My mum worked for lesney in the 70’s she brought me home a new toy everyday! No joke.

When I was a kid in the late 80s/90s I had hundreds of matchbox cars. None of them were kept packaged, all of them were played with until the paint had worn off, they'd get repainted and passed down to my brothers, then onto cousins and then cousins kids. They're all still around somewhere in the family being played with. The idea of "driving your collectible cars" has stuck with me into my adulthood. I've owned over 30 cars, mostly collectible stuff. None of them were garage queens. Yesterday I drove a 1 of 500 car through a rainy Peak District, I once drove an E-Type Jag' to the supermarket in the snow. All are looked after meticulously but played with until the paint comes off, at which point they get repainted and eventually passed down for somebody else to enjoy after I'm too old to play with them. For me matchbox is where a love of cars began, the toys, the bills, and the love just kept getting bigger as I did!

By the time I was 12 in the 90’s I had 200 matchbox toys. I ended up giving them to my eldest nephew in about 2000 & when he was finished with them. He gave them to his younger brother. All of the toys have been well used & most have very little paint on them. Lots of fun had.

I used to be a driver at Lesney Products from 1963 to 1965. I used to take truckloads of the toys down to the London Docks to be exported; they were packed into cartons and there were many hundreds of cartons in a truckload, loaded by hand onto the truck and held on by sheets and ropes, no containerisation then. Lesley’s had a fleet of double decker buses and in the evenings we truck drivers used to drive the buses to take the workers home. They were happy days; Jack Odell had a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud and Les Smith had a Rover 3-litre, both of which I drove on the odd occasion.

When I was a youngster, my Grandmother asked what she should get me for Christmas. She was puzzled when my Mother told her to get me Matchboxs. Imagine my surprise when I opened the wrapping to see actual matches. She must have thought I was a pyromaniac. It was always a wonderful family story.

I grew up in the 80's and I loved Matchbox cars. Hot Wheels were okay, but I liked the realistic cars from Matchbox. I remember begging my mom for a new car every time we went shopping. Much simpler times

I loved my Matchbox cars:) As a child my mum would take me to J.L. Hudson's in Detroit and if I was 'good' she would let me pick one from the display in the toy department. I wish I had them still but hope that some collector has my loved Matchbox toys in their collection and they are continued to bring joy :)

I loved their motorcyles with side cars that they had in the mid 1960's. There were three in total and I still remember them well. #4 was the blue Triumph. #36 was the light green Lambretta scooter. And then the best of them all was #66 a bronze Harely-Davidson. All three worth a lot more than 49¢ each nowadays! 🙂

All I can say about this is when I was a kid in the seventies I always like Matchbox over Hot Wheels for the accurate details on the Matchbox cars. I really did appreciate the details even back then. Man after seeing some of the stuff about Matchbox collectors I wish I had held onto all the toy cars I had.

I remember back in the 1970's being a kid walking into the toy shop with pocket money and the Matchbox cars where stack in rows on a shelf behind the counter and the Toy shop owner would take the cars out of the boxes and let me test drive them on the counter top till I made my mind up and he would say after sale see you next week.

My father in law was head tool designer for matchbox thru the 70’s working with Jack Odell. He celebrated his 40 th birthday whist at the company, he was presented with a special edition Rolls Royce silver shadow matchbox car. However with a number plate reading GNF 40T - standing for his initials Gerald Norman Fanthorpe, 40 for 40th birthday and the letter T for the year of registration (in the United Kingdom the last letter denoted the year of manufacture of a real car). As a postscript every Rolls Royce Silver shadow has that registration plate to this day. Unique.

I had collected about 100 matchbox cars in the 70's but gave all away. Now, I am regretted to give them away. It could be priceless now.

I made at least 30+ Matchbox's PK series plastic models, includes planes, tanks and vehicles. She is not only a toy brand to me but also my childhood memories. Thank you Matchbox!

A great history video. I used to be one of the tool room draughtsmen for Lesney. Back in 1979 we were doing cost saving economy version of the diecast cars. By 1980 some of the Lesney plants were shutting down. I used to work at the Chingford Hall lane factory. One of our draughtsmen came back from a holiday in Hong Kong and came in the drawing office with a briefcase full of brand new Matchbox cars, we were shocked to find they were made in Macau. We had no idea Jack Odell and Les Smith has opened a factory out there. Within a week, the whole company knew about this new Macau factory. Two weeks later we were being offered redundancies. They kept some of the staff and the factories stayed working for another year, but in the end they all closed. Entire families worked for Lesney, so entire families were jobless overnight, it was a horrible time athe factories.

