AUTOart is a Hong Kong-based diecast model car line manufactured by Gateway Autoart Ltd. and sold by AA Collection Ltd.
AUTOart is a Hong Kong-based diecast model car line manufactured by Gateway Autoart Ltd. and sold by AA Collection Ltd.
AUTOart was established in 1998. [1] Other lines of diecast vehicles formerly associated with AUTOart were Gateway, Gate and UT Models. The latter was originally a German company with diecast cars made in China and associated with Paul's Model Art which produces Minichamps. AUTOart makes diecast and composite (ABS + diecast) model cars, and diecast motorcycles. The car models have been divided over time into various series, including the Millennium series, Performance series, Signature series and the Composite series.
AUTOart Design offers offbeat automobilia like 'shock absorber' pens, carbon fiber tissue boxes, or ashtray and clock in the form of a disc brake rotor with caliper. Their most popular items are their 1:18 scale composite material cars which go for about US$250–350.
AUTOart has produced more than 45 different car marques in nine different scales. Sizes generally range from 1:64 scale (2 to 3 inches long) to 1:12 scale (about 12 to 14 inches). [2] Wheels & tires, carpeting, seat belts, door handles, engines, suspension, even sun visors and door/hood/trunk lid dampers are reproduced. As an example, the company's 1:18 scale 1971 Mustang featured accurate details down to engine wiring, underside hood insulation, wood grain inserts in the doors, and authentically detailed brake and accelerator pedals. [3] The 1:18 scale 1941 Willys military Jeep features accurate weld rivets, shaped reflectors, wood shovel and ax, tied whip antenna, and accurate period dashboard labels. [4] Dennis Doty, an authority on models of all kinds, and a contributor to Collectible Automobile Magazine, calls AUTOart models "truly spectacular". [5]
Many AUTOart models are of exotic racing, sports, or super performance vehicles like the white, red, and blue BMW 3.0 CSL 1973 winner at Spa, or the Showroom Stock 2007 Mustang Road Racer, but more mundane vehicles like the New Beetle or the Chrysler PT Cruiser are also produced. One interesting example is the 1989 Jeep Grand Wagoneer, a car offered by Kaiser, AMC, and Chrysler over a period of twenty-five years. [5] Featured on it were accurate and realistic period wheels, turn signals, roof rack, vinyl 'wood' siding, and a working tailgate. [6]
The AUTOart line favors, but is not limited to, European vehicles. One example reviewed in Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car was the company's 1970 Lamborghini Espada 2+2 which the magazine saw as a good model choice – distinct from the plethora of model Countaches or Diablos. [7] Thus AUTOart features both new vehicles, like the C7 Corvette or Lamborghini Veneno, as well as vintage racing cars like the 1965 Formula 1 Honda raced at Monaco. Historic racing cars have also included a number of other Can Am and Grand Prix cars from the 1960s and 1970s. The earliest years of actual vehicles represented in the line-up are from about 1938, with the BMW 328 Mille Miglia. American Ford Crown Vic Police Interceptors and British "Humberside Police" Subaru Imprezas along with a Mercedes-Benz E220 Berlin taxi are examples that show the company includes professional vehicles alongside stock and race cars. Additionally, several Italian Vespa scooters have been offered.
Australian market Holden (GM), Ford and Chrysler vehicles have also featured, but here another firm comes into play. Biante Model Cars (of Australia) commissioned AUTOart to manufacture specific AUTOart branded model cars for exclusive distribution within Australia and New Zealand. [8] Biante Pty Ltd was originally created in 1992 by Trevor Young and his wife Bev Young; after Trevor's death in January 2006, the company was sold but has continued its association with AUTOart.
More recently, AUTOart has also produced TV and film tie-in vehicles, like the Mad Max Road Warrior 1973 Australian Ford Falcon Interceptor driven by Mel Gibson, the Gulf Porsche 917 driven by Steve McQueen in the movie LeMans, or the Toyota Trueno from the anime show Initial D. All of these were offered in 1:18 scale. The Mad Max car was also offered in 1:43.
