Illinois Police Department’s Matchbox Toys Are a Thing Thanks to Production Blunder

Many states share names for their cities and counties. It's no surprise there might be confusion between some of them on occasion. This is certainly the case with this production snafu.

THE BACKSTORY

A toy car collection blog posted an article in which the writer shares a story of his friend from Boone County Sheriff's Department (Missouri) mentioning how he'd love to have one of the department's vehicles replicated into a Matchbox car.

The writer was an ambassador for Mattel when this conversation occurred so he put a bug in their ear.

So I then spoke with the team at Mattel at the time and they were very keen. So I got them in touch with each other, and the rest is history.

 

Did you know there are eight different states in the U.S. that contain their own individual Boone County?

• Boone County, Arkansas
• Boone County, Illinois
• Boone County, Indiana
• Boone County, Iowa
• Boone County, Kentucky
• Boone County, Missouri
• Boone County, Nebraska
• Boone County, West Virginia

This is one of the reasons a Sheriff's Office in Northern Illinois has landed their own Matchbox toys, kind of.

CONTRAST & COMPARISON

This is a patrol vehicle belonging to Boone County Sheriff's Department in Belvidere, Illinois.

These are patrol vehicles for Boone County Sheriff's Department in Columbia, Missouri.

The designs of both departments' logos are slightly similar but visibly different.

Here is an image of the Matchbox toy.

With a high trained eye (or really good zoom) you will notice the only thing this design has in common with that of Boone County (Missouri) is the badge.

THERE'S MORE

Someone commented on this article suggesting the fire engine in this set isn't from Illinois or Missouri.

If you're interested in buying the above item you can find it here and others here.