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.
A vintage car is, in the most general sense, an old automobile, and in the narrower senses of car enthusiasts and collectors, it is a car from the period of 1919 to 1930. Such enthusiasts have categorization schemes for ages of cars that enforce distinctions between antique cars, vintage cars, classic cars, and so on. The classification criteria vary, but consensus within any country is often maintained by major car clubs, for example the Vintage Sports-Car Club (VSCC) in the UK.
There is no fixed definition of a classic car. They are usually older cars, typically 25 years or older, though definitions vary. A common theme is of an older car of historical interest to be collectible and tend to be restored rather than scrapped, though sometimes age is not a factor. Classic cars are often considered a subset of a broader category of "collector cars". A subset of what is considered classic cars are known as antique cars or vintage cars.
The Automobile License Plate Collectors Association (ALPCA) is the largest such organization in the world. Founded in Rumney Depot, New Hampshire, United States, in 1954 and holding its first meeting/convention in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, in 1955. It serves as a way for license plate collectors to trade plates, distribute news, and provide historic information to members.
Tekno is a Danish manufacturing company of scale model trucks and other vehicles, currently headquartered in De Lier, Netherlands. Originally established and based in Copenhagen, Tekno began manufacturing construction toys in 1928 and model vehicles immediately after World War II, selling 1 million a year during its peak.
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.
Hemmings Motor News (HMN) is a monthly magazine catering to traders and collectors of antique, classic, and exotic sports cars. It is the largest and oldest publication of its type in the United States, with sales of 215,000 copies per month, and is best known for its large classified advertising sections. The magazine counts as subscribers and advertisers practically every notable seller and collector of classic cars, including Jay Leno and his Big Dog Garage, and most collector car clubs are included in its directory.
Diecast Collector is a British magazine dedicated to the hobby of collecting diecast metal vehicles. Published monthly, it is a thick, glossy magazine featuring a variety of articles on toy and model cars, trucks, and buses, and aircraft. Beyond information on the collectables themselves, the magazine is also a source of hobby information such as auction results, collectors' fairs schedules, specialized dealer information, etc.
Conservation and restoration of road vehicles is the process of restoring a vehicle back to its original working condition, whether the car is partially scrapped or completely totaled. Automotive restoration can be applied to many different eras of the automobile. Bus preservation groups aim to purchase buses of various eras to restore them to their original operating condition. Buses are often restored to the original authentic livery of their original owner.
Sports Collectors Digest (SCD) is an American advertising weekly paper published at Iola, Wisconsin. The magazine provides an avenue through which sellers, traders and avid buyers of Sports cards and other memorabilia may interact.
The PinGame Journal is a publication serving the pinball hobby community. It reports on the manufacture of new games, industry and hobby events, as well as ways to fix and refurbish both current and classic pinball machines.
The U.S. state of Florida first required its residents to register their motor vehicles in 1905. Registrants provided their own license plates for display until 1918, when the state began to issue plates, becoming the last of the contiguous 48 states to do so.
Belt Pulley was a U.S.-based magazine dedicated to antique farm tractors of all brands and makes. It published successfully for over 2 decades and was one of the best known titles in the category. It was a family business run first by the Aumann family and then by the Elmore family. In 2009 it was sold, and the new owner eventually changed the name of the publication to Vintage Tractor Digest. This ended its publication under the Belt Pulley title.
Cursor Modell was a German company making models of antique and modern German vehicles. It is best known for its plastic replicas of vehicles mainly of the era 1880 to about 1920, produced for, and sold in, the Daimler-Benz museum in Stuttgart.
The Military Vehicle Preservation Association (MVPA) is an association whose mission is 'To provide an international organization for military vehicle enthusiasts, historians, preservationists and collectors interested in the acquisition, restoration, preservation, safe operation and public education of historic military transport.'
The Black Book family of vehicle appraisal guides in the United States, providing vehicle pricing data, is published by National Auto Research, a division of Hearst Communications. New and used car dealers, lenders, manufacturers, fleet remarketers, and government agencies have used Black Book since 1955.
The former U.S. territory of the Canal Zone first issued license plates in 1910, and this continued until the Canal Zone was returned to Panama in 1979. A single plate was issued for all years. The country of Panama also issued Canal Zone license plates for United States citizens that lived in Panama but worked in the Canal Zone, but these plates have the country name "Panama" clearly showing on them. Since reciprocity for license plates between the Canal Zone and Panama did not exist until 1950, old photos often show local vehicles with two different license plates mounted on the vehicle.
At this early point in the history of license plates in the United States of America, none of the 45 states, territories, or the District of Columbia, was issuing its own plates. The state of New York remained the only state that required vehicle owners to register their automobiles. The system of using the owner's initials as the registration number, begun in 1901, remained in effect. This would change in 1903 when a number was assigned to each owner to display on their vehicle. Across the country the increases in the number of automobiles was being noticed, and there were many cities, like Chicago, that had already begun to require their owners to register their vehicles.
Jack Boison Nethercutt was an American entrepreneur and car collector. He co-founded Merle Norman Cosmetics in 1931 with his aunt Merle Norman and started as a delivery peddler for her early products, later ascending to the positions of chairman and chief executive officer of the company. He also served as a board member of the Personal Care Products Council trade association and was President of the California Cosmetics Association.
The Ford Model A engine -- primarily developed for the popular Ford Model A automobile -- was one of the most mass-produced automobile engines of the 1920s and 1930s, widely used in automobiles, trucks, tractors and a wide variety of other vehicles and machinery.
