What male child is or wasn’t familiar with the Matchbox toy brand? It was introduced in 1953 and got its name from the packaging, which resembled matchboxes. Mattel purchased the brand in the late 1990s, and it lives on today. So, you could carry your stash with you wherever you went, Matchbox brought out the Collector’s Case in 1968, which is said to hold 72 of the 1/64 scale cars. We don’t know where this interesting find will ship from, but it’s available here on Facebook Marketplace for $300 plus $13.18. An attaboy goes to “PRA4SNW” for this cool tip!
When I was growing up, I was a fan of Dinky Toys, the British-made metal cars which were probably a step up from most Matchboxes. I recently rediscovered a box of about 50 of those in the attic that I had back in the 1950s and 1960s. Their condition is fair to poor because I played with them a lot. And hard. Back when Dinky or Matchbox were new toys, nobody thought of keeping the little individual boxes they came in, making a case like this a great idea. Fast forward a few decades, and the boxes are worth about as much as the contents.
What is probably great about this case is that it appears to have a handle to easily carry your treasures. And about 55 of the 72 slots have a toy of some kind in them, and it’s hard to distinguish what they are. We assume all these plastic toys come with the case, but the seller isn’t 100% clear. And we don’t know if you got just the case when it was new, or if it included 72 toys for you to build your collection on? Of course, the box is worn, but maybe I’ll buy it to house my Dinkies!
As the sites possibly goofiest character, it should come as no surprise,,,I never had any Matchbox toys. In fact, I thought they were kind of lame compared to our HO race sets. I think some of the HO race cars had Matchbox bodies we cobbled together, but I don’t remember any of my friends having Matchbox alone. Not many survived when we moved away from the parents, and most ended up at a thrift store. One certainly can’t deny the fun that was had. Imagination was king.
Oh boy…. Don’t get me started on the HO cars. We would send them down the track engulfed in lighter fluid. You had to use the hard rubber tires, cause the spongy slick would stick to the track to fast. PS Firecrackers were to strong, and caused shrapnel, better to send them down the track with ladyfinger firecrackers. Lol
I had this case as a kid, it might be in a box somewhere around the house. It came empty when new.
I had this case too, John. But by `68 Hot Wheels had arrived, leaving my Matchbox cars forgotten in the closet. The rest as they say, is history.
Neat case.. I had a different one growing up. I’m spotting a few Hot Wheels cars in there too. It’s amazing how much the things we grew up playing with can be worth nowadays. Russ, I remember Dinky toy cars too, I had some hand-me-downs from my older brother. I always enjoy seeing things like this. Thank you PRA4SNW for the great find, and Russ for writing this up. Now I’ll have to go digging for mine!!!
Yep, you can guess that I had one of these, filled with both Matchbox and Hot Wheels. Of course, it is long gone, along with its contents, Dad wanted everything cleaned out and he chose not to tell us to come and get anything we wanted. So all, the cars, records, GI Joes, etc. probably ended up in the trash.
Seeing this case, though, brought back some great memories for me, as I’m sure it did for many others, despite some folks finding them lame.
I’ve kept a lot of my Dinky Toys, the ones that were in the best condition. My favorite Matchbox car has always been this 1958 Cadillac – it even has a trailer hitch!
Sweet.
Todd, somehow I managed to keep my `58 Cadillac Fleetwood Matchbox, as well as my green `59 Ford Country Sedan station wagon–remember that one? Those, and the blue `59 Impala hardtop are the last of my Matchbox cars I managed to hold onto. My 3 favorites!!
I had a case like this and 2 more smaller ones that were not official “Matchbox”
issued. I got my 1st matchbox cars in the early 60’s and had about 150 of them. Mine were in rough shape and I played with them hard. I got them out of my attic last summer and gave them all to my grandson. If they are in like new condition in the original box (they reproduce boxes now) they can be worth quite a bit. The ones that were played with hard not so much. Thanx for the memories.