Autoart is moving towards replicating cars in composite plastic and with diecast interior instead of a traditional diecast body and plastic chassis. The company claims that the move towards plastic should result in more accurate details, such as panel lines, as well as the models costing less than their diecast counterparts.
AUTOart models marketed under the Gateway/Gate label are often of more common brands and more likely to be found in retail stores or as dealer promotionals. As an example, when the Saturn VUE SUV was introduced mid-2002, AUTOart was selected by General Motors to provide a detailed 1:18 scale dealership promotional model. It was packaged in Saturn logo boxes, usually painted metallic burnt orange – the same paint used on the actual car. Hood, tailgate, and front doors all opened. This practice of providing a larger metal model with opening parts and made in China was significantly different than the previous use of Detroit area plastic companies used for promotional models and products.
Despite promotionals with many opening parts, one AUTOart line, their 1:18 "Motorsports" series has been criticized for having none, yet with no break in price. The company has defended their product by saying that Motorsports teams are ever more sensitive about releasing photos that might give away interior, suspension and engine bay details to their racing competitors, yet they must develop and produce marketing models for motorsports teams within short time frames. Thus, these models have sealed bodies with few or no opening parts.
In 2004, a lawsuit in Hong Kong courts was initiated against UT Models and Gateway Global and Gateway Hong Kong by the plaintiff, Paul's Model Art of Germany (known mostly for marketing Minichamps). Paul's Model Art claimed that it had rights to the sole distribution of certain models in Germany and that UT Models had used Gateway for new offerings to circumvent this deal. [9] At this time the lawsuit between AUTOArt's parent company, Gateway Global, and Paul's Model Art is still ongoing, but seems to be leaning in Gateway's favor.
A model car, or toy car, is a miniature representation of an automobile. Other miniature motor vehicles, such as trucks, buses, or even ATVs, etc. are often included in this general category. Because many miniature vehicles were originally aimed at children as playthings, there is no precise difference between a model car and a toy car, yet the word 'model' implies either assembly required or the accurate rendering of an actual vehicle at smaller scale. The kit building hobby became popular through the 1950s, while the collecting of miniatures by adults started to pick up momentum around 1970. Precision-detailed miniatures made specifically for adults are a significant part of the market since the mid-1980s.
Revell GmbH is an American-origin manufacturer of plastic scale models, currently based in Bünde. The original Revell company merged with Monogram in 1986, becoming "Revell-Monogram". The business operated until 2007, when American Revell was purchased by Hobbico, while the German subsidiary "Revell Plastics GmbH" had separated from the American firm in 2006 until Hobbico purchased it in 2012, bringing the two back together again under the same company umbrella. After the Hobbico demise in 2018, Quantum Capital Partners (QCP) acquired Revell.
A die-cast toy is a toy or a collectible model produced by using the die-casting method of putting molten lead, zinc alloy or plastic in a mold to produce a particular shape. Such toys are made of metal, with plastic, rubber, glass, or other machined metal parts. Wholly plastic toys are made by a similar process of injection molding, but the two methods are distinct because of the properties of the materials.
Maisto is a brand of scale model vehicles introduced and owned by May Cheong Group, a Chinese company founded in 1967 in Hong Kong by brothers P.Y. Ngan and Y.C Ngan. The company has also subsidiaries in the United States, France, and China. MCG also owns other model car brands such as Italian former company Bburago and Polistil.
The Plymouth Prowler, later the Chrysler Prowler, is a retro-styled production sports car manufactured and marketed from 1997 to 2002 by DaimlerChrysler, based on the 1993 concept car of the same name.
Schuco is a German manufacturing company founded in 1912 by Heinrich Müller and the businessman Heinrich Schreyer in Nuremberg, popularly known as Germany's toy capital. The company's specialty was making toy reproductions of cars and trucks in tin, plastic and die-cast. The company went bankrupt in 1976 but was reorganized in 1993 and then totally independent again by 1996.
