Off the beaten track
Andrew Ralston uncovers two examples of 'insider trading'!
Andrew Ralston investigates insider trading.
So much research has now been done on diecast toys that virtually all major brands have had books, or at least articles, written about them. Highly-detailed information on colour changes, wheel styles, minor casting variations and so on is easy enough to find out. But one area which it would be fascinating to learn more about is the process behind the choice of subjects to model. Selection committees must have pored over car sales brochures and motor magazines to decide which would be the best vehicles to make.
Obviously, various factors would come into play.What was new that year at the motor show? How helpful were the real motor manufacturers in supplying information and measurements? Would a model of a popular saloon just like the family car sell better than an exotic sports job? All these issues, no doubt, were debated at length.
The only way to find out what went on behind the scenes would be to talk to those who were involved in the process. Matchbox experts Kevin McGimpsey and Stewart Orr, authors of the 1989 book Collecting Matchbox DiecastToys: the First FortyYears, were fortunate to be able to interview key figures in the Lesney company like Leslie Smith and Jack Odell, who were able to give inside information. In the case of Corgi, the definitive Great Book of Corgi was written by an insider himself – Marcel van Cleemput, Corgi’s chief designer.
The two vintage diecast pictured here – the Matchbox Aston Martin DB2-4 and Morestone Bedford Dormobile – may not appear to have much in common, but they are linked by the common factor that we know why they were modelled.The reason is quite simple, these vehicles were driven by those involved in running the toy companies.
The first saloon car in the Matchbox series was aVauxhall Cresta and, when it was introduced to the range in 1956, Jack Odell owned a real one and the maroon and cream colour scheme was chosen because it was the same as Odell’s car. By 1958 Odell was driving an Aston Martin and, again, this is why it appeared as a Matchbox. McGimpsey and Orr have an amusing tale in connection with this car - Odell’s was originally yellow but Aston Martin painted a car for another customer in the same colour and it was often seen outside various London nightclubs. Odell therefore decided to have his resprayed in case this car was mistaken for his. Hence, towards the end of production, the colour of the Matchbox was also changed to maroon which is considerably rarer than the standard pale metallic green finish.
Another post-war London-based diecast series was Morestone, short for Morris and Stone, set up by a toy salesman called Sam Morris.The story of Morestone, and later Budgie, is a very complicated one and there was a certain amount of overlap with Lesney and DCMT (Diecasting Machine Tools Limited) with some individuals being involved in more than one enterprise.The twists and turns of the story were explained by Robert Newson in his 1988 book on Budgie and he mentions that one early Morestone item, the Bedford Dormobile, introduced in 1954, was chosen because Morris owned a real one.At 90mm in length, this is comparable in size to the well-known Dinky Bedford van that appeared in Kodak, Ovaltine and Dinky Toys liveries.
The fact the Sam Morris drove a Bedford and Jack Odell drove an Aston Martin reveals a good deal about the relative success of the Morestone and Matchbox brands! DC