Posted 6 years ago
fortapache
(3439 items)
This my oldest Matchbox model. It was one the original four models released in 1953. Now to repeat the origin of Matchbox which has repeated almost as much as the origin of Spider Man with Uncle Ben and everything. Anyway children in England could only take toys to school which would fit inside a matchbox. So one of the two founders of the company started making toys that fit inside a matchbox. Lesney is a combination of the names of the founders. I forget about the Moko part put they soon dropped that so apparently not that important. Also soon was that they didn't really need to make them small enough to fit in a Matchbox so they get larger over the years. In photo #4 it is shown with 1968/1969 model which is twice as large. The size of the 1968 era models is now the standard for die cast model cars.
On to the actual model. It is a bit colorful. In addition to the red and green there is the brass colored radiator, bumper and driver. Actually the driver is some other color.The wheels re gray and gray wheels are good. The dump bed dumps and that is pretty much it for the model. Oops the model was made from 1953-1956.
As for the exciting box it is a B Style box, try not to go catatonic as go through the B box details. The difference between the B box and the A box is that the word "Moko" is in a fancy script on the A box and is in plain bold lettering in the B box. The A box was used in 1953 and 1954 only. The B box was used from 1954-1960. The model was made from 1953-1956 so I am thinking this one is from 1955-56. Slight chance it is from 54-56. There is some overlap when box styles change as they used what had already been printed. Just in case anyone is still conscious it is the B1 style box as the end flap has no markings. The B2 has model number on both end flaps and then it gets more ornate. One may also note the box art is very different from the other models I have posted which feature full color art of the models. These have much simpler art and fancier text. They have a rather antique look although they are from the 1950s.
That is it for the box and model. I will post a link to a you tube vid of the real thing in the comments. It is pretty much a tractor with a dump bed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdj7pj-zMvQ
Now need to watch the whole video, it is fun to watch work though.
I didn't know about the matchbox size to be able to take to school story. They had cool colors even back then. I like these informative posts, thanks.
Cool and thanks for the history lesson
Thank you very much Toyrebel. Glad you enjoyed the info.
And thank you very much elanski.
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