Matchbox - Arnold - Chad Valley
Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2016 6:22 am
From what I can sort out Arnold of West Germany came up with the idea of the spring inserted track to tow small more cars around a circuit and bring other wise static models to life.
Lesney most likely saw the motorway at the Nuremberg toy fair of 1967 and saw the potential of using it for their models. ( after all Mattel had nothing like this). Approached Arnold for licensing rights which were granted with the exception of a couple of markets.
The original tracks were a realistic gray and green in colour. One of the two manufacturers wanted to change the colours of the tracks to appeal to a younger audience and the other didn't agree or Lesney changed the colours not informing Arnold and the licensing agreement broke down shortly afterwards.
Chad Valley then picked up the licence.
Does anyone have one of these sets?
Cheers, Steve
Matchboxkiwi
Lesney most likely saw the motorway at the Nuremberg toy fair of 1967 and saw the potential of using it for their models. ( after all Mattel had nothing like this). Approached Arnold for licensing rights which were granted with the exception of a couple of markets.
The original tracks were a realistic gray and green in colour. One of the two manufacturers wanted to change the colours of the tracks to appeal to a younger audience and the other didn't agree or Lesney changed the colours not informing Arnold and the licensing agreement broke down shortly afterwards.
Chad Valley then picked up the licence.
- IMG_3110.JPG (95.67 KiB) Viewed 1639 times
- IMG_3111.JPG (87.83 KiB) Viewed 1639 times
- IMG_3112.JPG (93.62 KiB) Viewed 1639 times
Cheers, Steve
Matchboxkiwi