I collected Matchbox in the late '60's and very early '70's as a kid in the U.S. I played with them but always took very good care of them. I remember when Hot Wheels were introduced and thinking they were junk. I'm kicking myself today for giving my Matchbox collection to my stepson in the '80's - he absolutely trashed them. No good deed goes unpunished.

As a kid in the early 60’s, we would visit our grandparents in Powell River BC every summer. To this day I could retrace every step from their home to the two stores that stocked the Matchbox, Corgi and Dinky toys in town, go through the doors and go straight to the display stands where for under a buck, the greatest toys EVER made would make our eyes sparkle! What a fantastic time it was growing up as a kid. These as well as Tiddlywinks, Pick-up-Sticks, Jacks and Parcheesi made childhood last forever! And we never got hurt, poisoned or offended either😂

Ooh, I had that one! And that one! And that one! etc Half my childhood flashed before my eyes in this video.

As a kid I remember hating those fantasy cars, that is why I ended always choosing Matchbox !

I still have hundreds of these cars that I collected as a kid. There was a shop in Nottingham that sold secondhand models which were really cheap and my uncle gave me all his old Lesney models. I wish I'd kept the original packaging!

I still kept all of mine. I have some Matchbox, Hot Wheels, Dinky and Corgi’s. 70’s and 80’s was a great time to be a kid. It was cheap and hours of fun.

Every Friday my Dad would bring my brother a matchbox car. It amazes me how he could remembered what cars he had bought before. No duplicates! It was a great event for all of us we couldn't wait to see what car my Dad had bought each Friday. They were great toys!

I always loved matchbox because they did stuff you would see out there on the streets, on construction yards, on airports, etc. best thing was actually seeing the real counterpart, the prototype, of your model.

I have very fond memories of my spring-driven Matchbox Motorway!

Just watched the video. I'm 56 years old and have my surviving 30 Matchbox cars in front of me now as they are always a ready reminder of my childhood from the late 60s to early 70s. My favorite is the #59 fire chief car which I just pushed around my computer table. Makes me wish I was a child again...

I remember how vibrant the colours were on these cars and vehicles back in the early 70s. Metallic burgundy was my favourite, Jensen Interceptor, Aston Martins, Mustangs, Mercury, London buses... great memories.

I lost my bag of 60 cars in the garden during heavy rains over 30 years ago. I bought a metal detector the other day and Im hoping to find my long lost treasure.

Being a fan of both Matchbox and Hotwheels my collection has grown quite a bit but match box cars was my first purchase and still them to this very day and very proud of it....

As a kid I mostly had Matchbox cars, but I got cars I liked regardless of brand, I had a collection of over 300 cars ranging from Matchbox, corgi, hot wheels and Majorette and a few non branded cars too, some were passed to me from my dad and older brothers. The cars now lay in a couple of boxes waiting for my kids to start playing with them

I remember going into the newspaper shop on ridge hill estate in stalybridge I was 8 and buying a matchbox car twice a week they were displayed in a glass cabinet with the car on top of its box and cost 39p in 1980 I have still got a few left still boxed to this day, happy days.

Growing up in 1960s America, I had Hotwheels cars. Later as a young adult, I finally discovered Matchbox cars, as well as other brands. I mostly collect Johnny Lightning and Hotwheels nowadays, but do look for Matchbox cars too. Also have a couple Matchbox plastic scale aircraft model kits. This history video is excellent!

Matchbox cars brought me so much pleasure during my childhood. They were so realistic and detailed. I'm in the U.S. and during the pre-internet days, I learned much about Britain from Matchbox, like the Royal Mail trucks, and ice cream trucks.

The cheapest toys my mom ever bought to me back in d '80s. & I still have my MATCHBOX toys until now. Indeed. My whole '80s childhood revolves in MATCHBOX. :))

Regretfully, my mates and I used to smash ours with bricks to see who could create the coolest wrecks. Nowadays you'd just load up GTA and create virtual smashups.

My brother collects the Matchbox, Corgi and any other diecast car that was made in Britain. Although I recently noticed that they are starting to bring back features such as opening doors on the newer matchbox cars and the detail is so much better than some of the hot wheels cars.

Matchbox (which I could afford) and Corgi (which I had to look forward to as gifts) were my favorite cars growing up in the '70s. I still have a collection of those vintage cars to this day.

