Matchbox Madness at Tweed Regional Museum

22 November 2017

New Collectors Cabinet sure to rev engines

More than 400 treasured cars will be parked at Tweed Regional Museum from next week and they are certain to cause a stir.

A collection of hundreds of Matchbox and other miniature diecast vehicles, on loan from father and son Scott and Magnus Green for the next Collectors Cabinet, is sure to delight young and old this summer, according to Museum Director Judy Kean.

“The Collectors Cabinet program at the Museum is unearthing some amazing private collections. I have had a number of conversations over the past year that start with ‘Oh, I don’t really collect anything …’ but it’s soon revealed there are many closet collectors out there,” Ms Kean said.

“We’re delighted to be able to bring some of these to light for our visitors to enjoy.”

Scott Green’s collection began virtually the same time he did. From birth, family members bought him Matchbox trucks, tractors, cars and emergency vehicles and each birthday added more to the collection.

Matchbox toys have been popular world wide since their creation by Lesley Products in 1953. Named after the boxes they were once sold in, similar in style and size to the packaging for matches, they have been an enduring toy for millions of children around the world – often forming lifelong collections.

Scott’s early childhood memories include studying the annual Matchbox catalogues and ticking the models he planned to buy each year, as the number of vehicles in his collection grew into the hundreds. The collection of well used toys from the early 1970s were joined by even older diecast vehicles, including several of the original Lesley models that really did fit in matchboxes.

The collection and the Museum’s Matchbox Madness display includes many of the classic cars of the road and track during the 1970s and 1980s.

It sat in storage for nearly three decades, occasionally bolstered by a particularly eye-catching model, but was recently unearthed as Scott sows the seeds of a collection for his own children.

“I hope it brings them as much joy as it did when I was growing up,” he said.

Matchbox Madness is on display from 27 November until May 2018.

For more information about both exhibitions and associated programs, visit museum.tweed.nsw.gov.au, email trm@tweed.nsw.gov.au or phone (02) 6670 2493.

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Photo 1(JPG, 85KB)

Caption: Matchbox Madness includes some original Lesley models, as well as many classic vehicles from the 1970s and 1980s.

Photo 2(JPG, 96KB)

Caption: Many classics of the road and track are featured among the Matchbox Madness display in Tweed Regional Museum's Collectors Cabinet.