EVERETT — Everett Transit wanted just a couple of Matchbox replicas of its buses to show children at Imagine Children’s Museum.
So the transit agency called the world’s largest toy maker, Mattel, Inc.
The company liked the red-and-light gray colors and winged logo so much that it’s considering adding Everett Transit buses to its toy car line, a transit agency spokeswoman said.
A prototype of the Everett Transit bus is already posted on Mattel’s Web site.
“I’ll have to go buy some,” said Steve Oss, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 883, the labor union that represents about 100 city transit workers. “It’s great to see Mattel picking ours. For me, I just love it.”
For Dennis Otterson, it’ll be a convergence of two unrelated parts of his life. He’s a former Everett Transit driver and avid die-cast car collector.
“I can’t wait,” said Otterson, 46, whose Hot Wheels and Matchbox collection reached 3,000 at its peak.
On Wednesday, the Everett City Council is scheduled to vote on a bill that would authorize Mayor Ray Stephanson to give permission to Mattel to use the city bus replica.
If the bill gets the green light, the toys could be rolling out to retailers across the country in time for the Christmas shopping season, said Steffani Lillie of Everett Transit.
The city first contacted Mattel because it was looking for replicas to help explain the benefits of transit, she said.
“We weren’t actually looking for hundreds of them. We were just looking for one or two,” she said.
The city pays Imagine Children’s Museum about $1,500 a month to teach students from kindergarten to second grade that use of public transportation can reduce air pollution and ease traffic congestion.
Lillie said someone with Mattel offered to consider it for the company’s City Action series, which includes fire and dump trucks, police cars, heavy equipment and other service vehicles. She said the company liked the strong colors and logo and wanted to use it for the specialty line.
The El Segundo, Calif., company, which also makes Hot Wheels, Barbies and Fisher-Price toys, could not be reached Friday.
Oss, 46, who is a toy-car enthusiast with a ‘55 Chevy Hot Wheel that hangs from his rearview mirror, said the union talked in the past about placing a custom order with a toy maker.
That’s what Community Transit did last August when it unveiled its first Double Tall double-decker bus.
It paid Hong Kong’s Jotus, Limited $7,020 plus shipping for 3,000 toys.
Otterson said Matchbox, originally an English company started in the early 1950s, has a proud tradition of modeling its cars using real vehicles.
“I never had any idea they’d want to do something with Everett Transit,” said Otterson, whose wife still drives for Everett Transit. “That’s pretty cool.”
Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
