Matchbox car catalog from 1969

COOP scanned an entire Matchbox Collector's Catalog from 1969. It's filled with terrific illustrations of the diecast toy cars. These people sure were having a grand old time playing with them. Link

[#1 posted by Flying Squid , October 4, 2007 4:10 PM]

Okay, I get that Dad is taking his hunchback son and nose-picking daughter to see Speed Racer's slot car collection, but why is a young Bobby Kennedy with them?

[#2 posted by lungtaworld , October 4, 2007 4:22 PM]

I think this is a SCALEXTRIC setup - not Matchbox.

[#3 posted by MadDuck , October 4, 2007 4:27 PM]

I hope this setup isn't in Boston, that looks like an improvised hoax device there with that button and wire and whatnot...and there clearly appears to be an explosion occurring in the background...

[#4 posted by Bullpot , October 4, 2007 4:31 PM]

What the fuh.. these are slot cars!
I remember matchbox cars - they were little diecast bits of rubbish that we collected like crazy, now worth about 5% of what we paid for them (probably covered with lead paint ha ha ) I see they still market the same stuff on late night tv for about $19.95, collectors items!
They sure didn't race round no tracks, with no attentive daddy looking on with full crowned teeth!

[#5 posted by dculberson , October 4, 2007 5:06 PM]

So the "Matchbox Collector's Catalog" on the cover wasn't enough to show it isn't a Scaletrix or other non-Matchbox "slot car" catalog?

Matchbox is a brand, they made little slot cars too.

[#6 posted by Anonymous , October 4, 2007 6:54 PM]

Unless this is a non-US track set, I have a feeling it is actually the very lame mechanical Speedtrack substitute for a real powered slot car track. my unlucky neighbor had one. Imagine a miniature "cablecar" type roadway set that never really worked. This was put out to compete with real slot cars from giants Aurora, Tomy and Bauer, but never had a chance. Calling this a Speedtrack is surpassed in absurdity only by the naming of the Patriot Act. I'll bet Bush had one.

[#7 posted by ricket , October 4, 2007 7:05 PM]

Is that the Bush family?

[#8 posted by waugsqueke , October 4, 2007 8:33 PM]

Matchbox is not slotcars- these are diecast metal cars. Dunno why they are portraying it as a slotcar set in the illustration.

I had almost all of these. I remember especially the pieces that got lost - the pipes for the pipe truck, the cows for the cattle carrier. The stake truck had removable stake sections for the walls and I lost those too. Had the bus, the pickup, the crane, the motorbike trailer (never lost the motorcycle - it attached to the trailer very securely). And I begged for many of the large scale pieces and always got turned down, they were way too expensive back then.

[#9 posted by RoadTransport , October 5, 2007 3:54 AM]

Sorry, kids: those of you who reckon this must be a Scalextric setup are dead wrong. It's a Matchbox Motorised Motorway, which is probably closest to what Anonymous (comment#6) described as the Speedtrack.

The Matchbox Motorised Motorway was a figure-of-8 track with two lanes running (usually) in opposite directions. Each had a slot in which ran a long coil spring, pushed along by a gear connected to a 12V motor in a roadside 'shed' - this was controlled by a slot-car-style control with a thumb-operated plunger.

The cars themselves were ordinary Matchbox diecasts, with small plastic drive pins stuck onto the underside which engaged with the moving spring. It came with a lovely Ferrari 250 Berlinetta and an Iso Grifo - at least, they were the cars shown on the excellent box painting.

The system allowed you to run any number of cars and trucks on the track at once; of course, they all ran at the same speed, and eventually the system would grind to a halt if you put too many cars on it.

Another limitation was that, of course, the spring was a fixed length - so you couldn't alter the shape of the track significantly, and had to run it as a figure of 8 (so that both lanes were the same length).

You also ran out of drive pins eventually, and it was a pain to find new ones. Ironically, with eBay now they are probably easier to buy than ever before.

But the thing I remember above all is the NOISE! Those springs running along a hard plastic runner made a godawful racket.

My MMM is up in the attic, and you've just encouraged me to give it another go...

I'll try taking some photos this weekend, and post them up on the Road Transport blog.