Background History

Leslie and Rodney Smith were school friends growing up in England. After being reunited in the Royal Navy during World War II, they formed Lesney Products on January 19th, 1947. Originally created to make pressure die-casting products for industrial use, Lesney started experimenting with diecast metal toys in 1948. By 1952, Lesney was supplying Christmas toys to some of London's Woolworth stores. In 1953, with eighteen different toys already in production, Lesney registered the Matchbox trademark.

The first major line of vehicles to be released was the 1-75 Series. These cars eventually became known as Regular Wheels and in 1969, to compete with Mattel's Hot Wheels, the entire line was converted into Superfast. By 1971, even the King Size Range, which were larger versions of the toy cars, was redesigned and called Super Kings. In 1974, Lesney began to diversify into other markets such as dolls and plastic kits. They also developed innovative items such as Rola-matics and a new line of king-sized military vehicles called Battle Kings.

Early versions of Battle Kings were produced in bright metallic colors where as later pieces were issued in more realistic military colors. Only eighteen different body types were created as the series was discontinued in 1980/1981 and Lesney went out of business on June 11th, 1982. This short lifespan accounts for the line's scarcity and rapidly increasing value.

In addition to the major variations listed in this Website, there are countless casting, window, wheel and base variations not listed. These changes occurred as tooling became worn or parts for certain models were exhausted. Various shades of colors were inevitable since different paints became mixed or were purchased from different suppliers.