Matchbox carry case catalogue
Matchbox models laid out across a case

Matchbox cars, trucks and playsets — the whole carry case

Every Matchbox car we can find in stock, sorted into trays the way a collector sorts a case. Diecast singles, multipacks, Action Drivers playsets, working rigs, Sky Busters aircraft and the Collectors line — with the price the store is asking today.

A Matchbox car exists because of a box. In 1953 a man at a British diecasting firm needed a toy small enough for his daughter to carry into school, where the rule was that anything brought in had to close inside a matchbox. The model he made fit, the size stuck, and the manufacturer has been building to that ratio since. Seventy years of history later, a 1:64 car still closes inside a fist, and that one constraint is why a collection started in 1960 and a collection started this year line up on one shelf.

We keep this catalog the way we keep our own case — everything in a tray, nothing loose. There are eight trays. Die-cast cars holds the singles. Multipacks holds the five-packs and the big boxes. Action Drivers holds the auto shops and the track sets. Working rigs holds everything with a job: tractors, tippers, fire engines, ambulances, police cars. Sky busters holds the aircraft. Licensed holds the film cars. Large-scale holds the fifteen-inch trucks. Collectors holds the numbered premium releases.

What we do not do is guess. Each model on this site is checked against the manufacturer field before it gets a card, so a look-alike from another maker never ends up in a Matchbox tray. Prices and stock come from the listing, not from memory, and when a car is sold out we would rather show you the box it comes in than pretend otherwise.

Ten Matchbox cars the case opens on

Die-Cast Cars

Single Matchbox cars in 1:64 scale — the small diecast models that started everything in 1953, listed one at a time with the price the store is asking today.

  • Every car here is Matchbox, not a look-alike — we match the manufacturer field before a model gets a card.
  • 1:64 scale throughout this tray, so the models line up on a showcase shelf without one towering over the next.

Open the die-cast cars tray — 231 models

Multipacks and Gift Sets

Five, nine, twelve or twenty diecast cars at 1:64 in a single box — the fastest way to expand a collection at once, and the cheapest per model.

  • Five to fifty diecast cars per box, so a collection can grow by a shelf rather than a model.
  • Themed sets group trucks, rescue vehicles or city cars that read as one line.

Open the multipacks and gift sets tray — 24 models

Action Drivers Playsets

Matchbox playsets with an auto shop, a car wash, a bus station or a police traffic center — the track sets a 1:64 car drives into, each one shipped with at least one vehicle.

  • Every set arrives with at least one 1:64 scale vehicle, so nothing waits on a second purchase.
  • Ramps and connectors line up across the Action Drivers line — sets join into one layout.

Open the action drivers playsets tray — 11 models

Working Rigs and Utility

Tractors, excavators, fire engines, ambulances and police cars — the Matchbox models with work to do, cast at the same 1:64 size as the rest of the case.

  • Construction, farm, rescue and municipal vehicles in one tray instead of scattered across the catalog.
  • Working Rigs castings carry heavier bodies and printed operator liveries.

Open the working rigs and utility tray — 62 models

Sky Busters

Matchbox planes, helicopters and spacecraft, most boxed with a printed playset mat — the part of the catalog that takes off instead of driving.

  • Airliners, military jets, helicopters and spacecraft in one line.
  • Diecast fuselages with printed tail liveries copied from the real aircraft.

Open the sky busters tray — 31 models

Licensed and Movie Cars

Matchbox cars that came from somewhere else first — film vehicles, television tie-ins and real delivery liveries, printed onto the standard 1:64 castings.

  • Film licenses printed onto standard castings, not stickered on afterwards.
  • Jurassic World adventure sets pair a vehicle with a dinosaur figure in one box.

Open the licensed and movie cars tray — 15 models

Large-Scale Trucks

Fifteen inches of truck and more — the big castings with working beds and lifts, plus the remote-control models, all of them built to carry 1:64 cars around a playset.

  • Four large castings: a sand truck, a 1:24 film vehicle, a remote-control truck and a Coca-Cola collectible.
  • The sand truck carries five 1:64 construction vehicles in its own bed.

Open the large-scale trucks tray — 4 models

Collector Series

Numbered releases, anniversary sets and premium diecast cars at 1:64 — rubber tires, metal bases and the finish the mainline does not get.

  • Premium castings with rubber tires and metal bases rather than mainline plastic.
  • Numbered inside their series, so a shelf doubles as a checklist.

Open the collector series tray — 27 models

What 1:64 actually means on a Matchbox car

One to sixty-four is a ratio, not a size. It says that sixty-four of something on the model adds up to one of the same thing on the real car — sixty-four inches of real Ford becomes one inch of diecast Ford. Because real cars are not all the same length, 1:64 models are not either. A Mini at this scale is close to two inches. A long American sedan from the seventies runs past three. Both are correct.

The ratio came out of the box, not out of a drawing office. The original models were sized to close inside a matchbox, and 1:64 is roughly what that constraint produces for an ordinary car. The manufacturer has held the ratio for seventy years, which is the single most useful fact about the brand if you are buying for a shelf: a model released this year will stand beside one released decades ago and look like it belongs there.

Aircraft are the exception. An airliner at 1:64 would not fit in a room, so Sky Busters models are built to fit the hand instead and the ratio floats. Large-scale trucks break the rule deliberately in the other direction, at fifteen inches and up.

Why we sort Matchbox cars into trays

A Matchbox collection is not a list, it is a case. Nobody keeps a tipper next to an airliner because the alphabet says so. These are the rules we sort by, and they are the reason browsing here feels closer to opening a drawer than to reading a spreadsheet.

