Another familiar Lesney Matchbox toy; the Inter-State Double Freighter.
Produced from 1962 until 1967, and scaled at 1:100.
It comprises of a blue Hendrickson V-12 tractor with two silver trailers and a dolly joining the two.
The yellow & blue decals on the trailers read ‘Cooper-Jarrett, Inc’ (There are rarer versions in orange & black lettering that read , ‘Cooper-Jarrett International’, with a globe logo in the middle)
I can’t say I know a lot about the Cooper-Jarrett Inc. There’s plenty of images on the web showing Cooper-Jarrett trucks but not much info. I’m assuming it must have eventually been fairly well known internationally. All I’ve found so far is it was a small New Jersey trucking company that after turning it’s last profit in 1977, saw market forces take a down turn which led to the company going bankrupt, and eventually closing in 1981.
For us fans of Gerry & Sylvia Anderson’s TV series, this is another toy that was used as set dressing in Thunderbirds, usually seen trundling across London Airport’s apron in front of Fireflash!
Great. That truck is always linked with Thunderbirds in my mind.
ReplyDeleteSame here, Kev.
DeleteI do wonder in those 60s days when Matchbox and Corgi put real brand names on their vehicles, did those companies just look on it as free advertising?
ReplyDeleteThere was a trend a while back where US rail corporations started charging to have their logos on model trains which nearly derailed the whole profitabilty of manufacturing models. A current example is the new Moebius kit versions of the 2001: A Space Odessey Orion space clippers. None have actual Pan Am logos on them - and Pan Am is a dead company!
Advertising a brand is certainly big business nowadays, and it doesn't even need to exist as a business, Lewis.
DeleteAlthough Pan-Am as an airline is gone , the logo is owned by Pan-Am Brands Licensing.