Friday, October 26, 2012

Airstream Memories And Lesney’s Matchbox Toys Regular Wheel Years, 1947-1969




Images  that stick in my mind from growing up in the 1950s and 1960s are that of occasionally seeing an Airstream trailer being pulled behind a car (usually a station wagon) as I watched families depart or arrive from vacations.
The Airstream looked like a long silver aerodynamic bullet with its smooth clean lines and rounded corners.  I imagined that if I watched it long enough that like some odd aircraft they would lift off and fly away.
Airstream Memories, written and compile by John Brunkowski and Michael Closen and published by Schiffer Publishing, offers a wonderful visual trip back in time.
The book is filled with photos of Airstream memorabilia dating back to the formation of the company.  Postcards, booklets, brochures and all sorts of other promotional material fill its pages along with historical text, current prices collectors can expect to pay for said pieces and a nostalgic look back on the travel trailer that will forever be a part of American culture.

I was a big fan of Matchbox vehicles when I was a kid.  I had dozens of them and I put them through their paces.  I would create small streets and city blocks in the dirt and populate them with various Matchbox vehicles of all types-military or civilian. 
Later I would use Matchbox vehicles with various electric train sets and fill the streets with them.  Was it my fault that trains would ‘accidentally’ run into them?
In  Schiffer Publishing’s Lesney’s Matchbox Toys Regular Wheel Years, 1947-1969, by Charlie Mack, color photos of each of the Matchbox Toys from that period are shown in all their variations.  Some are in packages, some loose, but all include prices.
Also included in the book are photos from the Matchbox factory, listings of all the vehicle variations and pictures of promotional material through the years.  This is a must have book for any Matchbox collector and I highly recommend it.