Vintage Lesney's Yesteryear Diecast Toy with history

 

This neat old piece of history has a dark maroon body, cream roof, gold cylinder block and a chimney. It is the Fowler's Showman's Engine, Lesney's Modern Amusements as you can see from the banner on the top . The original issue date was 1959.    It is 3 1/4" long, 2" high and 1 1/8" wide. I don't have a box for it. The underside of the roof of the car reads Models of Yesteryear, No. 9, Fowler Showman's Engine. limited-edition collectors' items.  There are golden spiralled roof supports and large  bare metal/orange wheels.    What is interesting to me was the fact that these little pieces  were made when  Mr. Odell (owner) designed these for his daughter: Her school only allowed children to bring toys that could fit inside a matchbox, so Mr. Odell crafted a scaled-down version of the Lesney green and red road roller. Based on the aforementioned size restriction, the idea was born to sell the model in a replica matchbox — thus also yielding the name of the series which would propel Lesney to worldwide, mass-market success.    Sadly the old Matchbox factory has now been demolished to make way for the new 2012 Olympics site.    The first Yesteryears were introduced in 1956 and provided Odell with a new engineering challenge. The first three Yesteryears were shown at the 1956 Toy Trade Fair, Harrogate. Later it was decided to limit the range to 16 models, replacing models in order to introduce new ones. The models were packaged in boxes similar to those used for the "Matchbox" 1-75 series.   This one does not qualify for discount.       VintageSparkles offers Layaway on all our pieces regardless of which site it comes from.All layaway payments will need to be in the form of a check or money order only. Please remember that vintage & antique items are not mint, nor are they perfect but they sure are full of old history and charm. Please use photos to make your decisions and read our policies prior to buying so you can have an excellent experience with us.    Please use this number when ordering gaa445020. If you want to see more of these pretties this is the link to my etsy store. http://www.vintagesparkles.etsy.com/ or visit our gallery on pinterest where you can see all our pieces at once  http://pinterest.com/etsyvsparkles/sparkles-in-my-etsy-store/