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The Story Of Matchbox
Toys - Part 2
by Roger Cantrell
Matchbox started the 1950's
in a world with a new war looming in Korea. At the start of this
conflict the metal "zinc" was banned by the government for use in toys.
This was a serious setback for Lesney as zinc is an ingredient of the
mazac metal used in die cast toys and consequently the company fell on
harsh times. The irony was that the company had stockpiled tons of zinc
but could not use it.
It was at this time that Rodney Smith, thinking that the die cast toy
business was on the way out, decided to leave the firm and he offered
his part of the company to the two other partners. He was bought out by
Leslie Smith and Jack Odell for the sum of £8000 ... a large sum in
those days.
After Rodney had left the company something had to done to use the tons
of zinc the company had stockpiled so Odell, using his contacts, secured
a contract to produce castings that were used in motor car production
and from this stockpile of zinc a large profit was made for Lesney.
With the end of the zinc ban Lesney started to produce for Moko a model
called Muffin the Mule which was based on a very popular British TV
puppet of the same name.
The royal state coronation coach was then produced and this was their
biggest selling die cast model to date and sold over a million units of
the miniature coronation coach. This catapulted the company to the
forefront of British diecast toy manufacturers.
The idea of holding the toy cars in match boxs came from the fact that
Odells oldest daughter could only bring one plaything to school
providing that the toy would fit in to a match box. Jack discovered that
his new small toys could fit quite snugly in to a matchbox from the
Norvic Match Company Ltd from Czechoslovakia ... and the name 'Matchbox'
was born.
Copyright Roger Cantrell 2008
For information on restoring the classic die cast car the corgi 267
Batmobile go to
http://www.allbatman.com There are some great pictures and good
modeling tips, as well as some spare parts for sale.. or if you just
like collecting go to
http://www.batmangiftideas.com there are great batman, superman and
other superhero costumes and merchandise to buy on line.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roger_Cantrell |
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