Diecast Toys - Made in Hungary: Matchbox

After the Corgi get a deal the Matchbox - the other biggest diecast company - wanted to get a contract with one of the socialist era country too. In first step the Matchbox choose the small firm - Metalbox GMK who already produce a diecast and plastic toy before (see also: Corgi) - because they already had a basic knowledge,  tooling practices for the requested operation. 

The Metalbox GMK and Matchbox get a contract according with the authorization of the Hungarian Ministry of Trading - (in Hungarian = KERMI - Kereskedelmi Minisztérium) to produce diacast car 100pc pre-production and 10.000pc standardized-production per type. (We have no information about the exact final product number). 

The Matchbox transfered all required manufacturing machine in Hungary according their contract than the production is started of october in 1986 till working the official 1988 ending. 

The finishing of the production  was an economical and strategic decision because the Matchbox gave an authorisation to Metalbox to sell their products only the socialist and domestic market and the Matchbox had no garantee the economical interoperability and the producing quality after the socialist era was collapsed. Their prognosis came true with the Bulgarian made Matchbox, and the company left the socialist era in end of 1988 / early of 1989.

Matchbox / Metalbox diecast toys Made in Hungary:

•     MB17-D/9-E AMX Prostocker (Silver, Gold, Yellow, Red Metal)
•     MB20-B Range Rover Police Patrol (Cream, Green) – w chess-board tampo
•     MB23-A Volkswagen Camper Dormobile (Emerald, Orange, White – w Pizza tampo)
•     MB25-A Ford Cortina (White, Silver, Red)
•     MB27-A Mercedes 230SL (Silver, Red Metal)
•     MB39-B Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow (Red, Red Metal)
•     MB41-A Ford GT 40 (Yellow, Silver, White, Red, Blue) – w stripe on the hood
•     MB45-B BMW 3.0 CSL (Blue, Narancs, Silver Metal) – every second car has a BMW sign on their hood
•     MB51-B Citroen SM (Green, Blue, Red, White)
•     MB53-C Jeep CJ6 (Red, Blue, White)

 
The Hungarian made Matchbox's officially had no any difference than the "normal" Matchbox ones but sometimes the Metalbox use a different wheel, paint color, and packing type. Especially with the CJ6, AMX Prostocker, VW Camper, Ford GT.

MB17-D/9-E AMX Prostocker (photo: www.ebay.de)

MB20-B Range Rover Police Patrol (photo: www.vatera.hu)

MB23-A Volkswagen Camper Dormobile (photo: www.matchboxmania.de)

MB25-A Ford Cortina (photos: www.mbxforum.com, www.vatera.hu)


MB27-A Mercedes 230SL (photos: www.mbxforum.com, www.vatera.hu)

MB39-B Rolls Royce Silver Shadow (photos: www.vatera.hu)

MB41-A Ford GT 40 (photos: www.breithaupts.com)

MB45-B BMW 3.0 CSL (photos: homepage.nifty.com)


MB51-B Citroen SM (photos: homepage.nifty.com)

(photos: www.ebay.com)

MB53-C Jeep CJ6 (photos: Breki Finnland)

Diecast Toys - Made in Hungary: Siku

I'm a mid thirty so I was a child in the mid of  the '80's. When I was a child I love the diecast car like the other young boys also. But I had two big problem with these toys. First of all I had a limited pocket-money secondly just few type and limited number diecast car was available at the market in around the '80's in Hungary. Only a very few shop - basically at the most frequent tourist visited places - in Budapest and Lake Balaton had and sell a limited piece/type of a foreign Matchbox, Polistil, Corgi, Siku etc. diecast cars. In this case if a young boy like me able to acquire any foreign car they had very proud and safekeeping to it.

In the mid of '80's a lot of traditional foreign diecast firm appear at the Hungarian market. The supply and demand are changed. Several traditional diecast manufacturer get a cooperation contract with one of the Hungarian diecast manufacturing company. But at this time the the political and economical situation wasn't clear. This caused a lot-of half-legal or illegal diecast car copies appeared on the market.

I would like to share all of my information's about these legal and illegal diecasts with you.

The legal ones:

At the 1980's the Hungarian economical structure is seriously changed. For example: The Formula-1 is show up in our country in 1986. A lot of new co-company estabilished like the Skala Coop the first and biggest Supermarket chain in Hungary at this time. But the world makets are changed too. As you know a lot of diecast company had a financial problem for example Matchbox (1982), Majorette (1982), Corgi (1983). They had to restructure their working capacity and tried to transfer some of their workload to the far east (China, Thailand, Hong-Kong, Macau) or one of the socialist country. (Bulgaria, Hungary, East-Germany, Czechslovakia). The Hungarian Ministry of Export received several request from these companies about their cooperations. The Hungarian diecast story is started with these cooperation's as well.

