MATCHBOX - Seagrave Fire Engine - Red

As much as i will slag Mattel off, the current owners of Matchbox, they do still produce one or two really great castings, and this is one of those, that deserve to be congratulated , The Seagrave is a really good US Fire truck, they have also this year release another old classic fire truck, I will post that when, or even if i ever get one.

From the disc wheel to the perfectly tampoed area's this is one that has to be part of any collection, but, i have to say that matchbox are really going down hill, they have over the years gone from making 75 models per year to 120 now, having great realist casting to having awful plastic generic rubbish, with dire graphics, and now, we are getting blacked out windows, so they don't have to put in place interiors, ye they still want us to pay far more than brands like Majorette and Realtoy, whose realism and price point craps on Matchbox.

The bean counters need to make some drastic changes, if i were in charge, i would make a few significant changes.

• Reduce the amount of modes back to 75 per year
• Decrease the amount of generics over a 5 year period to zero
• Increase the realism, better decals and Tampoing.
• Have seven distinct ranges :-

1. LUXURY - cars from Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Mercedes and so on
2. SPORTS CAR - Morgan, TVR, Lotus, Ferrari, Aston Martin and so on
3. COMMERCIAL - Ford Transit, trucks, vans, delivery trucks, pick-ups, 
4. OFF ROAD - Range Rover, Escalade and other similar models
5. STREET - cars you fins on the normal street, Focus, 3-Series, A-Class, MG6, VW Golf, Peugeot's etc
6. CLASSIC - all the classic stuff, cars,trucks etc from the 50's though to the 80's
7. SERVICES - Fire, Ambulance, Police, Army, Navy, Air force etc

• Get the models back into more stores, have better marketing, produce, posters, catalogues and other material all to push the brand.
• Have special market driven editions, in better packaging.
• Push for more corporate specials, and tie In's with real car launches
• Make the websites far superior, have each model listed, have print offs, have info on the real cars from the manufacturer.
• Have info on the websites about design, mould, produce market and sell, on select products

Thats just my idea's they will never get taken up, but the whole odea of more integration with the buyer via teh website, should be a no brainer, but they really dont seen to like the buyer to have any info, which to me is just pathetic.