Matchbox Cars Wiki
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'''''Super Kings''', '''Speed Kings''', and '''Battle Kings''' all redirect here, pending generation of their own pages.''
 
[[File:K10_DAF_Car_Transporter_20120610_JSCC.jpg|right|thumb|200px|[[DAF Car Transporter]], a Super Kings truck from 1971. Josiah Carberry Collection]]'''King Size''' Matchbox vehicles were larger models, produced by Matchbox in the 1960s and 70s. Some were enlargements of [[mainline]] models, others appeared only as King Size models. Most or all King Size models featured moving parts (e.g. opening doors, tipping beds), something that appeared only occasionally in the mainline series. To distinguish them from mainline models, King Size model numbers featured a ''K-'' prefix.
 
[[File:K10_DAF_Car_Transporter_20120610_JSCC.jpg|right|thumb|200px|[[DAF Car Transporter]], a Super Kings truck from 1971. Josiah Carberry Collection]]'''King Size''' Matchbox vehicles were larger models, produced by Matchbox in the 1960s and 70s. Some were enlargements of [[mainline]] models, others appeared only as King Size models. Most or all King Size models featured moving parts (e.g. opening doors, tipping beds), something that appeared only occasionally in the mainline series. To distinguish them from mainline models, King Size model numbers featured a ''K-'' prefix.
   

Revision as of 05:00, 6 December 2013

Super Kings, Speed Kings, and Battle Kings all redirect here, pending generation of their own pages.

K10 DAF Car Transporter 20120610 JSCC

DAF Car Transporter, a Super Kings truck from 1971. Josiah Carberry Collection

King Size Matchbox vehicles were larger models, produced by Matchbox in the 1960s and 70s. Some were enlargements of mainline models, others appeared only as King Size models. Most or all King Size models featured moving parts (e.g. opening doors, tipping beds), something that appeared only occasionally in the mainline series. To distinguish them from mainline models, King Size model numbers featured a K- prefix.

King Size vehicles first appeared in 1960, and initially featured trucks and heavy equipment (e.g. construction equipment) in a scale similar to the mainline vehicles. The DAF Car Transporter, for instance, easily carries five mainline vehicles. Larger scale cars began to appear in the 1967 line-up, starting with the Mercedes Benz Ambulance, a large scale version of the mainline series Mercedes Ambulance with opening doors and a removeable patient on a stretcher.

Other cars followed, with ten in the line up for 1971, when they and the trucks were separated into two subseries, the Super Kings (trucks) with numbers from K-1 throught K-20, and Speed Kings (cars) given numbers starting at K-21.

Datsun 240 Z Rally Car 20131130 JSCC

Speed Kings Datsun 240 Z Rally Car. Josiah Carberry Collection

This arrangement appeared to restrict the Super Kings to 20 models, but 1974 saw 23 of the trucks, with model numbers above 20 duplicated in the Speed Kings subseries. To correct this, Speed Kings numbers were shuffled in 1977, now starting with K-30. This solution was short-lived, however, as the Super Kings line expanded past 29 the following year, reaching 37 by 1979, the final year of production.

Also in 1974, Battle Kings debuted, featuring military vehicles. Perhaps to avoid compounding the problem of duplicating model numbers, these models were issued K- numbers starting at K-101.

All King Size vehicles were discontinued at the end of the 1979 model year, along with several other series, and Matchbox now focused only on their mainline collection.

See Also