QOTD: Toy Cars
A piece of news crossed my desk concerning toymaker Playmobil striking a licensing deal with Ferrari.
With Ferrari being added to the stable, Playmobil offers quite a few 1/24-scale versions of well-known car models.
I know a few of us collect model cars in some way or another. Some folks build cars from companies like Revell. Some buy Legos or the aforementioned Playmobil. I myself have a handful of cars that were, I think, 1:18 scale diecast and purchased from toy stores when I was in my teens and twenties, along with some smaller die-cast cars I've been given as swag in the course of the job. The ones I recall buying include an old Beetle, a Chevelle SS, a Viper, and a Mustang Mach III concept.
Do you indulge in this hobby? If so, is there one type/size/brand (toy brand and/or car brand) you work with?
Sound off below.
[Image: optimarc/Shutterstock.com]
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Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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Used to build models, but it was a mix of cars, planes and ships. Mostly Revell and AMT. My 'best' build was a '55 Chevy (I liked the 55 more than the 57). Another favorite was the Ramchargers funny car. I was buying hot rod/drag racing magazines at the time and I liked the look of their cars. Never got into Hot Wheels as they came into being around the time that guitars were taking up my mind space, but I did buy a few Matchbox - mostly Formula One/Indy cars earlier. There were no stores in my local area that carried them. It was on the infrequent trips to DesMoines that I made any purchases.
Slot cars were big for me also. A friend had a Strombecker set (1/32 scale). My brother and I started falling into deals where we were able to amass a bunch of Aurora HO slots. Got a ton 'o track from an older guy which allowed us to be able to make a fairly sizable 4 lane set-up, but we usually did 2 lane and filled up a whole ping-pong table with the layout. Also picked up a bunch of cars which were mostly pre-Thunderjet 500 cars. Slow and noisy. We both preferred the Thunderjets.
Someone put out a large scale model (1/8th??) of the Charger (70-72??) that I wanted to buy so I could build one like the one I owned. By the time I remembered the kit, it was very difficult to find. I do have an unbuilt 85 Shelby Charger kit that was given to me which I was going to build to look like the '84 I owned. It would have been somewhat involved as my 84 was a non-turbo and the kit is a turbo - major alteration of the hood would have been necessary.
I have a few models sitting on a shelf that I need to finish. My son is into Hot Wheels and RC's along with vehicles. I live vicariously through him. LOL
I have my father's fully functional Shinsei Mountain Man K5 Blazer r/c truck (selectable 2/4wd!!) from the late 70's or early 80's. Sucker takes 8 D-cell batteries and is HEAVY when loaded. I had to pay over $200 for a parts truck off ebay to fix a broken steering knuckle about 10 years ago.
I also still have a pretty nice collection of 1:18 models that I acquired over the years. I've given quite a few of them to neighborhood kids and to my son to play with.
Some of my favorites include an E36 318i BTCC sedan, Dodge Copperhead concept and a D2 Privat liveried CLK-GTR.
I collect 1/18 only, and stick to American/ Australian cars late 30's to late 70's only, in order to keep my collection somewhat manageable. Still have well over 100 cars, about half out on display currently. Main focus is anything that qualifies as a landyacht