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The Rise and Fall of Matchbox's Toy-Car Empire

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182 points NaOH | 3 comments | 15 Oct 24 20:51 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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crispyambulance ◴[17 Oct 24 13:31 UTC] No.41869503[source]▶
Matchbox cars were the best!

In particular, they tended to roll much better than Hot Wheels.

The "axles" were some kind of fine spring steel. The matchbox cars had noticeably less drag than other brands and rolled farther and more straight. The plastic on the wheels was more flexible and smooth.

I do think that some thought went into how these things rolled. Or maybe I am mis-remembering my childhood experiences? I guess I will never find out!

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1. flohofwoe ◴[17 Oct 24 13:33 UTC] No.41869527[source]▶
Nope, Matchbox were indeed the best. They were incredibly high quality compared to similar brands. Really surprising for such a cheap mass-produced toy.
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2. Mistletoe ◴[17 Oct 24 14:58 UTC] No.41870290[source]▶
It’s interesting that Hot Wheels got the Coke and Matchbox seemed like Pepsi to me, someone that was from the outside. I wonder why. Maybe the name is just better.
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3. lproven ◴[18 Oct 24 15:08 UTC] No.41880128[source]▶
Huh. Could this be a UK/US thing?

Brit here and for us Matchbox was 100% the Coke, and Hot Wheels the generic supermarket-own-brand cola. HW aspired to be Pepsi.