German Window Box.s

[ChFalkensteiner]

Hi Christian,

Thanks for information on the box's do you now for how long these box's were in use as you will see that i have
examples of both plus 3 in the clear box's.

I would be quite happy to take pictures of them individually if you like.

My German is very bad can you tell me what the text at the bottom right corner on rear of the box says please.

Dave

Those boxes were introduced in 1979 for the whole 1979 MB Miniatures range; the individual boxes came first, and from 1980 onward the generic varieties took over. As I said above, some of the new models introduced in 1980 and 1981 had such individual boxes made too, but those are all hard to find and were already hard to find when they were new.

Those German boxes were phased out in 1982 with the advent of the generic blue window boxes which became available in Germany as well as elsewhere in Europe (the UK got them a little later as far as I know). I should add that during that period from 1979 to 1982 some stores in Germany sold MB Miniatures in blisterpacks (as available elsewhere) and some continued to sell them in the traditional closed picture boxes. All of those packaging styles were available in the same marketplace at the same time, mostly containing the same models, which may explain why those German boxes are not seen so frequently.

The text in the bottom part of the rear of the boxes advertises a Matchbox club which was introduced coinciding with those boxes. The text mentions a club badge (shown to the left of the text) which was available to those who applied for club membership. I do not know anything else about that club; I suppose it was rather short-lived.

Literal translation:

Hello Matchbox friends... now there is the Matchbox club with club badge! Write to us if you want to know more about it!!!

(Sadly I never wrote to them, so I never learned more about the club. )

The bottom line features the advertising slogan which was current at the time:

Matchbox - the world of the 1000 game ideas

[leonty24]

Thanks for the information Christian. Makes you wonder the reason behind the German box's were they made in Germany ?

[ChFalkensteiner]

Thanks for the information Christian. Makes you wonder the reason behind the German box's were they made in Germany ?

Yes, those boxes were printed in Germany. The models were shipped from England to Germany in bulk and were packaged locally at Matchbox Germany in Hösbach.

Around the same time similar schemes were tried in France, Italy and Australia as well, not to mention Japan and the USA. All of those countries had their own regional Matchbox packaging styles, and in all of them the models were packaged locally.

I suppose the idea was to increase the Matchbox brand's popularity in each of those important markets by localizing it to a certain extent, in order to better compete against other brands native to the respective countries (Siku, Majorette, Polistil, Tomica, Hot Wheels, to name but the most popular ones). It was not just about the packaging, but regional variations of some models were also issued in each of those markets (except Italy).

[leonty24]

I also have some Japanese boxed superfast and just two Italian boxed models but not familiar with
any others except of course Brazilian window box's.

[fixer]

Weren't the rights to that BMC concept car actually sold to Citroën, forming the basis for, I think, the BX range?

First, BMC - rather than BLMC as stated further above - is the correct designation, as the real concept car was introduced just before the merger which created BLMC (British Leyland). The production car on which it was based - BMC ADO 17 - was, however, never sold under the BMC brand, but instead as Austin, Morris and Wolseley.

Second, this Pininfarina design most probably had some influence on the design of the Citroën CX, but there was no purchase involved. One can only assume that Robert Opron had a good look at this car when he designed the CX, but the CX design is credited to M. Opron alone, with no involvement by Pininfarina. The Citroën CX commenced production in 1974, seven years after the presentation of the BMC Pininifarina concept car.

The later Citroën BX was a Bertone design which had its origins in an earlier Bertone proposal for Reliant, more specifically for a saloon car known by the name of Reliant FW 11, which was developed by Reliant in the mid 1970s. It was intended to be produced by Otosan of Turkey to replace its then current Anadol range. The Turkish project was not proceeded with though (the old Anadol continued for a few more years and was then replaced by the Ford Taunus originally from Germany), which resulted in the design being passed on to Citroën, which put it into production as the BX in 1981.

I always thought that this developed or at least influences the Rover SD1

[ChFalkensteiner]

I always thought that this developed or at least influences the Rover SD1

Oh yes, others think so too:

http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/cars/ro ... spiration/