Playing with Cars: Diecast Models

When I was 16 years old, my father bought me a car – a black 1992 Dodge Daytona. In actuality the car weighed less than a pound and was under a foot long. “Of course I’m buying my daughter a brand new car for her 16th birthday,” he teased while he and my mother laughed heartily and I did what 16 year olds do best – rolled my eyes. Of course I still have the die cast Daytona and wouldn’t dream of putting it on ebay.

The die-cast model car field is ripe with collectors. If you giggle about the notion of clamoring for toy cars like they were the real deal, look no further than collector vintage models from the 60s that are worth thousands. Diecast cars are made of metal or plastic and produced to scale, varying in size. Hot Wheels cars are the matchbox cars everyone knows and introduced by Mattel in 1968 to balance out Barbie dolls for boy, but the first die-cast toys were made in the early 20th century. The popularity of die-cast cars really caught on in the 1950s as the toy designs became more sophisticated. The larger 1:12 are the most popular for serious collectors.

Automotive journalist Bob Kocher is getting in on the game with his new company Toy Car Club, a good way to start building a collection. You get one car per month of a broad model range including a 1949 Ford Woodie Wagon, a 1967 VW Beetle and Mini Cooper.

While of course it might be sweeter to have the real thing, look at the upside of model cars — no gas, no insurance and a new car every month.

Tagged as: model cars