![]() Seventy years ago, those original toy carriages brought in plenty of cash, so Lesney embarked on the next idea. They will be produced only in the number that are ordered, according to Mattel. The new coaches can be ordered online starting the evening of April 25 through May 22 at $60 each. Tiny figures of King Charles and Queen Camilla sit inside, visible through the windows. It will have rolling wheels and a front axle that turns, like the real coach. The new carriage will be in the traditional 1/64 scale used for Matchbox cars. The horses from the original toys were copied for this version using detailed 3D scans. Sculptural figures including tritons, mythical sea gods, are rendered in more detail on the front and back. in the original they were represented by a simple ribbed post. Three cherubs representing England, Scotland and Ireland are visible on the roof. Painted side panels are recreated using printed designs. (Another version of the coach, made in the 1990s, had black windows.) The new coach’s shape also more closely resembles the real coach, which has a body that rides further back from its front wheels than in the original toy. ![]() The new coach will be constructed like modern Matchbox cars, in die-cast metal with clear plastic windows and plastic seat cushions inside. “We’re doing as much, as much detail, as we possibly can,” said Payne. They enabled designers to create a more accurate version that even corrects a few errors in the original. Those photos were then used to create the new model. Instead, Julian Payne, lead designer at Matchbox, went to the Royal Mews, where regal carriages are kept, to extensively photograph the actual carriage. 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. ![]() Matchbox, maker of tiny toy cars, is bringing back one if its most important models.
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