Minichamps is a die-cast car producer founded as Paul's Model Art GmbH in 1990 in Aachen, (Germany), best known for its 1:43 scale models. The company grew out of the Danhausen trade catalog of miniature vehicles and specially made Danhausen diecast releases during the 1970s.
Monogram is an American brand and former manufacturing company of scale plastic models of cars, aircraft, spacecraft, ships, and military vehicles since the early 1950s. The company was formed by two former employees of Comet Kits, Jack Besser and Bob Reder.
Playart was a toy company owned by Hong Kong industrialist Duncan Tong (唐鼎康) that specialized in die-cast cars, similar in size and style to Hot Wheels, Matchbox or Tomica. Cars were well done, but were often diecast seconds from other companies like Yatming or Tomica. Cars were made from 1965 to 1983 at the factory in San Po Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Plastic cars and trucks of 1:43, and 1:24 scale were also made, while trains and other theme toys also appeared.
Bburago is an Italian brand and former manufacturing company of toys and die-cast scale model cars. The company was based in Burago di Molgora, where all products were made from 1974 to 2005. At its most popular, Bburago's main competitors were Politoys and Maisto, the latter of which was to become dominant in the 1:18 market segment around 2000.
1:18 scale diecast replicas are 1/18th the size of the real vehicle. Most popular in this category are 1:18 scale automobile replicas – usually made out of Zamak zinc diecasting alloy with plastic parts. "1:18 scale" is the colloquial reference to this class of toy or replica.
The Hasegawa Corporation is a Japanese company that manufactures plastic model kits of a variety of vehicles, including aircraft, cars, ships, military vehicles, model armor, model space craft, and science fiction kits.
Jo-Han was a manufacturer of plastic scale promotional model cars and kits originally based in Detroit. The company was founded in 1947 by tool and die maker John Hanley a year before West Gallogly's competing company AMT was formed and about the same time as PMC. After changing ownership a few times, Jo-Han models were sporadically manufactured by Okey Spaulding in Covington, Kentucky, but apparently none have been offered for several years.
Aluminum Model Toys (AMT) is a toy manufacturing brand founded in Troy, Michigan, in 1948 by West Gallogly Sr. AMT became known for manufacturing 1/25 scale plastic automobile dealer promotional model cars and friction motor models, and pioneered the annual 3-in-1 model kit buildable in stock, custom, or hot-rod versions. The company made a two-way deal in 1966 with Desilu Productions to produce a line of Star Trek models and to produce a 3/4 scale exterior and interior filming set of the Galileo shuttlecraft. It was also known for producing model trucks and movie and TV vehicles.
Polistil S.p.A. is an Italian toy brand and former manufacturing company headquartered in Milan, with production center in Chiari, near Brescia. Polistil specialized in die-cast and plastic scale model vehicles of all sizes.
Model Products Corporation, usually known by its acronym, MPC, is an American brand and former manufacturing company of plastic scale model kits and pre-assembled promotional models of cars that were popular in the 1960s and 1970s. MPC's main competition was model kits made by AMT, Jo-Han, Revell, and Monogram.
Franklin Mint Precision Models were made by the Franklin Mint, originally a private mint founded by Joseph Segel in 1964 in Wawa, Pennsylvania. The company is now owned by a private equity firm headquartered in Midtown Manhattan New York City and Exton, Pennsylvania. Besides diecast automobiles, the Franklin Mint manufactured and marketed coins, jewelry, dolls, sculpture and other collectibles.
Gamda Koor, also known as Sabra was an Israeli diecast toy company that specialized in 1:43 scale cars. Most of these seem to have been original offerings, not seen elsewhere and not secondary tooling. The toy company Cragstan marketed Gamda Sabras as "Detroit Sr." for the American Market.
Mercury was an Italian manufacturing company of die-cast scale model cars. Based in Turin, Mercury was active from 1932 until 1980. Along with Dinky Toys in England, Mercury was a pioneer in 1:43 scale diecast toys made in Europe. Today, Mercury models are rather rare and not easy to find. The company logo was the word Mercury within a rectangle with a round toothed gear behind the company name.