Lesney Matchbox time has returned. Today we examine Matchbox Accessory Pack A3a, the garage. This casting entered the range in 1958, remaining until 1964, and is a casting seldom offered in the diecast world:
That is, a single car residential style garage. A few other makers may have made playset type garages, but I do not recall any made in the postwar era of a small garage, and none cast in metal. This represents another switching of gears from my vehicle reviews on Oppo. I had been going through a line of Yesteryears, now we switch it up a bit and get into an accessory pack. By the late 50s, the (soon to be) 1-75 series became a massive success for Lesney, no doubt in large part due to being offered in the US market. Due to this success, observant management realized even more sales could be had by offering a range of accessories, and these soon joined the lineup. Fine line casting detail is as-expected for a period Lesney product, with the brick and roof shingle detail in this being of enough quality where these were also used in model railroad layouts. I estimate scale to be in the 1:50-1:60 range, made to work with existing small scale castings. From all angles, one can imagine someone's beloved machine being stored here, safely out of the elements, after a long drive:
Front and rear contain excellent detail, with the windows and opening doors being nice touches:
Doors open:
The base contains identifying data for the maker, model, and model line:
This model is fortunate enough to live in its nice original Type B box:
I'm happy to have this piece in my collection, it has no shortage of charm. Pictured with an old time for scale:
Pictured with some representative castings of the era:
Image of a similar small garage (I call these narrow garages "Model T garages", even though they were commonly built into the 50s both in the Britain and the US) from oldclassiccar.co.uk:
I think you need another just to try to link them together like the box says!