Toys TOYS

Majorette

I used to have 10’s of these tiny cars. I loved the fact that you could open the doors, and sometimes the boot of them! And they could scoot so fast over our linoleum floors, smashing into washing machines and table legs and still remain intact!

In fact these toy cars were so well made that you could drop them from great heights – or as I discovered increasingly great heights – and they wouldn’t break and could still drive away unscathed.

Majorette cars were first made in 1961 by Emile Véron, becoming the main manufacturer of Matchbox size miniature vehicles in France. Majorette generally focused on everyday French and European models of cars.

Of course, at that time the main toy car competition was Matchbox of London, (and also the German Siku and Japanese Tomica). And Majorette mostly made French cars like Peugeot and Renault – though they also made some Ford, and Chrysler models.

Miniature die cast models are still made today under the brand name “Majorette” however the company has been bought and sold a few times since the original ones of my youth were made. In fact nowadays any majorette vehicle is made in Thailand!


Author of this article:



Contributors to this article:

  • There are no contributors yet

Do You Remember Majorette?

Do You Remember Majorette?

  • Anonymous user
    on
    Yeah, I remember them well, they were great- the French equivalent of Matchbox. Being a Matchbox devotee I never bought many, though I have a few, including a Toyota jeep, a Renault 4 Telephone Nationale van, and a VW Kombi 'Cafe Hag' van. The paint finishes survived knocks and bumps rather better than Matchbox did, so surviving majorettes tend to be in better condition than their counterparts of similar age.