Sold without a box????

[brainstrust]

How often were RW sold from shops without a box? Apparently Canadian blister packs had no box, was that common?

[durangokid]

In the USA (and most of the world I think) up until the "blister packs" (late 1960's) came about , models generally always came with a box. Typically until that time, models were shown on Dealer Displays by themselves (boxes typically not shown on the Display). The boxed models were kept separately and you would tell the store person what model you wanted and they would give you a boxed model. An exception could be when they were out of boxed models and would pull the model off the display to sell. If the original box for the Display model was "lost" (much like kids lost/threw away boxes in those days), you might purchase a model without a box. In general, it required a store person present in order to sell a Matchbox product.
With the advent of the "blister pack" , Matchbox continued to use up their boxes in stock originally as blister packs were a new way to sell models without necessarily having to show them all on Dealer Displays. Models could just hang from store "pegs" without the need for a Matchbox Dealer Display (or store person) on its own. However, some Dealer Displays continued throughout the 1970's and 1980's but merchants had more options on how the sell their Matchbox products. In general, Matchbox continued to produce model boxes even with blister packs. However, I'm not sure why some blister packs did not include the boxes when available unless there was a shortage of boxes vs. the models produced or it there was another reason related to product sales (cost savings, etc.). Perhaps another forum member knows about this.....
Ultimately as time went by, the "blister pack"-- has in effect, replaced the box as the means to contain the model. Boxes are still produced today for special series, but marketing and cost controls have basically made the "blister pack" the merchandise "package". Collectors vary in whether or not they will remove these models from their current day "package" for display purposes as the original "package" is no longer original once the model is removed (different from the days with boxes only where you can remove the model and retain the package integrity-- certainly my preference!)

Bill

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Some great points raised by Bill above and in my own experience, I have tried to by models off of the display units in retail shops and have been refused. For a start the model I wanted was out of stock, but an example was still on display. The shop keeper said he could not sell me the display model because it was...well, a display model and not destined for retail to customers!

Secondly the display models were not his property, they had been supplied to to him just for display purposes and remained the property of the model company, which in this case was Corgi and Dinky.

Now as a teenager this sounded strange, as it was assumed anything seen in a toy or model shop was for sale, but clearly now I am an Adult (yes, I have been tested!), I know better and my interest in model cars has confirmed this as common practice.

We now know the models supplied to many retail stores for display can and often do differ from the models we actually buy from the store's stock. All those early '1-75 series' models with holes in the base were designed for the purpose of securing to certain display units and the same method has been used by 'Lone-Star' as models have been seen with drilled holes on their bases and in one example there was still a screw in situ!

Ghosthunter.

[Brad Pittiful]

i have a memory of buying a #36 opel diplomat at a 5&10 and i do not remember being given the box...the store keeper may have asked if i wanted it and i may have said no...who wants the box anyway...sheesh...just give me the car to play with!

i also remember they had a store display that was the small round style and not the taller round style...one of the items on the top of my to get list but are very expensive...i dont recall seeing blister packs in my area but then again they may have been there and i just didnt notice

[brainstrust]

Interesting! Thanks for all that gents.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Interesting! Thanks for all that gents.

No problem, we like to make it interesting...

Ghosty.

[radar]

Always liked the box - defacto "garage".

Some great points raised here.

[brainstrust]

Back then without a box just doesn't seem right

[ritchie]

An example of RW blister card which had no box. The #24C inside had a flat black baseplate so I suppose this card was from 1969?

DSC_1525s.jpg (118.81 KiB) Viewed 2945 times

[GHOSTHUNTER]

I agree with "Ritchie" on the 1969 date for the blister card design he shows. A matt Black baseplate did replace a gloss Black baseplate during 1969 on the 24c Silver Shadow. The model in that blister will have this specification...

Cherry Red body colour.
Matt Black baseplate finish.
Large base rivet.
Low boot hinge cut-outs.
The Second part of the towing facility.
Stiffer suspension.
Separate hub with separate tyre.
Opposing axle-ends.
Inner rear-arch braces.
Ejector circle on the back-wall of the boot.
Patent number on base.

The glazing can have level or staggered ejector circles above the front seat.

Difficult to tell from the photo, but I have Two examples of this version with larger tyres that do fit the hubs correctly but then fill the wheel-arch more, nobody else came forward with another example when I first highlighted this on the forum elsewhere, so maybe not many have yet circulated in the collecting community.

Ghosthunter.