Lesney Products and Co
Lesney Products and Co of Eastway, Hackney Wick, London.
Lesney was a British manufacturing company responsible for the conception, manufacture, and distribution of die-cast toys under the "Matchbox" name.
1947 Founded as an industrial die-casting company by Leslie Smith and Rodney Smith. 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 scale 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.
1966 Lesney received their first (of several) Queen's Awards for Industry.
1969 Introduced Superfast toy cars with friction-free wheels, initially for export to USA[1]
1980 The group lost £17.6 million, suffered a drop in sales and cut its workforce from 9213 to 5470.[2]