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Those of us who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s
did so in the halcyon days of die-cast miniature cars.
In 1892, John Hubley founded
the Hubley toy company in Lancaster, Pennsylvania which grew into the world's largest manufacturer of cast iron
toys. The American company Tootsietoy and French
company S.R. began making miniature cars about the same time in 1910.
Die casting
appealed to many manufacturers of the day as it was a cheap way to produce
visually attractive cars, especially following the change from cast iron
and lead to a
zinc-based alloy.
The French car company Citroen started
manufacturing die cast miniature cars in 1923, as a way to publicise
Citroen vehicles.
Hornby, a British company famous for its
Hornby Trains, began making miniature cars in 1933. Hornby miniature
trains had been in production since 1920.
The two most respected publications on
Matchbox are:
Matchbox Toys 1947 to 1998: Identification & Value Guide by Dana Johnson,
and
Collecting Matchbox*t Regular Wheels, 1953-1969 by Charles Mack
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The history of die cast
model cars
