Lesney Products and Co: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
[[Image:Im1960Ry-Lesney.jpg|thumb| 1960.]] | [[Image:Im1960Ry-Lesney.jpg|thumb| 1960.]] | ||
Eastway, Hackney Wick, London. | Lesney Products & Co. Ltd. was a British manufacturing company responsible for the conception, manufacture, and distribution of die-cast toys under the "Matchbox" name. | ||
'''Lesney Products''' of Eastway, Hackney Wick, London. | |||
1947 Founded as an industrial die-casting company by [[Leslie Smith]] (March 6, 1918 - May 26, 2005) and [[Rodney Smith]] (August 26, 1917 - July 20, 2013). The two men were not related by blood; they had been school friends and served together in the Royal Navy during World War II. Shortly after they founded the company. | |||
1948 They produced their first model toy – a die-cast road roller based clearly on a [[Dinky Toys|Dinky]] model (the industry leader in die-cast toy cars at that time) – in hindsight proves to be the first of perhaps three major milestones on the path to their eventual destiny. | |||
1953 Production of a replica of the Royal State Coach. Two versions were created, the first in a larger scale, followed by a smaller-scale model. | |||
Mr. Odell designed a toy for his daughter - a scaled-down version of the Lesney green and red road roller that could fit inside a matchbox. Based on the aforementioned size restriction, the idea was born to sell the model in a replica matchbox – thus also yielding the name of the series which would propel Lesney to worldwide, mass-market success. The road roller ultimately became the first of the Matchbox 1-75 miniature range; a dump truck and a cement mixer completed the original three-model release. | |||
Lesney used a partner company, '''Moko''' (itself also named after its founder, Moses Kohnstam), to market/distribute its toys. | |||
In 1966, Lesney received their first (of several) Queen's Awards for Industry. | |||
1980 The group lost £17.6 million, suffered a drop in sales and cut its workforce from 9213 to 5470.<ref>The Engineer 1981/06/04</ref> | 1980 The group lost £17.6 million, suffered a drop in sales and cut its workforce from 9213 to 5470.<ref>The Engineer 1981/06/04</ref> | ||
| Line 10: | Line 24: | ||
== Sources of Information == | == Sources of Information == | ||
<references/> | <references/> | ||
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesney_Products Wikipedia] | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT: }} | {{DEFAULTSORT: }} | ||
[[Category: Town - London]] | [[Category: Town - London]] | ||
[[Category: Toys]] | |||
Revision as of 12:35, 11 January 2016
Lesney Products & Co. Ltd. was a British manufacturing company responsible for the conception, manufacture, and distribution of die-cast toys under the "Matchbox" name.
Lesney Products of Eastway, Hackney Wick, London.
1947 Founded as an industrial die-casting company by Leslie Smith (March 6, 1918 - May 26, 2005) and Rodney Smith (August 26, 1917 - July 20, 2013). The two men were not related by blood; they had been school friends and served together in the Royal Navy during World War II. Shortly after they founded the company.
1948 They produced their first model toy – a die-cast road roller based clearly on a Dinky model (the industry leader in die-cast toy cars at that time) – in hindsight proves to be the first of perhaps three major milestones on the path to their eventual destiny.
1953 Production of a replica of the Royal State Coach. Two versions were created, the first in a larger scale, followed by a smaller-scale model.
Mr. Odell designed a toy for his daughter - a scaled-down version of the Lesney green and red road roller that could fit inside a matchbox. Based on the aforementioned size restriction, the idea was born to sell the model in a replica matchbox – thus also yielding the name of the series which would propel Lesney to worldwide, mass-market success. The road roller ultimately became the first of the Matchbox 1-75 miniature range; a dump truck and a cement mixer completed the original three-model release.
Lesney used a partner company, Moko (itself also named after its founder, Moses Kohnstam), to market/distribute its toys.
In 1966, Lesney received their first (of several) Queen's Awards for Industry.
1980 The group lost £17.6 million, suffered a drop in sales and cut its workforce from 9213 to 5470.[1]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Engineer 1981/06/04