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Here is a direct copy by 'TS' of the 24c, Silver Shadow saloon. The 'TS' is made in hard plastic like the 'Crocker' and 'CH' toys. It was marketed in the U.S. on a blister card by 'KRESGE INC' in 1971-72.

GHOSTHUNTER.

Here is a direct copy of the 'Yesteryear' Y-11, Road Roller by 'MAXWELL'. These were made from the same tools as the Lesney original in 1973, as part of a range of models combined of some Lesney 'Superfast', shown in matchboxkiwi's picture, the 'Yesteryear' shown here and the Chevrolet Impala from 'CORGI'.

GHOSTHUNTER.

I find it interesting that all the copies I've seen are inferior to the Matchbox models they are copied from.
Are there any that are better than the originals? I guess it's testament to Lesneys craftsmanship.

Cheers Steve
Matchboxkiwi

Hi matchboxkiwi,

I don't recall any copies off the top of my head, that could be classed as 'better than original' and you would expect any copies that have been made from Lesney supplied tooling and moulds to be 'as good as original' but tend not to be, only because in most cases, the moulds are not in good condition any more and the whole production process is not monitered with the same good quality control, as at Lesney.

Despite both 'MILTON' and 'MAXWELL' being in Calcutta, India, they seemed not to be connected in a business sense, but both companies were supplied with tooling from Lesney and Corgi, (among others) at the start of the seventies, with finished models coming to market in 1972 and an odd thing is that they each had only one 'Yesteryear' model, the Road Roller shown above from 'MAXWELL' and the model 'T' Ford from 'MILTON', but please forum members if you know this is not the case, lets hear from you.

I am looking at adding two similar threads on 'CORGI' and 'DINKY' very soon.

Regards,
GHOSTHUNTER.

Here is a copy by 'CLE' from France. This was made from 1965-69 and re-marketed by 'LA BELLE EPOQUE' in 1986. The very first versions of this model were being marketed as kits by 'CITGO'.

GHOSTHUNTER.

maks royal car,similar to spot on
ghosty you have an email

MOKOSEX, you have a message,

Ghosty.

Here is the white metal copy of the '1-75 series', Victor 'F' Type. It has been made as a simple kit by 'Midget Models', Birmingham. Given a catalogue number of 19 and sold at £2.95, it dates from the early 1980's.

GHOSTHUNTER.

GHOSTHUNTER wrote:Hi there johnboy,

The taxi, Jaguar and coach models have been marketed by 'CH', 'CROCKER TOYS', 'TLC' and a 12 model carded set by 'ALLEN INTERNATIONAL' in the U.S. and all from Hong Kong and clearly based on or even directly copied from the "Matchbox" regular wheel range.

The Rolls-Royce is only based-on, it is not a direct copy of 44a as the details are not identical between the two models.

Shown below is the 'CH' version.

GHOSTHUNTER.

Here are my 'CH' version of Silver Cloud (red) and a blue copy. The blue one is actually a slightly different cast as you can note from the detailed pictures. I had a yellow one but couldn't find it for now so I attached old images for it. The cast is very similar to the 'CH' version without baseplate. I just find out the green one is not a Rolls as the grill is different. These are all made in Hong Kong. Behind are 3 smaller plastic rolls royce made in the Great Britain. I believe they are Silver Ghost and Silver Shadow.

Cheers,
Ritchie

Heres a tudor rose vw van,very similar to the matchbox van but i think this time its just that both companies got the shape right .