![]() To make the new version, Matchbox didn’t simply go back and copy the toy from 70 years ago. The teeny coach was an even bigger hit, and the company sold over a million of them. That toy was a big hit, so Lesney produced a smaller version, just a few inches long. The Lesney model had eight painted metal horses and four riders leading a coach that was either painted or plated in gold or silver, according to the book Matchbox Toys by Nick Jones. (His lower legs remained and are visible in the early toys.) The original idea had been to make the toy with a miniature King George VI inside but, since the king had died, they cut him out of the metal molds. The royal carriage, built in 1762, had been used in the crowning of every monarch since King George IV in 1821. It was a model of the ornate gilded Gold State Coach. The Gold State Coach on display at the Royal Mews in Buckingham Palace, London. But, first, the company’s two owners at the time, Jack Odell and Leslie Smith, brushed off a toy design they had never put into production. Lesney would soon become famous as the makers of Matchbox cars. The king’s passing, the end of the war and the coming coronation of a new monarch created a perfect opportunity for the small firm, called Lesney Products & Company Limited. They hadn’t had much success and the business was struggling as it dealt with restrictions on metal use during the Korean War. In 1952, the year Elizabeth’s father, King George VI, died, two men had a shop making metal toys including miniature road-building equipment and trucks in a town northeast of London. As Matchbox celebrates its 70th anniversary, it’s bringing out a new, more detailed and accurate version for the coronation of her son, King Charles III. And it was Matchbox cars that, in turn, inspired their one-time competitor, Hot Wheels.īoth brands are now owned by Mattel, but it all goes back to an ornate little horse-drawn carriage that was sold as a keepsake for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. It’s not a car, but a little horse-drawn coach, and its success led to the creation of Matchbox toy cars.
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