Matchbox Car Designer Jack Odell Dies

Jack Odell, the British engineer responsible for the unique design of Matchbox cars, died on July 7 in London at age 87.

Odell undoubtedly had more of an influence on budding car enthusiasts than such towering childhood figures as Mister Rogers or Captain Kangaroo. His creation, initially a tiny steamroller designed for his daughter in 1952, ballooned into the iconic Matchbox toy. The New York Times counted them up: 3 billion Matchbox vehicles in 12,000 models are Odell's legacy.

Odell was known for his fussiness and attention to detail. One legendary story had Odell castigating a young engineer working on a miniature Ford Model T for not putting enough padding in the seat to be realistic. Odell designed a machine to spray paint tiny silver headlights on the model cars and another to mold miniature interiors.

Odell made pilgrimages to automakers around the world to copy new designs. He once famously said, "We produce more Rolls-Royces in a single day than the Rolls-Royce company has made in its entire history."