I have one of these, filled with Matchbox. It served me for many hours of playtime! I also got a Matchbox road set. Brings back so many good memories!
I hate to admit it but I still have three variations of the 60’s Matchbox Collectors Cases that I’ve had since I was a kid. All three are full of my childhood Matchbox cars, and there are two more regular boxes with more Matchbox car’s and all my original 68-70 Hot Wheels redline cars in them. There’s also a shoebox full of 60’s German Wiking plastic HO cars.
Besides the Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars, I have boxes full of all my original Aurora “lock & joiner” HO slot car track, an assortment of controllers, Atlas “trackside” buildings (grandstands, garages, ticket booth, first aid station, etc) and 40-50 Aurora Thunderjet, AFX and maybe even a couple early “vibrator” cars, and a few odd Tyco HO cars too. I also have a half dozen (mostly Cox) 1/24th scale slot cars from my youth. A lot of my Matchbook and all my Hot Wheels are in excellent condition because I was old enough when I bought them I used them as scenery on my slot track, and not toys.
I’m not really sure how I held on to all of it, but it helped that my father had a couple garages, one with a second floor where I stored a lot of this stuff while in college and until I bought a house. All my HO trains and track survived too, but many of my HO railroad buildings disappeared, along with all of my Dinky and Corgi cars.
I last had the Aurora track set up (four lanes wide) about 30 years ago, but I was recently going through it all with my grandson. I’ve thinned out my collection of cars and now have extra space in the garage where I’m thinking about putting up the Aurora track. Though I already have about 50 feet of Scalextric 1/32 scale slot car track set up in my basement. I’m 72 and have a very good wife!
If you never opened them out of the blister pack, you’d be amazed hom much the hot wheel, red lines are worth.
I saw an original `67 T-Bird hot wheels in the blister pack–complete with the “badge” go for over $1400. at auction! Wish I had the hindsight to save mine back then!!
Let me start by saying, One day, my heir’s are gonna hate me. I started collecting hot wheels again in the early 90s… Probably got about, 600 unopened cars… Sadly, I came upon an auction from a heavy, deep pocket collection. A lot of the cars, and car sets, were from hot wheel car shows. And I spent to much money… But managed to keep the lights on. Now, the cherry on top is this; A guy comes into the auction house I was working at. Along with some antiques he has a few red line hot wheel cars. I tell him, yes, they will sell, and go on to say they are world wide in sales, and he says, Yeah… Don’t remind me… He asks me if I know who he is, I say no, he says, I’m the idiot who sold the manufacturing rights to Mattel for 20,000 dollars back in the 60s… Bought one of the cars on the spot for him to sign. One day I hope to find that car, before my heir’s, because I think it’s worth money. PS Thanks for putting up with my comments, I’m recently retired, and there is only so many times a day my dog wants to go for a walk…
This is a later model case. I had two of these as a 60s kid, and the early ones had cardboard dividers, not plastic trays. Those came later.
The bad thing about the cases is that we then threw out the boxes the cars came in. When I finally sold my collection, the lack of boxes, even though the cars were pristine, made them worth much less.
I have one and its full. Been collecting since the hot wheels sweet 16 came out. That present I have about 800+ cars. Mixed bunch, hot wheels, matchbox, johnny lightning, with a few others thrown in. However, the hobby is not what it use to be, the scalpers have move in and taken away some of the fun.
What’s really brought the value down is E-Bay. People have discovered that the stuff they have stashed away is collectable and E-Bay gives them an easy way to sell it. It’s affected just about every area of collectables.
It almost wiped out antique auction houses until someone was smart enough to create exclusive antique selling sites. In the old days, pre internet, when a piece came in people thought it was exclusive, the Internet taught people that 100,000 of those pieces were made, not 20 pieces. Look at Hummeles, they used to bring good money, now they sell them in sets of 3, for 20 bucks…
Boys never grow up; their toys just get bigger. I was a collector of Matchbox, and Dinky toys, and consequently annoyed my parents by “wasting time” playing with them.