Siku:

The first foreign manufacturer in Hungary was the West-Germany based Siku (Sieper Lüdenscheid GmbH & Co. KG). The Siku get a contract with the Hungarian toy factory Metchy Toys (Authorised Hungarian seller: Mechy/Rexi). The Metchy Toys factory is located at Csepel industrial area (in Hungarian "Csepel gyártelep") near Budapest. That was on of the biggest industrial area in the socialist era in Hungary. According the contract the Siku gave all of these models executive distribution rights to Metchy toys. Unfortunately the contract was not long-lived and run between 1984-1987 only because meanwhile the Metchy had some issue in relation with the production quality, raw material and machinery tools.

The most-significant problem was the source of the aluminium (zamak) raw-material. The company would like to buy the required raw-material from the biggest Hungarian aluminium smelter - Aluminium Smelter operating at Inota (in Hungarian - Inotai Alumíniumkohó) but the smelter has a very limited spare capacity at this time.  In this case the Metchy had a several overdue in our production line because they hadn't able to buy an enough raw-material for their operation. Unfortunately they had another problem meanwhile - the cost of the aluminium. The raw aluminium stock price is go up day by day (approximately up 30% in 1985) at the stock exchange in 1985. The Siku and Metchy loss their profit exidently. In this case they had no choice. The Mechy finish the diecast business in 1987 and the Siku left Hungary in same year than deploy their working capacity to China.

The Siku appear once more in Hungary in 1991. The Hungarian Postal Service (in Hungarian - Magyar Posta) order a special VW Transporter T4 model (Number plate: MK-E-5107) from Siku at limited number. They get a contract. Generally these VW's made by SIKU but the finishing, tampo print and the packing is done in Hungary. So it's partially a Hungarian made Siku. Later on the Hungarian Postal Service send these VW to their prospect as well.

Siku diecast toys - Made in Hungary (seller: Metchy / Rexi)

• 1026 Citroën SM 1971 (Silver, Orange, Blue Metal, Yellow)
• 308 Audi 100LS 1969 (Green, Orange, Yellow, Blue)
• 1024 Lamborghini 400GT Espada (Green Metal, Blue Metal, LightBlue Metal, Gold)
• 1054-56 Mercedes Benz 190E 2.3 (Silver, Yellow, Barna, Apple Green, Sand, White)
• V334 Ford Transit 1975 (Blue, Apple Green, Piros, White, Silver, Blue Metal, Red Ambulance, White Ambulance)
• 1041 Audi 200 5T (Green Metal, Copper Metal, Turquis, Silver)
• 1040 Opel Senator 3.0E (Blue, Yellow, Blue Metal, Green Metal, LightBlue Metal, Piros)
• 1037 Porsche 928 (Blue Metal, Green Metal, Piros, Yellow)
• 1037 Porsche 928 Sunroof (Gold, Blue Metal, Green Metal, Red Metal, Piros, Orange, Fekete)
• V338 Hanomag-Henschel Tow-Truck (Apple Green, Yellow, White, Gray, Blue Metal, Green Metal)
• 820 VW Transporter T4 (Green)
• 1030 VW Transporter T2 (Orange, Yellow, Apple Green, White)
• 1620 Mercedes Unimog (Orange, Green, White)
• 1012 Ferrari Berlinetta (Gold, Apple Green, Yellow)
• 1034 Maserati Boomerang (Blue, Silver)

1026 Citroën SM 1971 (www.sikumodels.com)

308 Audi 100LS 1969 (www.breithaupts.com)

1024 Lamborghini 400GT Espada (www.breithaupts.com)

1054-56 Mercedes Benz 190E 2.3 (www.vatera.hu)

V334 Ford Transit 1975 (www.vatera.hu, www.breithaupts.com)

1041 Audi 200 5T (www.sikumodels.com)

1040 Opel Senator 3.0E (www.breithaupts.com)

1037 Porsche 928 (www.sikumodels.com)

V338 Hanomag-Henschel Tow-Truck (www.sikumodels.com)

1030 VW Transporter T2 (www.sikumodels.com)

820 VW Transporter T4 (Breki Finnország)

1620 Mercedes Unimog (Pila77)

1012 Ferrari Berlinetta (www.sikumodels.com)

1034 Maserati Boomerang (www.sikumodels.com)

This models also available in twin-pack („Doppel Auto” pack in German) but a very limited number and at the German market only. This pack's contain a lorry and a normal car. (www.ebay.de)