Lamley Daily: Matchbox BMW 850i

Model: MB240 BMW 850i

Release: 1997 MB2 ROW exclusive

eBay link: Matchbox BMW 850i

Why it is in the collection: because my dad looked after me when I was ill

Today is my dad’s birthday so I wanted to do a little post about Matchbox that reminded me of him. The year was 1997. I was still living at home at the time, but was busy working and doing what many young adults would do at the time. Having fun with Matchbox. No? Was that not common? Sadly, I became quite ill. I won’t go into specifics, but I was taken to hospital, and ended up being off work for the best part of 2 months. A lot of it was at home, and for a while mainly bed-bound as I started to get back on my feet.

Now obviously I had both my parents looking after me while I was recuperating. But I still remember one day vividly. I was laid up in bed, when my dad came up to check on me. Out of the blue, he just handed me a bag. He had been to a toy store, and just grabbed a bunch of Matchbox models to cheer me up. It did. Seriously. Perked me up quite a bit. I opened them up and laid them out on the bed.

But this one really stuck out in my head. Tyco had been in charge of the brand at the time, and had replaced the majority of 8-spoked wheel cars with new spiral wheels, and the paint jobs on the cars were rather outlandish. We had been dealing with a black and fluorescent yellow 850i with spiral wheels and I did not even know this one existed. Plus, it had the 8-dot wheels that I loved. It was my instant favourite of the bunch.

The only thing I found was mildly unusual was that they had painted the rear lights pink. Whether the red wasn’t showing up too well on the dark blue background so they just lightened it up I don’t know.

But it was the only tampo print on the model. A lovely blue, a tan interior, and rear lights depicted. A far cry from the black and fluorescent yellow one I was used to seeing. I bet my dad would not remember which models he picked up that day. He just grabbed a variety. To be honest, I couldn’t tell you them all. But this one, yes, this one was definitely in that bunch.

Whenever I pick this model up, even now, my first thought is of my dad handing me that random bag of Matchbox when I was perhaps at my lowest. That’s my dad. There when I need him. So I just wanted to say a big happy birthday to my dad and thank him for all the little things he has done for me over the years. He may not have thought grabbing a bunch of Matchbox for me was a huge deal, but to me it was. It was 23 years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday. This model is a constant reminder to me of who my dad is, and it is one of the most important models in my collection.