Marty Schneider, President of Continental-Aero, likes to say that as he gets older he gets poorer as a child. Seriously, however, he claims to have had very few toys as a kid. The only notable exception was a green plumber's truck with pipes and fittings. He is offering serious money for one of those, if anybody has one. Hence, his love today for trucks and toys. Yes, he stood outside Toy's R Us for Furby...yes he has collected beanie babies, and yes....he refused the burgers from McDonald's for the right to purchase teenie babies. Most importantly however, ....he has sought help for these obsessions.

All of this brings us in a roundabout fashion to the legendary Continental-Aero Purple Matchbox trucks. Marty, the master salesman that he is, claims his inspiration came from his friends at Earnest Machine. These folks bring their original delivery truck circa'48 to trade shows.

Continental-Aero never had a delivery truck, so Marty did the next best thing - he invented one. In fact, he invented many. A problem at trade shows is to get people to take catalogs. Yet, people love the freebies - particularly one with intrinsic value. So Marty came up with the Matchbox trucks.

Matchbox has long made cars and trucks for companies. These are called "promos". Short for promotionals. These are never sold retail, but rather given away as a promotion with a proof-of-purchase. Recently, Kellogg's did one for its cereals Corn Pops and Raisin Bran.

Marty was able to convince Matchbox to produce short runs for him. The initial four trucks are limited to 5000 pieces. Truck #5 was 10,000 pieces and truck #6 is the same. Little did he know that the Continental-Aero purple would become a collectable as well.

Almost all of the trucks are given to customers and prospects at Trade Shows and on sales calls. Hence, there are very few in collectors' hands. Scarcity drives up the prices for the trucks. In addition, there are collectors who collect every truck of a certain model such as the 'Model T' and 'Model A'.

So this is how the toy that is given away becomes valuable and a collectable.

The Nuts and Bolts about the Nuts & Bolts truck:

So, there you have it. One man's obsession with toys he never had. Marty, to this day, doesn't collect matchbox trucks. His taste runs to Hess trucks which are plastic and other gas station Christmas toys. Yet, out of this frivolity comes a major promotional gimmick. At the various fastener shows, 2500 - 3000 trucks are given out. Another 500 go out in Holiday Gift Baskets and an additional 2000 or so are handed out during sales presentations by our sales reps.

Marty is quite pleased by the stories he has told that the trucks are displayed in positions of honor in offices and dens worldwide. He chooses to leave you with one thought "Purple to the People". Being an old hippie who barely remembers the 60's because he lived through it, he just couldn't resist. He is now quietly going to rest before he hurts himself.

If you would like the latest edition of the Continental-Aero Matchbox Truck please contact our "outside" Sales Rep in your territory. They will be happy to truck one over and deliver it to you.