Matchbox Toy Cars - Diecast Collectibles For Young & Old

Matchbox Toy cars have never gone out of style. These diecast collectibles are hotter than ever in Toy collecting world. The Matchbox car Toy series was created in 1952 by Jack Odell when he cast a small metal miniature of a Road Roller and inserted it in a matchbox container so his daughter could take it to school with her. More than 50 years later, the Matchbox brand is still known to collectors and children alike for its high quality, model diversity and affordability. In many retail outlets, Matchbox cars are still sold for around a dollar a car and each year more than 100 million of them are sold to collectors and kids alike.

The first Lesney series of Matchbox Toy cars measured up to eight inches long. It was during the 1950's that the Lesney Company began to focus mostly on miniature sizes of the diecast cars. The No. 1 Diesel Road Roller, No. 2 Dumper, and No. 3 Cement Mixer were first released in 1953. Lesney then decided that the vehicles in this beginning series, known better as the 1-75 series, would be limited to only seventy-five different makes and models. Though new models and makes were made each year, when a new car came out, an older one was removed from the series. This same practice is still in place today with the toy car series.

The Mattel toy company started to compete in the die-cast car market in 1961 when the production of their Hot Wheels brand was introduced. The Lesney company went bankrupt in 1982 and sold the rights of the Matchbox brand name to Universal Toys. In 1992, the the Matchbox brand name was then sold to Tyco Toys whose toy division was ironically bought out by the Mattel toy company in 1997.

Throughout all the years, Matchbox toy cars remained widely collected and traded. With the birth of the internet and the start of eBay in 1995, it opened up a wider outlet for collectors all over the world to buy and sell cars in their collection. On any given day, their are thousands of the toy cars available on eBay and the Wal-Marts of the world too have a very large selection to choose from.

Matchbox toy car collecting is both fun and profitable and a great hobby for both young and old. It is never too late to start collecting both new and rare Matchbox cars.

David Bryan is an avid collector of Matchbox toy cars and blogs about them on his Matchbox Cars For Sale site.