1976 AIM Matchbox Guide

[hydra427]

I love going through old catalogs and price guides. Here was my first catalog listing variations of the regular wheeled models. It was produced in 1976 by American International Matchbox (AIM). What I find most amazing is the missing variations and models not even mentioned like a #7 Milk Float with silver load, #26 Cement mixer with a gray barrel, #45 Vauxhall in red. The numbers in the parentheses was a trade value associated with that model at that time. Not sure what they were thinking giving the #75 Ferrari Berlinetta in red a value of (8) and the #43 Hillman Minx in green a value of (60). I guess back in 1976 the Ferrari's were a dime a dozen. They were supposed to produce a catalog for Yesteryears, Kings, Majors, Superfast etc. but I am not sure if they ever completed the books. Its also funny looking at some of the hand drawn illustrations. It was way ahead of its time in 1976 but I would consider it crude by today's standards. If you would like to see more let me know. Hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

[motorman]

My understanding of the values given in brackets was that it was not a monetary value but was a points based value meaning the lower the points value the rarer the model was to find. I may be entirely wrong with that thought but I have a vague recollection of it being discussed before.

[Idris]

My understanding of the values given in brackets was that it was not a monetary value but was a points based value meaning the lower the points value the rarer the model was to find. I may be entirely wrong with that thought but I have a vague recollection of it being discussed before.

No, it was the other way round: the higher the points value, the rarer a model was. Furthermore, it was a linear scale, so two models with a vlaue of 6, or three with a value of 4, would be equivalent to a single model with a value of 12.
This guide is one of the ones I use in my weekly model analysis.

[motorman]

My understanding of the values given in brackets was that it was not a monetary value but was a points based value meaning the lower the points value the rarer the model was to find. I may be entirely wrong with that thought but I have a vague recollection of it being discussed before.

No, it was the other way round: the higher the points value, the rarer a model was. Furthermore, it was a linear scale, so two models with a vlaue of 6, or three with a value of 4, would be equivalent to a single model with a value of 12.
This guide is one of the ones I use in my weekly model analysis.

Ah well I was half correct............or half wrong I am confused now, I need to lie down.

Thanks for clearing that up Hugh.