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 The Superfast range of Matchbox miniatures was introduced in 1968/69 to combat the success of Mattel's new and very popular Hot Wheels range of model cars. American children wanted speed and Hot Wheels with their narrow axles were the fastest cats in the play ground. Maybe Lesney Products over reacted. Production of the 1-75 (now known as Regular Wheels) wound down. Jack Odell designed new machines to make slimmer axles and fitted wheels. The Research & Development departments redesigned new castings or in some cases modified castings to fit the new components. Superfast took on Hot Wheels and lasted until Lesneys went into receivership in 1981/82. Ironically in 2005-2006 Mattel the owners of Matchbox since the late 1990s re-launched Superfast to the acclaim of many collectors. |
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 The first miniature models were available in tiny quantities at the end of November 1953, and numbers 1 - 4 were shown at the 1954 Harrogate Toy Fair. However, sales of the first four models were not particularly good, partly because shopkeepers were not initially impressed by the tiny models which were disparagingly described by some as having originated from Christmas crackers! Additionally there was more profit per model to be gained from products such as Dinky toys. Jack Odell: "They were made about September or October 1953 and we got them into the shops in November and they were absolutely useless! The first Lesney miniatures were pronounced as failures. |
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 Jack Odell was fascinated by the types of specialised machinery much in evidence after the war employed in the nation's agricultural, industrial and road expansion programme. Such machinery had been overlooked by other toy manufacturers, perhaps with the exception of Meccano. Furthermore, one or two models were natural subjects for Lesney to make, but could not be reproduced for reasons of scale in the "Matchbox" Series. |
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 One of the most interesting areas in the field of Matchbox collecting are the Dealer display units...The earliest displays were made of cardboard and given away free of charge until 1969 when the last cardboard display was phased out. |
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 An extensive range of gold, silver, or brass plated effect, mainly Yesteryears, first released in 1962. Ordinary unpainted Yesteryear castings were plated by a vacuum process at a Lesney Products subsidiary, Lesney Industries. The plated model was then fitted to a piece of giftware such as a china trinket dish or a desk pen set. The model's baseplate was modified so that screw holes and or bosses could be incorporated to enable the model to be attached to the giftware. Often the tools that made the baseplates would go back into use to make standard painted range models; they weren't modified and retained the bosses. |
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 MICA introduced their Perfect Toys range of replicas in 1990. This range comprises the following: |
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 This was an adhoc range of toys rather tham models that ensured Lesney Products was remembered as a toy manufacturer rather than a diecast and electrical components manufacturer. The first toys, the Cement Mixer, Bulldozer and Road Roller were made in the late 1940s. In 1952 Lesneys produced over 1 million small sized State Coaches to mark the ascension of Queen Elizabeth II. That made them a small fortune. With the lauch of the Matchbox Series in 1953, the larger scaled toys began to take a secondary position within Lesney's plans and by 1955 there were no more made. |
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 Jack Odell was the inspiration behind the Models of Yesteryear Series. He had become slightly disenchanted with the "Matchbox" Series because in his own words, 'they were crude'; he needed a new engineering challenge. He thought of the name 'Yesteryear' because the range was to be a reflection of the past! Odell the engineer loved Allchin Traction Engines and Showman's Engines as well as buses and fire engines. He decided to make a range of models small enough to remind customers that they were, after all a 'Matchbox' product, but large enough to be seen as a distinct range and to incorporate more detail. The models were made to appeal to adults as an impulse buy or a small and relatively inexpensive gift. They were without precedent and without any competition from for example, Meccano's Dinky Toys or Mettoy's Corgi Toys, although Odell and Smith regarded them as a secondary range to the "Matchbox" Series. They were not based on contemporary vehicles, but purely on historical subjects. Also, they were aimed at an older age group of children. The original retail price was 2/6d (l2p) that was nearly twice the price of the miniatures. As with the miniatures there was no attempt to make the models to a consistent scale; instead they were built to a size that fitted into a standard box, irrespective of their subject. The first 3 models could have been launched in 1955, but they were held back and shown at the 1956 UK Toy Trade Fair. |
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 In 1986 the criteria for the development of the new Dinky Collection was agreed within Matchbox Toys. There would be no opening or working features, their quality would be at least to the standard of the Models of Yesteryear range, there would be a continuous numbering system starting with DY1, and they would have the charm, charisma and appeal of the original Dinky Toys. It was stated in a report that assuming that the range selection and approval had been reached by the end of October 1987 the models 'can be developed continuously following a three-year product development plan; research on models, however, must start immediately.' |
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| The first thought of grouping individual Matchbox toys together and retailing them as a boxed set came about in early 1957, at which time the "Matchbox" Series had become firmly established in the toy market and Lesney were examining different ways to market their toys. Gift Sets had long been sold by other diecast model manufacturers with the pre-war Dinky sets being particularly well known. Lesney naturally set about applying an already proved marketing technique to their range of Matchbox toys. |
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