Cars started to appear on our roads in the 1880's however it was not until Ford Introduced the Model T in 1909 that cars became in the reach of most people. As with Model Railways so with cars very soon toy cars where a part of children's life. It would not take too long for a joiner to attach 4 wheels to a block of wood and give it to his young son who had just seen his first car, or someone like Frank Hornby working with metal parts in his workshop shed to make a model car.

In the early 1930's Meccano Ltd stated to manufacture a series of models including set 22 a set of 6 diecast cars. The range was widened in response to a popular american range of vehicles called. 'Tootsie Toys.'

World war 2 interrupted this new product, however in the 1940's a new competitor to Dinky came in the form of Lesney Products with their Matchbox Brand. In 1956 Mettoy started producing its Corgi range of toy cars. Lines Brothers also started producing Diecast in 1959, however with Lines Brothers taking over Meccano Ltd in the 1960's, Spot On was dropped in favour of the more established Dinky name.

Dinky itself succumbed to the financial problems of Meccano Ltd with the closure of the Binns Road factory in 1979. however the name was bought by Matchbox in 1987 with a limited range of cars been marketed under the Dinky name. Meanwhile in 1982 one of the founders of Matchbox set up Lledo with there Days Gone range. These along with Corgi and Matchbox are still being produced today.

 

MAIN EVENTS

• 1931 Dinky Introduce a range of 6 Diecast Car
• 1947 Lesney products start Matchbox Cars
• 1956 Mettoy Launch Corgi Cars
• 1959 Lines Brothers Launch Spot On
• 1982 Lledo Days Gone Launched

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are no comments yet