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matches. Then the pair followed the idea one step further and decided to actually package the toys in replica matchboxes.
    The conception was perfect, and the Lesney toy line suddenly acquired a name, an identity, and a unique look. Today, the matchbox package is used sparingly, and more than 70 percent of the models sell in blister-pack cards. But the memorable name has remained.
    Lesney started out by producing three miniatures: a cement mixer, a dump truck, and a road roller. But the initial reaction was discouraging: the buyers didn’t take “Matchbox” cars seriously. To them, they were just more junk for the bargain counters.
    Smith and Odell had to press hard to get retailers to carry the miniatures at all. And yet, despite this resistance and the fact that Lesney did no advertising in those days, the “Matchbox” toy began to gather sales momentum in Britain by word of mouth. In the United States, similar troubles arose in selling “Matchbox” to buyers, and even veteran toy salesman Fred Bronner was forced to work exclusively with small wholesalers; the big ones weren’t the least bit interested.
    But the public was interested in the accurate, inexpensive little cars. Children enjoyed them as toys. Adults bought them as decorative knick-knacks. By 1955, barely a year after they were first put on the market, “Matchbox” toys were being bought in quantity by the same toy buyers who had at first shaken their heads in derision. The line was so successful that Lesney had to expand its manufacturing quarters.
    The company went public in September I960, and the initial stock offering was oversubscribed fifteen times. Today, its manufacturing facilities are located both in London and Essex; total floor area amounts to more than one million square feet. In addition, Lesney has operations in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. More than sixty-five hundred people are employed by the company, and 80 percent of all “Matchbox” models made in London are earmarked for export, earning the firm several Queen’s Awards to Industry for export trade. “It’s gotten so prestigious to be made by Lesney,” a company spokesman said, “that major auto makers are constantly suggesting we pick their new cars for patterns and eventual ‘Matchbox’ versions of their originals.”
    The technique of producing any single “Matchbox” model is extremely demanding. The first stage is design, which includes research and development, tool and pattern making.
    In this early stage, the scale of the model is laid out to conform with the “Matchbox” format. Initial design and development can take many months. On some models, it has even stretched as long as two years—far more time than the “Matchbox” price structure would seem to warrant. But Odell and Smith are sticklers for accuracy.
    Next, specialized craftsmen carve each new model out of resin blocks. These are called “patterns” and are four times as large as the miniatures so that any error in shape or measurement can be easily detected. Every detail of the pattern is compared and recompared with the photos and specifications to make sure that the model is in scale with itself and—as in the “Models of Yesteryear” series—in agreement with the original automobile.
    Once a pattern has been perfected, it serves as a guide in the cutting of the actual-size molds. More than three hundred skilled toolmakers are involved in this delicate cutting operation, which uses a needle as fine as a dentist’s high-speed drill. The operators wear jewelers’ lenses to check and doublecheck for accuracy.
    The final “Matchbox” production step is the assembly, packaging, and shipping of the completed models. This takes place on some sixty assembly lines, where miniature car chassis are automatically riveted to bodies, plastic windows are fitted in, axles are positioned, and wheels and tires are attached. Transfers, or decals, are affixed in the last stages of assembly.
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