The History of Lledo
Lesney was founded in 1947 as a die-cast company by Leslie Smith
and Rodney Smith. The two men were not related by blood; they had
been school friends and served together in the Royal Navy during
World War II. Shortly after they founded the company, Rodney Smith
introduced to his partner a man named John "Jack" Odell, an
engineer he had met in a previous job at D.C.M.T. (another
die-casting company). Mr. Odell initially rented a space in the
Lesney building to make his own die-casting products, but he joined
the company as a partner in that same year.
Lesney began making diecast toys in 1947. The Matchbox company got
its name because one of Jacks daughters had a show and tell day at
school so he gave her a prototype of a diecast model he had been
working on and she took it to school in a matchbox! The popular
Matchbox 1-75 series was so named because there were always 75
different vehicles in the line, each packaged in a small box
designed to look like those used for matches. These toys became so
popular that "Matchbox" was widely used as a generic term for any
diecast toy car, regardless of who the actual manufacturer
was.
The popularity of diecast toys developed in the 1950s, as their
detail and quality increased. Consequently, more companies entered
the field, including the Corgi brand, produced by Mettoy, which
appeared in 1956 and pioneered the use of interiors and clear
plastic windows in their models.
Following the demise of Matchbox in the early 1980s, Jack Odell
created Lledo in 1982 (Jack was a former Matchbox founding
partner). The brand name mimicked Jacks call sign during the war,
quite simply Odell in reverse. Odell believed that British
collectables for British collectors could still be profitably
produced in England. Lledo bought some of the Matchbox production
machinery and set up a new factory in Enfield, Essex and introduced
their " Days Gone" range of diecast vehicles in 1983. The first
series of Days Gone models included re-makes of some of the most
popular and respected first and second-generation Matchbox Models
of Yesteryear including the Horse Drawn Cart and Model T
Ford.
Today the Lledo brand still remains an integral part of Corgi
Premiums with over 150 castings available for promotional use. In
addition to the heritage brand of Lledo, Corgi has in excess of
7,000 die cast models available, ranging from post war Taxis to
modern day commercial vehicles.
In 2008 Hornby Hobbies acquired the Corgi brand, and still to this
day people of all ages enjoy the Corgi collecting hobby and the
associations, memories and interest each model evokes.
