So this company came up with these 4 castings and they were added to the 1979 Japanese range. Outsourcing R&D and production could hopefully lead to cheaper running costs. This company designed and created 4 unique models, which could be built at their factory in Japan and sold exclusively in Japan. So they got in touch with a manufacturing company in Japan with an idea. But they still wanted to try new avenues. Some in classic colours, others in new colours. In 1977 they had some older castings revived specifically to be sold there. At the tail end of the 1970s they had created a small unique range of models for the Japanese market. But as the 1970s progressed and they kept expanding further and further afield through acquisitions or diversification, profits were tumbling. Paints, labels, you name it, if it was good to be used on something, it would be used on something. You might have seen in my last blog post how I kept mentioning their lack of wanting to waste anything. Over the decades, they faced lots of struggles.
But as time progressed, Rodney was getting disinterested, but with a friend Jack Odell joining, things finally settled down in to the toy business. Not knowing what they were going to make they just came up with a company name that was non-specific. Where do you think the inspiration for Lamley came from? John LAMbert, David Til LEY. Lesney was formed from the first half of Leslie’s name and the second half of Rodney’s.
Lesney was a post WWII venture by 2 friends called Rodney and Leslie Smith (same surname, unrelated). As many people know, Matchbox was first devised in the early 1950s by a company called Lesney Products & Co Ltd in England.
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