Dinky, Corgi and Matchbox: A Mania for Miniature Model Cars

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The British Empire may have been on the wane by the 1950s—even if many in the UK itself didn’t realise it at the time—but the British toy car industry was still very much on an upward incline towards its imperial zenith. By the mid-1950s there were three major players in the model toy car field, all British. Dinky Toys from Liverpool—owned by Frank Hornby’s famous Meccano Ltd—was the oldest, entering the field in 1933. The Dinky scale model vehicles were made from die-cast zamak zinc alloy. Meccano-Dinky catapulted an instant craze in the 1930s for miniature toy vehicles cast in metal๏.

The second UK toy car giant to emerge, 20 years after Dinky, was the iconic Matchbox series, made by Lesney Products & Co. Founded by two unrelated “Smiths” – Leslie and Rodney, Matchbox cars were manufactured initially from a derelict pub in North London (later, production moved to a site in Hackney).

The third member of the UK miniature car triad was Corgi Toys (established 1956 in Swansea), manufactured by Mettoy Co Ltd, a toy company founded by two Jewish businessmen who had emigrated from Nazi Germany.

Matchbox’s appearance in 1953 ended Dinky’s toy car domination. Matchbox (as the name implies) quickly became the market leader in small-scale, inexpensive toy vehicles, selling for less than 2/- each.

The runaway success of the 1-75 series Matchbox model spurred both Dinky and Corgi to imitation with their own small-scale miniatures, “Mini-Dinky” and “Husky” respectively. 

Corgi introduced enhanced features, working suspension, interior parts, doors and hoods that open but the company really hit the jackpot in the 1960s, capitalising on the James Bond film phenomena to produce its blockbuster seller, the 1:43 scale Aston Martin DB5 model (the “Bond car”), complete with on-screen gadgets and ejector seat. Dinky tried to counter with  “Thunderbirds”-themed miniature toy vehicles (a cult Sixties British Sci-Fi TV series employing marionette puppets).

A new (imported) challenge to the big three emerged in the late Sixties…US toy giant Mattel introduced its Hot Wheels series of “hot rods” and supercharged “ fantasy” cars to compete with Matchbox. The Hot Wheels line of cars rated high for play value – their “hollow plastic, low friction wheels enabling them to race along a plastic track” (Chapman).  Achieving spectacular results, Hot Wheels miniatures revolutionised the small die-cast car model industry.

The 1970s marked the beginning of the eclipse of Britain’s model vehicle industry.  The Dinky factory was forced into closure in 1979 and both Lesney and Mettoy collapsed into bankruptcy within a few years. The downfall of the three manufacturers, Giles Chapman (Britain’s Toy Car Wars, 2021) attributes to the parlous state of the British economy and IR climate at that time, and to strategic mistakes by the companies’ management (plus an inability to match Mattel’s star performer).

Footnote: Lesney Co is no more and Matchbox is now owned by its once staunch rival Mattel. The same goes for Dinky Toys. Corgi Cars are now part of the Hornby portfolio (Hornby itself had been swallowed by Tri-ang Toys but regained its independence in the 1980s).

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๏ Dinky and the other toy manufacturers didn’t confine themselves to automobiles, all manner of motorised vehicles were made – commercial vehicles, mail vans, coaches and buses, military vehicles, tractors, trains, ships, etc.