  • One tray per category of model, so anyone looking for trucks never scrolls past forty sedans to find one.
  • Scale stays visible. Where a model is not 1:64 we say so on the card rather than leave you to find out from the box.
  • Multipacks sit together because the decision to buy five cars at once is a different decision from buying one.
  • Playsets are separated from the vehicles that come inside them — you are buying the layout, not the car.
  • The Collectors line is kept apart because the price, the finish and the buyer are all different.
  • New models are added to a tray as the store lists them, so the case grows instead of being rebuilt.
  • Trays create an order you can hold in your head. A search box cannot do that.
  • Anything we cannot confirm as Matchbox does not get a tray at all.

What is featured on every card

The same information, in the same place, on every model in the case. No card is written from a template — each one is built from what that particular listing says about itself, which is slow and is the only way the detail stays true.

  • The price the store is asking right now, not a price we wrote down last year.
  • The size and the scale, where the packaging or the manufacturer states one.
  • What is in the box: how many cars, which accessories, whether a figure or a playmat is included.
  • Real buyer reviews copied word for word from the listing, never rewritten and never invented.
  • A rating and a review count where the listing has collected enough of them to mean anything.
  • A photograph of the actual model rather than a render of what it might look like.
  • One recognizable layout on every card, so the experience of reading the tenth matches the first.

Recycled metal and the packaging it comes in

The manufacturer has been moving the line onto recycled zinc and recycled plastic, and reworking the packaging to cut what gets thrown away. Some models now carry a note on the box about the material they are cast from; others ship in card that folds flat rather than plastic that does not.

We mention it because it changes what a car feels like to buy for a child, not because it changes how it drives across a floor. The castings are the same weight and the same durable finish they have always been.

Matchbox recycled material panel

Questions the case gets asked

What scale are Matchbox cars?

Most Matchbox cars are 1:64 scale, the ratio that came from fitting a model inside a matchbox in 1953. Because real vehicles differ in length, 1:64 models differ too — a small hatchback is around two inches, a long sedan closer to three and a half. Aircraft in the Sky Busters line are sized to the hand rather than to a fixed ratio, and the large-scale trucks are deliberately much bigger.

What types of vehicles does Matchbox offer?

The catalog covers far more than cars. Alongside sedans, coupes and off-roaders there are construction vehicles, farm tractors, fire engines, ambulances, police cars, delivery vans, buses, airliners, helicopters and spacecraft. The brand started with a road roller and a cement mixer, and working vehicles have stayed roughly half of what it makes.

Is Matchbox owned by Mattel?

Yes. The brand began in Britain in 1953 under Lesney Products, passed through Universal Toys and Tyco, and has been part of Mattel since 1997. The manufacturer has kept the line separate from its other diecast range — Matchbox stays with realistic, licensed and working vehicles rather than fantasy castings.

Are Matchbox cars still sold today?

They are, and in volume. New models arrive every year across the mainline, the Collectors line, Sky Busters and the Action Drivers playsets. The whole of this catalog is current production or current stock — if a model is listed here it was available and priced when we last checked.

What are Matchbox playsets?

Playsets are the track and building sets the cars drive into: an auto shop with a lift, a car wash with turning rollers, a bus station track, a police traffic center, a farm with a tractor and trailer. Most are sold under the Action Drivers name, every one includes at least one 1:64 scale vehicle, and the connectors are designed so separate sets join into a single layout.

Does Matchbox make collector vehicles?

Yes — the Matchbox Collectors line is aimed at adults, with rubber tires, metal bases and heavier printing than the mainline. Releases are numbered inside their series, and anniversary and legacy sets reissue models from earlier decades. Production runs are shorter, so prices sit above the standard cars.

What age are Matchbox toys designed for?

The mainline diecast cars are generally marked for ages three years old and up, as are most playsets, because small parts and small cars are a choking risk for younger children. The large-scale trucks are built for the same bracket but survive heavier handling. Collectors releases are adult display models rather than toys.

How do I start a Matchbox collection?

Start with singles or one themed multipack rather than a shelf of boxes. Pick a line you actually like — rescue vehicles, farm machinery, one manufacturer's cars — and collect across it, because an open-ended collection never feels finished. Keep the packaging if resale matters to you, and give the cars a tray so they stop rolling into a drawer.

Where are these Matchbox cars sold?

At a partner store in the United States, which is where every price on this site is read from. We are not a shop and we hold no stock. Readers in other locations will find the same models listed internationally at different figures, and we would rather say that plainly than quote a number that does not apply where you are.

Do you recommend models or rank them?

No. There is nothing personalized here, no sponsored placement and no favorites list dressed up as advice. Every model in a tray is sorted the same way, and the only thing we add to a listing is a description written from that model's own packaging.

What is actually in the eight trays?

Around four hundred models. Die-cast cars is the big one; multipacks, working rigs and Sky Busters are the next three. You can explore them from the case front or grab the tray you already know you want. Marques run from Ford through Toyota to Audi, and a convertible, a tractor or a helicopter is a tray away rather than a search away.

Are Matchbox cars suited to young kids or to collectors?

Both, which is unusual. A mainline car costs little, takes play and is hard to damage, so it is suited to kids of three and up; the Collectors line is dedicated to adults, with rubber tires and a detailed finish. The possibilities in between are what keep people buying — a gem turns up on a peg frequently enough to make looking worth it.

Does Matchbox make a racing line?

No. Matchbox has never been a racing brand; that is the other Mattel diecast range, and the split is deliberate. What Matchbox makes is called a realistic line — vehicles that exist, built to stock spec, which is why a police car and a street sweeper sit beside the sports models.