I worked at Matchbox Australia in Sydney from 1989 to 1992 as National Account Manager reporting to Bruce Wonders - Sales Manager and Frank Tregellas - Managing Director. During that time we also distributed Fisher Price Toys. I really enjoyed my time with the company it was a great team and we were kicking goals. I wish it could have been longer but TYCO took over and moved the Head Office to Melbourne. To anyone who was there with me during that time... A Big Cheers and I hope you are all well.

Meine Kindheit seit den Ende der 60ziger Jahren❤️❤️❤️🤗

Oh yes, me as a kid in the 1960’s - I loved Matchbox toys. Every week I would pester my Mum to get me another one..... Apparently I used to run them along the outside of shop window frames whilst Mum was either chatting or getting something in the shop. When it was time to go, I took Mums hand and inadvertently left the toy behind 😢 I did manage to build up quite a collection, but the boxes meant nothing to me then, it was what was inside that counted.

Nice memories from childhood in the 70s! I´ve still had almost a hundred very well preserved, which I paid with my salaries for menial works at home... Then I was wondered why carmakers didn't use the technology of the newer Superfast inline production for real ones.

Like others have said my pocket money went on matchbox cars. I was born in 64 , a lot of these cars you showed brought back memories, the wee trailer with the motorcycle, the green estate car & the daf car transporter where all in my collection.

Wow. This video brought back so many memories. Plenty of the cars shown used to be bashed about by a younger me... Happy times :)

I used to love Matchbox toys when I was a kid in the 70's

I remember when i was 10, my first truck convoy transporter is matchbox. Its international or something i forgot but its all metal. And all the convoy parts is movable. Amazing toys.

I was buying Matchbox military vehicles in the late 50's. I had the tank on the carrier, the half track, and the red cross medical truck. I may have had others but I can't remember what it was. They were great toys. When I saw a set on ebay recently, I was back in my early childhood. Matchbox, Matel, Lionel all were a staple in my life. Thanks for the Matchbox story.

So much joy. That’s absolutely right!

Well worth watching. I still have some of my old Matchbox toys in the loft. (I'm 54 yrs old now) including that DAF car transporter and a few Capris amongst others. How about an episode about Matchbox model kits? I have quite a few of those unbuilt up in the loft too.

I had an Crown Victoria Highway Patrol car, it was my favorite car from Matchbox. I used to have a box filled with little cars from diferent brands, but I used to store the Crown Victoria separeted from the rest kinda in a display on the shaft. Unfortunatelly it vanished and I still mad about it almost 10 years after. _Deep Fried Grrrrr_

Thank you Matchbox, Hot wheels, for my memories. And my childhood fun. From 1967 to the present year of 2020 and I am still collecting and enjoying my cars trucks etc... I have 3,000 or more. Each one a different memory or time in my life. Thank you

Finally! Some love for Matchbox. This is what I grew up with. Hotwheels is cool too, but... Matchbox for the win.

Played with my friend's ginormous Matchbox collection a couple times and I was SOLD!! It was the 70s and I loved the realistic models as compared with Hot Wheels.

... when I was about six (1960) my Dad brought home a Dinky/Matchbox car for me every week without fail. One week he brought home a white ambulance which was as usual well received. Not long after that, he brought home the exact same white ambulance model and boy was I disappointed... sadly, I told him so... at six you dont think too much about other people's feelings... Thanks for all your love Dad x

Perhaps my most treasured of childhood toys.

Saw a few in there that I owned as a kid in the 70s / 80s. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, and all your other interesting videos.

I also grew up with these cars. They were afordable for a kid with a little pocketmoney. Hope there will be a new little car episode soon, let's say about Bburago. Keep up the good work!

Great story on the history of Matchbox. I had many of the models during the 60's. I wish id kept them

I've been waiting ever since I was a kid for one or the other to come out with a small scale " Bat Mobile " and " Black Beauty " from the "Green Hornet " TV shows back in the 60's . Over the years I've come across a wide range and variety of other cars and trucks . Now a days I'm trying to go with the HO scale for certain reasons. But 3 years ago I got lucky Hot Wheels came out with an HO scale " Bat Mobile " . But as I was going through my collection of both Match Box and Hot Wheels I discovered that one of my specials was missing . It was the Aston Martin from 007 that had the pop up bullet proof plate and matching machine guns in the front . I'm upset would be a great understatement . That car and several of my late Wife's collection are also missing too . I guess that where ever our whom ever has them are enjoying them .

Excellent! Takes me back to my childhood in the early 70's. Thank you.

Fantastic stuff! Love the old ad for the Matchbox Powertrack Race and Chase set thay I once had as a kid. All the factory footage was great too! Lots of those toys I had too. Used to sometimes swap them with my mates in the school playground at break time!

