Notes:
In 1987 Nick Austin, marketing director of Matchbox Toys, made a proposal that on the face of it was a stroke of genius.
To celebrate the alleged 40th anniversary of Matchbox, he proposed the production of a three-piece limited edition gift set that would feature the first three miniature Matchbox models made. The idea had a lot going for it, not least for the following reasons: It would enable the company to effectively celebrate its 40 years while at the same time prove the strength of its collector base in terms of offering retrospective packaging of its products for the first time.
It would also be a good way to reinforce the heritage of the company with the toy trade while enabling them to gauge whether there was sufficient interest in the collector fraternity to extend the concept of reproducing Yesteryear products.
Most importantly, a premium price could be charged for essentially a very inexpensive item.
From the inception of this idea, it was understood within Matchbox that the pack would not be targeted at children, a market with little or no interest in or appreciation of the significance of a 40 Year anniversary. Instead, the set would be targeted at all the Matchbox collectors around the world.
Within a few weeks the board had accepted the proposal and a strategy was formulated, based on the assumption that 100.000 sets would be made and sold. All of the Matchbox markets would announce the pack at their respective trade toy fairs in early 1988. It had also been agreed that the styling of the models “should be similar to the originals, i.e. relatively crude”.
The Research & Development department was briefed to provide mock-ups. The team leader sourced several examples of each of the three models and these were broken up to see how they had been made in 1953. The original models did not exist but the budget had at least allowed for completely new tooling. In fact, because the models were relatively simple, the eventual tooling cost stayed under USD20.000 per model, about one third of the normal cost for a miniature.
Gerry Tekerian a senior marketing manager suggested that other original miniatures be considered, especially in the light of comments made by the managing director of Matchbox Toys Italy, who had written that it was unfortunate that the ”original” Matchbox models were actually relatively boring subjects! The number of models to be in the set was increased to five, based on originals from the 1950s. The retail price was set at GBP14.95 per set and, after all the markets had placed their orders, the revised total production run was marked at 75.000, with 35.000 going to the UK; 7.000 to Germany; 8.000 for the international market, including France and South Africa; 15.000 to the USA and 10.000 to Australia.
The set of painted models duly went on sale in November 1987. Using their original “Matchbox” Series numbers the five models were:
No.1 Aveling Barford Road Roller – green
No.2 Massey Harris Tractor – red
No.3 London Bus – “Buy Matchbox Series”
No.7 Horse-drawn Milk Float – orange
No.9 Dennis F.2 Fire Engine – red with red escape wheels
All five models were painted in the same color schemes as they had first appeared in the 1950s. However the bus had been given new advert labels that read “Buy Matchbox Series”. In the first promotion papers made for the trade the set was pictured with original models from the 50s!
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