Lledo was a British manufacturing company founded in 1982 by Matchbox co-founder Jack Odell, and Burt Russell, and based in Enfield. The factory produced mainly die-cast scale model commercial vehicles, and also cars, from 1983 to 1999, when the company went into bankruptcy.
Models were later made in China. "Lledo" was a reversal of Odell's own surname, a mnemonic device from war days in the African desert so as not to forget his wireless call sign.
History
Days Gone
Lledo set out to specialise in replicating early Matchbox series styles, particularly the Models of Yesteryear range. Odell and Russell bought machinery from the Universal company, which had purchased the Matchbox plant and shipped it to Macau. The tooling they purchased was re-shipped back to Enfield, England where in April 1983 the new "Days Gone" range was launched. The name is a nice continuation of Matchbox's nostalgic "Yesteryear" theme.
The first Lledo models appeared on the market in early 1983. These were a horse-drawn tram, a horse-drawn milk float, a horse-drawn delivery van, a stagecoach-like omnibus and a horse-drawn fire engine. One of the more popular models was the Ford Model T van introduced later in the year.