Dan's Matchbox Picture Pages

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Matchbox 75 and Beyond!
Regular Wheel Matchboxes
Superfast Matchboxes
Matchbox MAN Numbers
Matchbox Premiere Series Pictures
Matchbox Originals
The Universal Years
1/43 Scale Matchbox Collectibles
Matchbox VS. Hot Wheels
The Ever-Popular MB49 VW Concept 1
Matchbox Gold Challenge Cars
Matchbox Taco Bell Cars
Matchbox Star Cars
Matchbox Books
Matchbox Links

Ertl 1/43 American Muscle
Franklin Mint 1/43


Send e-mail to: dan.matchbox.cars@gmail.com

In June of 1982, Lesney Products, the original maker of Matchbox toys, went bankrupt.   Lesney was reformed as Matchbox Toys Ltd. and proceeded to search for a buyer.   It was the end of an era.

Mattel was interested in Matchbox even then, but it was Universal Toys that purchased the company in September of 1982.

Production was moved from England to Macau, and I'm sure the Matchbox collectors of the day were worried that the venerable Matchbox name would now be attached to cheap, Asian produced toys.

However, in my opinion, Universal Toys carried on the Lesney tradition.   The marketing of the cars once again focused on realism and detail.

The castings produced by Universal between about 1985 and 1991 are some of the nicest Matchboxes of any era.   These are the cars that got me into collecting as an adult in 1987.   I only wish I had purchased more of the models and variations at that time.   Here are some cars from the Universal years that I have in my collection.   Hope you enjoy them!

Bibliography: Universal's Matchbox Toys, Copyright 1983 by Charlie Mack   Click here to order this book from Amazon.com

Click on the thumbnails to see more about each model.


Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit

Oldsmobile Aerotech


BMW 5-Series

Nissan 300ZX


SAAB 9000 Turbo

Ford Cargo Skip Truck


Porsche 944 Turbo

Lamborghini Diablo


Mercury Sable Wagon

Dodge Dakota


Rover Sterling

Isuzu Amigo


Mack Auxiliary Power Truck

Mecedes-Benz 500 SEC


Mercedes-Benz 500SL

Vauxhall Vectra / Cavalier GSi 2000


Jaguar XJ6

Mecedes-Benz 300E


BMW 323i Cabriolet

Ford Utility Truck


Lamborghini Countach

Ferrari Testarossa


1984 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z

Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud


Pontiac Fiero

Land Rover Ninety


Volkswagen
Volkswagen Golf GTi

Peugeot Quasar


Toyota MR2

Camaro IROC Z-28