Wow I didn't realise how many of these cars I had. I had the Baird's custard, the red London bus, tons of cars and a red and white plane. I was born in 85. I think I had these cars when I was around 3 years old and up. I used to like making pretend stock car racing so they were pretty banged up 🙈 I may still have a red Porsche 928 in the loft though

I had tons of matchbox cars as a kid love em

I'm a little too young to remember the hay day (being born a year before their bankruptcy) but I certainly remember getting a few of these as a kid. Dad certainly had a load as a lad too, being born in the mid fifties. I also collected a load of Walkers Crisps et al vintage vans back when that was a craze (guessing late 80s early 90s). Many thanks for another excellent video.

When I was a kid in the 60's I dedicated 50% of my allowance to these. Now I have a hairy horde of Match Box and Hot Wheels.

I love the older Matchbox cars of my childhood. They also sold toy cars in Finland pretty similar to the ones of Matchbox; from France came a brand called Majorette...

I loved my matchbox cars as a kid in the 70’s and 80’s and still have many of them in my matchbox carry case 👍😍 Just this week my 4 yr old daughter has discovered the joys of racing toy cars so we’ve had our own 80’s Superfast vs brand new Hot Wheels face off. Needless to say my No.1 racer Porsche 911 circa 1983 still has what it takes 😂

06:52 I just remembered to have owned such an Hover-Raider! This is long time ago… but I always loved to play with Matchbox Cars. Most of them got lost in the sand sadly ;)

Is no one going to mention the stunner working the line in the first scene? OMG!

I was born in the eighties and had the most intense toy car part of my life happening in the late 80's to early 90's. At the time we lived in a small town in the countryside and it was about 10 miles to the nearest proper store. I did a lot of work for a little boy I was and never really got any money from my chores. But when I got some, you may know where I spent them. Yep, the toy department of that said store. I remember vividly when they had gotten a hold of a selection of Matchbox cars and me, at the time a 6-7 year old boy, with the 2 markka coin burning in my pocket saw the cars. I was amazed, just stood there and gazed in wide wonder all the PROPER toy cars. Took one and immediately knew it was "the good stuff", as it was heavier than the chinese cheap cars I had seen thus far. There were a lot of good choices available, but once I saw it, it was clear I had to have it: a maroon Saab 9000 turbo. It was just amazing for a little kid to see a car from a small manufacturer as a toy car. I still have it. It holds many good memories from my childhood.

Still have a load of models of yesteryear somewhere. Often used to pass by the factory on hackney marshes which is now long gone. A friend's parents used to work there in its heyday.

Brought back some great memories there, my mum used to work in acounts at Lesleys, so lots of freebies for us.. 👍

Loved this... we had a Matchbox Motorway in the early 70s moving springs in the track would make a racer out of any matchbox car you attached a special peg to the underside of. Probably one of my favourite toys ever.

Had a lot of Matchboxes and Hot Wheels back in the day. Happy to say, none of them are in collectable condition. What a great childhood!!

9:32 - WOW!! Race & Chase! I had one of those when I was a nipper! (Probably still in my loft, lol!)

This was a major trip down to memory lane. Back in late 70s and 80s in Europe Matchbox, Majorette, Corgi and Siku were the main selling brands. it's good to see Mattel nowadays respect the Matchbox's legacy and focusing on realistic models and appearance for its cars. Thanks for this excellent video.

Nothing beats the original! One of my treasured toys growing up as a kid.

Wow! So much great information! Matchbox models were my greatest collecting passion in the 1970s, along with plastic scale model kits and Lego kits. I accumulated over 400 Matchbox models. I had all the catalogs, several petrol station building kits, and a very big "Build-A-Road" roadway kit. I collected every line except Battle Kings, with the Models of Yesteryear and it's multiple variations being my favorites. I still have most of them, hidden away somewhere in storage....most of them still possess their packaging, being in mint condition. This video might prompt me to find them. Thanks for the inspiration!

Well Done. Canada loves Matchbox.

Ooo, this brings back memories. Interesting an great video. Thanks.

Thanks. I had (still have) many Matchbox and Speed Kings from the late 1960s and early 1970s. I look forward to your Dinky video so I can see all the Gerry Anderson toys. :)

The Matchbox 70's models delighted my childhood 😎

The older I get, the more I'm getting really into Matchbox over HotWheels. I love the regular cars they have. I will be waiting for a Majorette vid

This is the coolest thing I have ever seen and it’s first time hearing the brand.👍 The concept of putting it in a match box and making itself a brand name is the coolest branding idea!

I have Matchbox trucks and cars from 1960s and 70s that i played with, my kids played with, and my grandkids play with now. So many good memories !

I used to live near the Matchbox Factory (09;50) and was sad when it closed, as a kid it was where all my MUCH LOVED toy cars I bought with pocket money came from, my car collection ended up at 1,500 made up of Matchbox, Corgi, Dinky, and the odd Spot On, Budgie, and Hot Wheels brands which I sold a few years ago for £14.000 to help fund the restoration of my real full sized Mk3 Ford Cortina, which my Dad used to drive past the Lesney Factory back in 1976, with me in it, so Thanks to Lesney my passion for their models as a child has helped my passion for the Cortina being restored on my channel, i liked this video a lot as you showed many of the models I once owned, and there is even a shot of the Mk.3 Ford Cortina outside the Lesney Factory in the B/W photo

I still collect diecast cars as an adult. To hell with the boxes.

Oh man, my childhood! I still have my favourite, the De Tomaso Pantera from the 70's.

I have some before-superfast models and are true treasures of my life.

I was a Hot Wheels kid in the 2000's. One day, I went into a toy store with my mom and I saw some Matchbox cars. I was intrigued since I saw Matchbox commercials on TV beforehand and wanted to try them. Sadly, mom thought that there was no point owning them since to her, they were all the same and I already had lots of small cars from Hot Wheels so she refused to buy them despite my protests. Shame, I could have experienced what it was like on the other side.

Even as a Hot Wheels fan, I loved this video! Any possibility of seeing a video on Majorette?

Matchbox history is quite similar to the british automotive history, had it's heyday until crisis struck in late 70's early 90's and then went bankrupt and the most successful brand went to a bigger company while production was outsorced in China. Sad but true

I 've grow up in 70s and 80s with these small Matchbox cars also Corgi Juniors, Burago, Norev, Majorette and Hot Wheels

Can we have one on airfix :) The matchbox Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am was my favourite. I found it in the Co-op department store toy section. I had to help my mum around the house for a week to earn it. Happy memories.

Corgi was my favourite brand I still have two fire engines from the 70s to this day

I wish I saved all my cars from the 60’s and 70’s. The price for perfect condition is amazing.

Los carros Matchbox eran lo maximo en los 70s, aun los colecciono. Tendré unos 500+ desde los primeros hasta los del presente. Recuerdo haberlos preferido sobre los Hot Wheels.

A video on Tomy Pocket Cars would be great. Those were actually my favorites. Thanks. JMF TAG.

I remember back in the day, having a huge collection of matchbox cars , instead of buying candy, I would add to the c0llection, they would also have catalogs.

The quality of Matchbox was unsurpassed, even today I continue to collect and recover models that I lost as a child. Hot Wheels was for the poor!

Just stumbled upon this video and your channels today. You have stirred up so many memories with this one video! In the early 70's when my mam would go to do the weekly shop, I would go with her and it was always exciting when she had enough money and would let me buy a new Matchbox car. By the early 80's I'd built up quite a collection of Matchbox cars as well as some Superkings and a few Corgi - I'd also discovered that my mam's nail varnish made excellent replacement paint when the cars got too chipped....she wasn't too happy about that though!. My interests at that point had started to switch to Britains Farm toys - I loved the detail and working parts, plus we lived in the wilds of Northumberland so I was used to seeing the real tractors and implements in fields, so it felt more relatable to me.... we didn't get many Lamborghinis, Ferrari's or Mini Ha Ha's out that way!. Maybe you can do a video about Britains one day! I'll always have a spot in my heart for Matchbox though! Sadly my collection is long gone... given away by my much older brother who felt that by my 20's I didn't need Matchbox, Corgi, Dinky and Britains Toys anymore!

I had so many of the originals! I still own some together with my Dinkys and Corgys. Matchbox was really really special ❤

I was more into Micro Machine toy cars, when I was younger. Of the Matchbox range, I recovered something dating from 1978. Not cars, not trucks or even a bus. No, what I now have in my possession from Matchbox is the hard-to-find toy tank engines with a carriage each. I'm a steam engine fanatic and that's why I found them (on a few separate occasions) in a charity shop in Llangollen. OK, I don't play with them much, but I'm too attached to them to give them away. This leads me to a certain song. Now that you can do it, let's make a chain now; Chugga-chugga-motion like railway train now. Do it nice and easy now, don't lose control, A little bit of rhythm and a lot of soul. So come on, do the locomotion with me.