I doubt the minds of future generations will recall the excitement of picking through a tub of misshapen, crumpled boxes featuring 4 varieties of car whilst Mum’s off buying cabbages quite as much, as the wonder and awe of a little shop dedicated and packed to the brim with toys. In our current age, both the local toy shops and the racks of cars have largely disappeared instead, you’re likely to find a box of cars shoved in a tub on the bottom shelf of your local supermarket. All presented in “matchbox” like packaging with a clear window of plastic allowing you to see the wonderous vehicle inside.
Tony Medland’s was the local toy shop in my home town of Cromer, and it used to have entire racks dedicated to these little scale models.
There were other brands such as Corgi and Majorette who came pretty close and even exceeded the Matchbox mark in some cases, but Matchbox had the largest share of the market, the largest number of accessories and the widest array of cars to choose from. If you were anything like my brother and I as a child, you will have undoubtedly played with toy cars, otherwise known as dinky cars or more commonly in the UK, at least Matchbox cars.
