes happens, that one brand is interconnected with many others. This won’t be an exception. Kidco was founded in 1977 in Besenville, Illinois, and it was nothing else than a marketing arrangement to sell the toys from Universal Toys in America. This other company was producing scale cars in Macau and Hong Kong, under the management of David Yeh. The models made and marked with the Kidco brand first appeared in 1979 and disappeared around 1983-84. 

The end of the company came, when David Yeh and his group (Universal Group) acquired Lesney and Matchbox in 1982, after the British company went bankruptcy and into receivership (except the yesteryear line, which was acquired by Lledo). At this point, Universal shifted from Kidco to Matchbox (now Matchbox International), and this is the reason why since the mid-80s, many Matchbox models were made in Macau, and later in China. And the reason why Kidco as a brand disappeared.

Matchbox would remain in the hands of Universal Group, until 1992, when the brand was sold to Tyco Toys.

Kidco made this wonderful reproduction of the “Knight Rider” in 1982, with metal base, but plastic bodywork. Level detail is low. Windshields are all black to hide the spring mechanism inside, which allows the car to be “shot” using a key. The key was obviously provided with each car, and the keyring was always decorated with the name of the car, so there’s a different keyring for each different model.

During these years Kidco produced for this “Burnin’ Key Car” series several toy cars that appeared in popular TV shows, like the A-Team van or at least two cars from Magnum P.I.. This car is also showed in the review.

At the base of the black car, we can still read a copyright symbol with the words Universal Studios 1984, what means, that the product was officially licensed. It surprises me a bit, that if they had the license, they used “Knight 2000” instead of “Knight Rider”, but we’ll probably never know. The Magnum Ferrari 308 GTS has the T.M. after the name of the car: Magnum p.i. T.M., so it is also a licensed product, but this time from 1980.

In the normal series, these cars were also reproduced, along with cars seen in movies like Cannonball Run or TV-series like Emergency. The “Demolition Set” was also released in 1983, and it was a playset in which the cars could be shot against several obstacles and ramps.

Several years later, these cars were sold under the Matchbox brand. The cars were exactly the same, as it can be seen in this catalogue from 1987. Note that the two cars I have presented are not in the list, probably because at that time, the TV series "Knight Rider" and "Magnum p.i." were not on air anymore, and it wasn't commercially interesting to release them. The series "Demolition Cars" were also available a few years earlier under the Kidco brand.

Page from Matchbox Catalogue from 1987. Scan found in MatchboxPeru.com.

Special thanks to Speedy who put me on the track to the Matchbox series.

UPDATE: I found the same model made by Matchbox and comparing their casts, I have observed subtle differences between them (wheels, base, side spoilers). Here a few pictures:

UPDATE2 (Nov/2019): Here is a curious launcher by Kidco that is decorated with the same colours and stickers of the Knight 2000. I think it must belong to another model, since this model has no need to be launched, as it comes with the "firing-key" mechanism inside. Any ideas where does this come from?

 

UPDATE (Jun/2023): This is the Matchbox model of the Pontiac Firefird, with no reference to the Knight 2000. Instead of this text, the toy displays red and blue sports stripes on both sides and over the bonnet.

 

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: Knight 2000 (Pontiac Firebird) and Magnum p.i. (Ferrari 308 GTS)
• Scale: 1:64 approx
• Year: 1982 and 1980
• Company: Kidco (U.S.A.) and Matchbox (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm