Back in 1967 or 1968, my grandmother gifted me five or six Matchbox cars. As far as I remember, I was the first kid in my school to have the, and started off a huge craze among my friends. When Hot Wheels were introduced a year or two later, we saw them as flashy imitations, and I never had a Hot Wheel in my house until my wife started collecting them 30 years later.
One of those original Matchboxes was the bright red Jaguar XKE, a car I have never fallen out of love with (and managed to re-acquire a few years ago).