This afternoon I rescued some boxes of diecasts (boxes of HO and Lionel trains, too) that date from my childhood. Spoiler alert: I’m not young, but I’m not yet old, either. These boxes were in with my parents’ stuff when they moved from their home of 25+ years in Connecticut to near us in Minnesota several years ago. Honestly, I thought these were all lost ages ago when their water heater let go.
A lot of the smaller Matchbox are from the early-70s through the mid-80s when production switched from England to Macau. This is but a small sample; I didn’t get into the bigger box, except to pull some of the “monster” trucks out. Almost everything is play worn, because I played with these constantly as a kid.
Apologies for the mediocre pictures; the lighting in my garage is not wonderful for photography.
Tonka and Buddy L, with a Dinky F1 car on the trailer. That “Rebel” truck was one of my favorites because of its tenuous connection to the Dukes of Hazzard. Can you imagine buying that at Target today? Somewhere I also have another Tonka or Buddy L truck similar to the blue one, but with colors closer to the black Buddy L above.
Some Tomicas, some Corgis, a Matchbox, and an absolutely beat-to-death Playart Jensen Interceptor. Hard to see, but the matching Corgi London busses in the background have “BTA” stickers on them; They were gifts from the British Tourism Authority in around 1985.
England-era Matchbox Super Kings, a couple of Corgis (I love that Mustang), and a Yatming pull-back. To this day, I’m fascinated with Matra Ranchos. Interestingly, Corgi also did some Ranchos – in two sizes – but this set is Matchbox.
Matchbox (England and Macau) and Hot Wheels.
Finally, at least for this batch, a Kenner Fast 111 Corvette and Firebird. Somewhere I think I have the matching black version of the Firebird.
Good times. Now I need to figure out what to do with all of these.