I have mentioned in several posts, the frisson of nostalgia I feel for certain models. “Frisson” is a French term meaning “aesthetic chills,” the nostalgia connects us to something from our past. Frissons can come with music, with smells, with tastes and with images or objects. If I smell TCP, it reminds me of the school playground and the frequent applications of TCP on my various cuts and grazes from tumbling over.

With some models that frisson is stronger than with others. It is difficult to explain why. It is usually with the Matchbox and Corgi models from around 1968 to 1975. I don’t feel the same frisson with old Hot Wheels, they weren’t really a part of my childhood. Many are models I had as a child or desired as a child. It won’t be every model from say the Matchbox range of 1969; the Crane Truck exudes this frisson but the Refrigerator Truck does not.

Older models that weren’t part of my childhood memories don’t generate the same reaction. The Matchbox Austin Cambridge (in production 1961 to 1966) might be the oldest model in my collection, but I didn’t have it as a child and it doesn’t have the frisson of nostalgia for me that the later Iso Grifo has.

The redline Hot Wheels models are great but don’t excite me like Matchbox models of the same era. However, there are more recent Hot Wheels models that have that frisson of nostalgia for different reasons. The entertainment vehicles like Scooby Doo‘s Mystery Machine and The Love Bug‘s Herbie, bring to mind the cartoon and the film I loved as a child. The Love Bug may have been the film that got me really car crazy, I would have been 5 or 6 when I first saw it.

Some toy cars link me with events of my childhood, I explored one such connection in a previous post about the Corgi Marcos Mantis: Therein lies a tale…

Looking at a picture of Dinky Toys from 1970, I see a few models that bring back distant childhood memories:

The Captain Scarlet Maximum Security Vehicle – all I remember of my first day of school was playing with this model, I don’t remember the lessons, the teacher or the other kids…

– all I remember of my first day of school was playing with this model, I don’t remember the lessons, the teacher or the other kids… The Lotus Europa – this was the first thing I ever shoplifted (not something I’m proud of)-I still remember the fear

– this was the first thing I ever shoplifted (not something I’m proud of)-I still remember the fear The Ford Capri – I remember in a fit of rage my brother throwing this at me, I ducked and it broke the window.

– I remember in a fit of rage my brother throwing this at me, I ducked and it broke the window. The Mercury Cougar – I bought in Hamley’s with all my Christmas money, I couldn’t quite afford the Cadillac Eldorado, now strangely I have the Cadillac but I’d prefer to have the Mercury.

I particularly like the sports cars in the Matchbox range like the Iso Grifo, Lamborghini Miura and Ferrari Berlinetta.

I love looking through old catalogues, I have a few and can see others online. I love the old Matchbox artwork.

The frisson of nostalgia isn’t the only reason I collect. I have reflected about my reasons in a previous post: Reflections on Why I collect diecast cars?

I would be interested in the comments, if you have similar feelings with childhood toys.