JCB “Living in a Box” for 80th Anniversary

Staffordshire based manufacturer JCB never disappoint us with their ingenious marketing stunts and for the latest one, they have really boxed clever!

Photo: Lexi Edwards, aged six, a pupil of Dove First School in Rocester, Staffs, and mum Isabel marvel at the JCB ‘Backhoe in a Box’ at JCB’s World HQ.

This interesting creation was featured on our Earthmovers news page last week, but I feel it whole heartedly deserves a spot here on the Digger Man Blog.

Local people and digger enthusiasts alike have been travelling from far and wide to see a special 80^th birthday installation at JCB’s iconic lakeside HQ in Staffordshire, where they have presented a full-sized digger as if it were a scale model.

The eight-tonne JCB 3CX Sitemaster backhoe loader has been packaged up in the style of the iconic 1:32 scale models that many of us have grown up with over the years, and that are loved by collectors and kids all over the world.

The exhibit also marks a milestone in JCB’s history: more than one million replica models of its machines have been produced under TOMY’s Britains brand, celebrating nearly 60 years of partnership between the two companies. Earlier this year, JCB also celebrated the production of its one millionth full-sized backhoe loader.

JCB Deputy Chairman George Bamford said: “Scale models of our iconic machines have been a part of the JCB family for as long as I can remember. The ‘Backhoe in a Box’ at JCB’s World HQ is an amazing tribute to our market-leading backhoe and is a truly spectacular sight.”

TOMY Europe MD Mary Wood added: “The most successful Britains JCB replica model has been the backhoe loader, so TOMY is delighted to see this product in the form of this giant model displayed at the JCB World Headquarters in Staffordshire.”

Many of us who have had the pleasure to visit JCB’s VIP Visitor’s Centre will have had the delight of coming away from there with one of these models packaged in the obligatory JCB bag over the years, something that is always a special treat.

As a child in the 1970’s I actually had three examples of the JCB 5C which was actually the first JCB model produced by Britains in 1:32 scale, in my collection of well over 150 different scale models, sadly now long gone, but that often bring back great memories of my digger obsessed childhood!  

Apparently one million models have been sold over the course of the partnership with the JCB backhoe loader by far the most popular model. And in addition, over more than 55 years, JCB and Britains have launched more than 80 different JCB replica models.

Checkout the video below from JCB which shows the work involved in bringing it all together, hopefully we will be back up there in the not too distant future to go check it out in person!