The world of toy cars is still a little bit of a mystery to me. I know that there is supposedly no difference between boys' and girls' toys, but I don't really recall having toy cars when I was a child and Little Miss C's never had many either. Whenever we used to visit DorkyMum and DorkySon for playdates (before they moved to the other side of the world!) I saw a true car obsessive in action. DorkySon loved nothing more than playing "traffic jams" when he would line all his toy cars up all over his road rug and I can see Master C going the same way. As soon as he could crawl he was pushing cars around the floor and he loves anything with wheels on it.
There is one brand of toy car that I do know very well though – Matchbox. In my mind you can always tell quality toys by the condition that they're in when you find them secondhand. We were passed some old toy cars by our neighbours not long after Master C was born and by far the best quality ones in there, in the best condition after years of play, were the Matchbox ones.
The Matchbox brand started when Jack Odell created a toy car small enough to fit inside a matchbox for his daughter to take to school – the reason being that children were only allowed to take a matchbox sized container with them. (I know it shouldn't matter, but I do love the fact that the first one made was for a girl.) Soon all the children wanted one and he realised that there was a market for small model cars.
Nowadays Matchbox is ownded by Mattel and the brand still makes vehicles which feature in children's adventures across the world. As part of their 60th anniversary they have produced a special collection of 24 die-cast vehicles and they've sent me a couple of these to review.
We were sent Quarry King and Urban Tow Truck. Both vehicles were the quality you would expect from Matchbox and both children pounced on them as soon as they arrived in the post. The whole set would make a lovely collection for any keen car collector. I also love the fact that they come with an old fashioned cardboard presentation box too. If I was buying them with gifts I might even be tempted to take them out of the plastic packaging and just put them in the presentation box instead. These cars really are perfect to be stocking fillers this Christmas and I think Master C may well be the lucky recipient of a couple more come December 25th.
Disclaimer: We were sent two Matchbox vehicles from the 60th Anniversary Collection for the purpose of this review.
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