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The final and decisive stepping stone in the pre-Matchbox era was a toy which Mr. Odell designed for his daughter Annie: a scaled-down version of the Lesney green and red road roller. The toy's origin is debatable; it's been said that the daughter's school only allowed children to bring toys that could fit inside a matchbox, but Nick Jones ...
A 1953-55 Lesney-Matchbox Road Roller, one of the first toys to be produced under the Matchbox name. The Matchbox name originated in 1953 as a brand name of the British die-casting company Lesney Products, whose reputation was moulded by [2] John W. "Jack" Odell (1920–2007), [3] Leslie Charles Smith (1918–2005), [4] and Rodney Smith.
The company's first releases came out in the Fall of 1996, with the company's Barbie Fashion Designer program was the first commercially successful video game made for girls. [2] [3] With the success of their first wave of products, Mattel Media then set on producing CD-ROM based interactive material for toys such as the Talk with Me! Barbie. [4]
[3] [4] The game was released in January 1992, [1] [5] and was Matchbox's first video game. [6] Motor City Patrol was one in a line of video games that tied into the Matchbox brand of die-cast model vehicles, like police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, [7] and earth-moving construction machines. [2]
John William Odell, OBE (19 March 1920 – 7 July 2007) was the English inventor of Matchbox toys and the engineer responsible for their unique design. [1] He joined with partners Leslie Smith and Rodney Smith to form Lesney Products. [2] The company initially made small products for cars such as dashboards and doorhandles.
A range of 1:43 scale cars was offered. Some of these were a bit more crude than the smaller sized cars. For example, a late 1970s Toyota Celica fastback was a bit more rough and toy-like than other Playart offerings. Some offerings were in plastic. Cars in 1:20 scale (or about 8 inches long) were also produced.
Powertrack sets came in different sets featuring different cars and track type. In the UK this consisted of: . Powertrack PT-1000 – Grand Prix (Launched 1978); Set comprised: 1 x McLaren F1, 1 x Ferrari F1, 8 x 90 degree 9" Curve, 1 x 9" 6V Track Terminal, 1 x 9" Straight, 2 x 6" Straight. 6V 'Grandstand' Battery Box and 2 x Hand Controllers. 8 Crash Barriers, Sticker Sheet & Bridge supports.
Smith was born in Enfield, Middlesex, left school at the age of 14, and was working for J. Raymond Wilson, a die-casting company, [1] as an export buyer in London when World War II broke out in 1939, whereupon he joined the Royal Navy.