From the Matchbox Golden Age: 2008 Euro Edition…

November 11, 2016

I have featured a lot of models from the Lamley-dubbed “Matchbox Golden Age” of 2005-2011. I say it was all about licensed models and realism.

But in showing those models, I have focused on licensed. But realism with the “Matchbox Originals”, or generics, is equally as nice. If Matchbox did a generic garbage truck, they did a realistic garbage truck. Same with construction vehicles, trucks, and service vehicles.

And that realism is highlighted in the Euro Edition series. There is a VERY good chance you haven’t heard of the Euro Edition. There are a lot of reasons for that. For one, it was a short-lived series. Two assortments, twelve models each. Second, many of these models, but not all, were generic, meaning they weren’t going to get the attention that other models received.

Lastly, and most significantly, these models were only released in Europe. So yes, our European readers who collected back then are very familiar with these, but collectors elsewhere are not. If you lived anywhere else in the world, you needed a friend in Europe to pick up a set for you.

It was common for Matchbox to do European or ROW (Rest of World) models back then, and it is sad that they don’t do that anymore. The Euro Edition models sported Euro-specific or inspired liveries, which was so cool to see. We still see some emergency and police liveries from Europe on Matchbox models today, but little else.

Hopefully, as Matchbox pushes forward to more licensed and realistic models, and as demand and distribution improve, there will be an opportunity to do this again. It would show some love to European collectors, and would most certainly be a cool group of models.

As far as this 2008 set goes, I have wanted it for awhile. I used to have some of the models, but stupidly got rid of them in an ill-advised purge. Since then they have become very difficult to track down. But thanks to the Autoos International Store in the Netherlands, run by former Matchbox Ambassador John Nijhuis, I was able to grab a set. Plus a few other things.

The box arrived a few days ago, and I opened it on YouTube. Photos coming soon…

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4 responses to “From the Matchbox Golden Age: 2008 Euro Edition…”

Galaxie in NL
November 11, 2016
I can only confirm O-Toos is the pace to find older MBX here in Europe, for no-E bay ripp-off prices. but look for matchbox.box.nl.

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rick
November 11, 2016
Oh, John! The white xB!!!!!

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John Nijhuis
November 11, 2016
Stars Of Europe Series 1 was issued in 2008 in (as far as my knowlewdge goes) Belgium and Switserland only. Two of the smallest countries in Europa. They were not very popular according to MB. However that is usually what they claim if the forgot to offer them to other countries. I can't think of any reason why only children from Belgium or Switserland like them as non of the cars were 1:1 cars produced in Belgium. In Switserland they never produced any car. In 2009 there was a second series only sold in Germany. Which is even nicer but hard to get in Germany too during those days. I can remember I did visit about 30 large retailers in Germany between Holland and the German/Polish border on my way to the German Matchbox Club Convention. Found only 14 sets in those days! All details you can also find at http://www.mbxforum.com Please take into consideration that the site http://www.matchboxforum.com has nothing to do with Matchbox Forum. They just stole our name for their site. Hope this helps.

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John Nijhuis
November 11, 2016
John I looked at your video. A couple of corrections.
1. I am not running the store but my wife Toos does that since 1990. Most of the East coast collectors know her from the conventions.
2. The gift she gave you is a MB44 set we produced for the war museum in Breda and they were produced by Matchbox UK. In those days all code 2 were made by Matchbox UK for Europe. It should be 2 different ones so please have a look. The receivings of the models were for 100% donated to the Museum. Museum still have a couple.
2. Yes DAF is licensed. DAF means Doorne Automobile Fabriek or in English Doorne (owners name) Autoiomobile Factory. They were the inventors in the past of the 'trapped' transmission. They only produced small cars for a couple of years. They mainly produced big trucks and are one of the leading companies in Europe. By the way they are owned by the US company PACCAR who own to my beleive also Peterbilt.
3. Feuerwehr is the German word for Fire Truck. It's a little but funny to have German writings on the car as series were not sold in Germany and which kids want to buy a model with Feuerwehr on it outside Germany???
4. Benzin is the usual word europeans use for Petrol. So it's suppose to be a petrol tanker.
5. Your story on DINKY on the base plate is correct. The nices one to have are the Bulgarian Mercedes with a Dinky Base Plate (not printed but part of the die!!!!!). I have a bleu and green one but undoubtely there would be more colors as you could get any color on demand as long you bought more then 10. And yes Mattel still owns the name and Dinky is still produced and sold by ATLAS in Europe. It's a large mail-in company and they send you a car per month in subscription. The base plate also mentions Licensed by Mattel. They are re-issues of older Dinkies (1:43) and produced by Norev (French company established by mr. VERON). Information and pictures of all models can be found on mbxforum.com (not matchboxforum.com, nothing to do with us).

Thanks again for your nice video. My wife was really enjoying your comments on unpacking her box. Thanks again!

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