Sometime during that growing up period, Kenner came out with a “Girder-N-Panel” and a “Bridge-N-Turnpike” set that let your imagination build cities and roads. Well, through the years the latter two, despite being looked after, the sheet plastic gave in to the Chinook Belt climate and dried completely out, turning into plastic confetti. But be damned if those toys didn’t just get a little more involved.
And now, Mrs. Claus has joined in to add her own touches. This is just a part of what can happen when you drag out the toy cars and add some buildings and scenery. What began with a single 4×8 sheet of plywood now comprises over six. Not only do my toys of old have a new lot in life but a lot of other props have entered the scene.
Beginning the day after Halloween, it takes a month to six weeks each year to get everything set up. The old saying, “Go Big or Go Home,” is kind of redundant, as we’re already home.
At least my wife can’t accuse me of hanging out in the bar…
Geomechs…..
Unless you set it up in the basement and you just so happen to have a bar down there….. Then…… Technically, she’s right!!!
That looks like a lot of fun and one impressive layout you have.
My wife has been trying to tell me that I need a hobby…..
You’re giving me ideas!!!
-Dave
The real fun part is 2-fold. My wife and I do it together and love doing it. And, we love having people stop by to see it during the holidays.
I’ve had the same one since new. Doesn’t look as well as this one though.
Hot Wheels were cheap little fake looking kids toys. Cheap electro plated colors cheap wheels cheap suspensions, nothing in common with the true scale model lesney-matchbox cars. Quality vs cheap. I loved my matchbox cars I did not care for hot wheels.
So cool seeing old Matchbox. Looking at the FBM ad, the yellow/green towtruck was my first Matchbox. The white ambulance was one I enjoyed as a kid too!
And who can forget Twin Mill, albeit a HotWheels, but I see one there.
Yeah, like others I still get some (Makes the trip to the supermarket special!) but have to hold off getting them. Have way too many stashed away but it’s a cheap way of having a mini version of a real car you like.
You guys ever see the Matchbox ‘65 Mustang with the steerable front wheels? I had one as a kid, used to lie on the floor and drive it around while listening to the Beatles “Drive my Car”! Was all beat up but I loved that car but it disappeared when I was a teen. Then around 2000 was in London (Matchboxes were made in England) and found a mint one with the box at the Piccadilly Flea Market. A few years later my brother gave me a box of old Legos that I used to play with as a kid.
What did I find in the box of Legos? A Lego barnfind, the Matchbox ‘65 Mustang with steerable wheels that I had not seen for over 30 years. 😃
Sold · VINTAGE Official “Matchbox” Series Deluxe Collector’s Case Holds 72 Cars 1968
$300!
I have four cases full of matchbox cars and trucks and all the support vehicles tractors farm implements everything. I have one case like this and three others that are different through the years. Unfortunately the first thing you do when you get them as you throw away the boxes. No kid kept the boxes if they did they were weird. I played with all of them with my friends that’s what they were for to enjoy and we did. Unfortunately they aren’t worth squat now just relics from the past
IF you want one of these cases go to a Doll Show to purchase one.
They are always there for sale for $15.00 to $30.00. Many times with cars in them.
Unless there are very rare of desirable cars in that box it is vastly OVERPRICED!
you can buy them at estate sales for around 30-50 bucks. another seller needing a dose of reality
Also love the vintage Local 18 Operating Engineers sticker on the case! Still have some stashed in the garage, somewhere.
Mom took all my matchbox cars to goodwill while I was away at college. Why the hell did she do that? I even kept their little boxes. I’d had some of them for ten years by the time I was 18.
I guess your mother thought that when you went to college you would discover girls and then no longer desire those cars.
Well you can have both.
Did anybody notice the car on the cover is right hand drive?