Matchbox car sold for 'world record' amount
VectisA Matchbox toy car has sold for what is believed to be a world record amount for the brand, according to an auction house.
Vectis Auctions in Stockton sold the 1968 yellow Mercury Cougar model for £22,050 on 20 January to an international buyer.
Auction official Ian Main said the previous highest amount for a Matchbox car was about £13,500.
He said this toy had sold for so much because the model is usually found in lime green, whereas this car was part of an early run where they were painted yellow. The auction team did not know how many yellow Mercury Cougars had been produced but estimated it to be in the low hundreds.
Main said it was unclear why the colour of the model had changed so quickly after production started, but said this model was in particularly good condition.
"Ultimately it was two buyers that kind of broke away from [the other bidders] and just bid against each other to the price that we saw," he said.
VectisMain said this model came out just before the then British brand Matchbox tried to compete with the US-based Hot Wheels which was using "low friction wheels".
"[They] were designed to go down the plastic track at high speeds," he said.
A year after this model came out, Matchbox started putting low friction wheels on all its cars.
