Roman Numeral Series

[Idris]

What appears to be interesting background information on the America-only Roman Numeral series here.

"Matchbox Limited Edition Roman Numeral Set of Ten
A little Matchbox/Lesney History.
In the mid-late70s as product manager behind the MB strategy "Americanization of Matchbox" the U.K had started creating models for the U.S.A. as it did mostly for Germany and some other countries at the time.
The U.S.A. was given a choice to create ten models and these were the ten selected.
12,000 pieces of each title were ordered and blister packed in Moonachie
Adding Roman Numerals to the base plates put the limit in limited edition!
A Matchbox collectors First!
I. Silver Streak.This was the First silver plated MB model and was Roman Numeral I
II. Sleet N Snow. Collectors wanted a USA postal,what a great name!
III. White Lighting .Top selling model in another design
IV. Flying Beetle. An Orange Model was a weak seller in its old form. The Flying Beetle name made sense for this model
V. Hot Smoker.The former pink Dodge Dragster was the Best selling model in the USA 1971-1981.It deserved the V.
VI. Lady Bug. The First black MB vehicle,flamed out!
VII. Brown Sugar. The First Brown Vehicle and a tribute to the Rolling Stones and R.Crump
VIII. Black Widow.A Dangerous name and graphics was wanted here.
IX. Flamin Manta. Wanted to look like U.S. Hot Rod
The Program was a success and sold out...Toys r Us,Child World and K-Mart were the major retailer at the time
Very Good-Excellent Condition
" from my personal collection...and 10 years working at Lesney USA( when it was great and American Collectors were taken seriously) "

[TOYRFIC]

That is interesting. Only 12,000 piece runs of each.
Trying to collect all the crossover bases, color and shade varis, window colors, etc. is pretty fun!

Thank you for posting this .

[TOYRFIC]

Here is a pretty sweet rear wheel variation on the VII Brown Sugar.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Do you have a picture showing the underside.

Ghosthunter.

[TOYRFIC]

Do you have a picture showing the underside.

Ghosthunter.

Yes, I will have a photo up in 12-14 minutes!
I am walking to the display case after I get a drink of water, maybe a bathroom break too!

[TOYRFIC]

Do you have a picture showing the underside.

Ghosthunter.

Photobucket slowed me down a bit!

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Do you have a picture showing the underside.

Ghosthunter.

Yes, I will have a photo up in 12-14 minutes!
I am walking to the display case after I get a drink of water, maybe a bathroom break too!

Thank's Jason. I hope you are not setting a president for the rest of us to describe what we are doing just before we get models out of the cabinet...

Ghosty.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Fascinating, I was intrigued by the use of Roman Numerals and wanted to see how they added it to the baseplate, a simple tooling insert, many thank's for the extra pictures.

Ghosthunter.

[TOYRFIC]

Do you have a picture showing the underside.

Ghosthunter.

Yes, I will have a photo up in 12-14 minutes!
I am walking to the display case after I get a drink of water, maybe a bathroom break too!

Thank's Jason. I hope you are not setting a president for the rest of us to describe what we are doing just before we get models out of the cabinet...

Ghosty.

You're Welcome. Why not make the trip to the display cabinet or toy room more exciting by describing the process to get there! More reads and maybe more posts.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

I might just do that...

Ghosty.