From Model Cars to Collectible Items: Matchbox

ABSTRACT The Second World War put industrial metal casting technology at a very advanced point. However, when the end of the war, many companies struggling with metal spillage suffered a huge market loss and tried to create new markets for them. Inspired by the rapid development of automobile production, some companies have started to produce toy-model automobiles, which are usually made of sheet metal curling up to that date, by using molding techniques that they have greatly advanced. Matchbox collectibles are the most common collection of model cars in the world. In the Matchbox collection, there is a transformation of the playing object possessed in childhood into the collection object in adult ages. It is clear that the game and pleasure are highly influential in the accumulation of Matchbox model cars. It is seen as a return to childhood memories and emotions given by the game-player rather than the economic value of the collective's intended purpose. In the context of the Matchbox example, the transformation of design objects to collection objects will be investigate from the design perspective, along with the history and development process of the daily used of model cars.