"MATCHBOX" copies etc.

[matchboxkiwi]

Hi Ghosty and Matchboxmarcel,
Those are great yesteryear copies Marcel. Thanks for showing them.
I'd agree with you on the Lipkin garage Ghosty. They obviously had a deal with Matchbox to make the garages before Lesney had the plastic moulding facilities to be able to do it themselves. The time line on this would be interesting. You would assume Lipkin were already making the garages and Lesney saw them at a trade show and thought they would go well with their matchbox toys so got Lipkin to make them under licence for Lesney.
Thus the garage that Marcel shows would be before the Lesney ones. So I guess you could say Lesney copied Lipkin - legally of course!
An interesting thing about the garage you show Marcel is that it is in reverse colours to most of these garages I've seen and indeed my own. This happened to the matchbox ones too.
The other scenario is of course that Lipkin made the garages from scratch for Lesney and then when the contract ran out they carried on making them for themselves.
Either way as Ghosty says I wouldn't consider the garage to be a copy.

The Universal Yesteryears are interesting. I have a couple too. I guess they should be classed as copies because they were made before Universal toys bought the Matchbox brand. Having said that Universal did have some ties with Lesney and made some models for them so I wonder if they asked if they could use some old yesteryear moulds and were told no but go away and see what you can make in plastic! Unlikely but they could have made the plastic yesteryears to show Lesney their modelling skills to gain the contract they did with Lesney to make the models they ended up making for them. I can't remember what they were.

Cheers Steve
Matchboxkiwi

[matchboxmarcel]

The Ford, Mercedes, Cadillac and Rolls Royce shown by me are METAL models and not plastic.
I think at least the Mercedes is a copy.
The Ford is somewhat bigger and models I saw never had the roof as per the MOY model.
Some of you my have the great book about MATCHBOX MOY 1956-1972 by Czech authors Alex Picha and Libor Miks.
A whle chapter in that book is devoted to copies of early MOY models.
I also have some made by the Indian company Maxwell.

marcel

[nickjones]

The first Lesney service station was supposedly modeled on a garage that was local to the Lesney factory of the day so I would say the Lesney one came first and Lipkin continued making it after the contract with Lesney had ended.

[matchboxmarcel]

The first Lesney service station was supposedly modeled on a garage that was local to the Lesney factory of the day so I would say the Lesney one came first and Lipkin continued making it after the contract with Lesney had ended.

You can read all about the Garage on page 253 of the MATCHBOX THE 1ST 40TH YEARS book (1st and 2nd column on page 253)
The production was sub-contracted to a plastic firm called Raphael Lipkin Ltd (L.R.L). and early boxes shows these markings.
When Lesney could make the garage themselves RAPHAEL LIPKIN Ltd re-issued it with plastic petrol pupms glued in position.
More information on page 253 of the 1st 40th years books which I think most of you will have (if not, try to get one as it is the best book for Matchbox you can find)

marcel

[GHOSTHUNTER]

There is still some question over who had the moulds for the Service Station. It's well documented the Garage was instigated and designed by Lesney, and as Nick says, based on a Garage near Lesney, but made by Lipkin because Lesney could not do this type of plastic injection moulding. It would have been drawn-up as a proper business contract (Lipkin made lots of toys and models for various companies at the time, but they did not put 'Branding' logos on everything, they were for other people, including Tri-Ang and the fledgling Rovex company), so Lesney may have paid for the tooling with the understanding the tools go to Lesney when the contract finishes, but for Lipkin to carry on making and then marketing the Garage under it's own 'Brand' ('PIPIN' was being used by Lipkin as a brand during the late fifties and well into the sixties), suggests two things...

A, Lesney allowed Lipkin to make the Garage for both of them and the 'PIPIN' version was being marketed at the same time as the Lesney one.

B, Lipkin had a second set of moulds and carried on making the Garage long after Lesney took the first set of moulds.

...any further views on this, anyone!

GHOSTHUNTER.

[matchboxmarcel]

Hello Ghosthunter.

Please read the 40th years book page 253.
It is well documented there. It is to much typing for me to type this info all here while most of us have that book.
Lesney made there own garage and they made the 2 story garage Lipkin was producing the one story garage.
The box design with colorpicture also looks newer to me then the simple Lesney box.

marcel

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Marcel, I agree with you on the later look of the box, hence my statement at possibility 'B', A second set of moulds allowing the garage to be made by Lipkin, after their contract with Lesney.

I can not check my copy of the book because I am not at home or near it, but will do in due course.

GHOSTHUNTER.

[motorman]

Found this little copy of the SF#34 Formula 1 car at Falkirk on Sunday for 20 pence.

No idea who the maker is and if i recall correctly i think another member posted another similar one in a different colour with the ELF label very recently

[motorman]

it was Shockwave who posted the other one

http://s860.photobucket.com/user/shockw ... a.jpg.html

[matchboxmarcel]

Recently one of the LIPKIN garages was sold on Ebay (not won by me)

These are the many photos posted with that posting (which I saved to my computer) You can now better compare this LIPKIN garage with the MATCHBOX version.























The text with the Ebay posting:

This very rare plastic toy was originally moulded by LIPKIN OF LONDON for LESNEY and sold as a MATCHBOX toy.

LIPKIN re-released it in the mid 1960s Aas part of its PIPPIN range of toys. New SHELL petrol pums with an atendant were tolled to take place of the MATCHBOX pumps.

Size of the box is appoximately 8.5 x 5.5 x 2 inches or about 21cm x 14cm x 5cm.

matchboxmarcel