Matchbox Car inventor Jack O’Dell, 87

Posted: Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 6:51 am

Jack Odell, a self-trained engineer whose daughter’s mischievous habit of taking spiders to school in a matchbox prompted him to make her a tiny steamroller as a substitute — an invention that led to Matchbox Toys, maker of 3 billion Lilliputian vehicles in 12,000 models — died on July 7 in London. He was 87. … Read full obituary