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Here are two model Trojans with Brooke Bond Tea Adds, Dinky Toys issued their one in 1957, Matchbox issued their on in 1958.

Only just a year apart and Matchbox only issued the Trojan once, and with that add and the same colour Red.

But Dinky Toys used the Trojan for six adverts, I wonder why Matchbox only used it once.



George T.

Maybe one of them was asked to back down because a well established toy company had already got the right to issue a 'Brook Bond Tea' model, I.E. Dinky and it is not always apparent to companies if permission is required for 'Toys' so maybe Lesney just went ahead with theirs not knowing of the Dinky version until it was pointed out to them the Dinky is already on sale!

GHOSTHUNTER.

Matchbox sure did miss a huge opportunity with their models with regards to color and liveries. Hot Wheels, Dinky and others got it right. While some cars, like the Cresta, came in more then one color over time, a wider range of colors would have zero additional manufacturing cost, but would have made a huge difference in overall sales.
Based on some of the customs I have seen, it would have been awesome.

ford_a_30 wrote:Matchbox sure did miss a huge opportunity with their models with regards to color and liveries. Hot Wheels, Dinky and others got it right. While some cars, like the Cresta, came in more then one color over time, a wider range of colors would have zero additional manufacturing cost, but would have made a huge difference in overall sales.

If the rumours are to be believed, models which were inadvertantly painted the wrong colour were destroyed rather than sold. Lesney's shortsightedness in this respect has always puzzled me, especially since they must have been aware of other diecast toy manufacturers releasing their models in different colours and thereby boosting sales. It must have been the "dead hand" of Leslie Smith or Jack Odell, but which one and why, I cannot even begin to imagine.

Leslie Smith had the 'Upper Hand' in all matters.

Ghosty.

Idris wrote: If the rumours are to be believed, models which were inadvertantly painted the wrong colour were destroyed rather than sold.

One would have thought a company cheap enough to send out the reverse wrecker, and cream cougar as regular stock rather then recycle them would have much rather sent out a wrong colored batch then lose a whole run of something.

Interesting to see different models of the Trojan but with the same design decal,a logo I am not old enough to have seen when current. We know from the military range Lesney made blatant copies of Dinkys however the Trojan is proof that they didnt need to copy unless asked to do so by their advertisors.
As to calling Lesney cheap over cream cougars and reverse wreckers,its unjustified because they were quality toys made by people who had been through WW2 and learned ´´waste not-want not´´ the hard way!

SMS88 wrote:Interesting to see different models of the Trojan but with the same design decal,a logo I am not old enough to have seen when current. We know from the military range Lesney made blatant copies of Dinkys however the Trojan is proof that they didnt need to copy unless asked to do so by their advertisors.
As to calling Lesney cheap over cream cougars and reverse wreckers,its unjustified because they were quality toys made by people who had been through WW2 and learned ´´waste not-want not´´ the hard way!

My statement was not intended as an insult, rather to reaffirm the "waste not" thinking. If a batch of bodies were to be scrapped at the point where they were ready for assembly, this seems to be at least as wasteful, especially if an entire days run were to have been affected.

it never fails to amaze me how all the different manufacturers copied each other without treading on copyrights licenses and the like
or were they so entwined with each other as not to worry about it ??