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 gain momentum around 1970. Precision-detailed miniatures made specifically for adults are a significant part of the market since the mid-1980s.
The Ford Anglia is a small family car that was designed and manufactured by Ford UK. It is related to the Ford Prefect and the later Ford Popular. The Anglia name was applied to various models between 1939 and 1967. In total, 1,594,486 Anglias were produced. It was replaced by the Ford Escort.
Dinky Toys was the brand name for a range of die-cast zamak zinc alloy scale model vehicles, traffic lights, and road signs produced by British toy company Meccano Ltd. They were made in England from 1934 to 1979, at a factory in Binns Road in Liverpool.
Commer was a British manufacturer of commercial and military vehicles from 1905 until 1979. Commer vehicles included car-derived vans, light vans, medium to heavy commercial trucks, and buses. The company also designed and built some of its own diesel engines for its heavy commercial vehicles.
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 in 1990 and owned by May Cheong Group, a Chinese company founded in 1967 in Hong Kong by brothers P.Y. Ngan and Y.C Ngan. Head-quartered in Hong Kong, the brand has its offices in the United States, France and China. MCG also owns other model car brands such as former Italian brand Bburago and Polistil.
The Rover P6 series is a saloon car produced by Rover and subsequently British Leyland from 1963 to 1977 in Solihull, West Midlands, England, UK.
Sieper Lüdenscheid GmbH & Co. KG, mostly known by its trade name Siku, is a German manufacturer of scale models headquartered in Lüdenscheid. Some of the products sold by Siku are model cars, figurines, model aircraft, model commercial vehicles, and model agricultural machinery. Traditionally, production was centered in Lüdenscheid, but diecast models are now made in China, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Albion Motors was a Scottish automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturer.
Lone Star Products Ltd. was the brand name used by the British company Die Cast Machine Tools Ltd (DCMT) for its toy products. DCMT was based in Welham Green, Hertfordshire, north of London.
Majorette is a French toy manufacturer which mostly produces small Die-cast scale model cars, commercial vehicles, aircraft, and other vehicles, particularly in 1:64 scale. This is a normal 2.5–3 in (64–76 mm) size, thus Majorette has sometimes been called "the Matchbox of France". Traditionally, production was centered in the urban area of Lyon, but diecast models are now made in China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Tomica is a line of die-cast toy vehicles produced since 1970 by Takara Tomy Co. of Japan. Ostensibly, Tomica diecast were an outgrowth of Tomica World, an autonomous toy line of motorized train accessories that Tomy had created based on Plarail and produced since 1959. Similar in concept, Tomica can be thought of as the "Japanese Matchbox", but focuses mainly on Japanese brands.
Lledo was a British manufacturing company founded in 1982 by Matchbox co-founder Jack Odell, and Burt Russell, and based in Enfield. The factory produced mainly die-cast scale model commercial vehicles, and also cars, from 1983 to 1999, when the company went into bankruptcy.
Solido is a French brand and former manufacturing company of die-cast scale models of cars, military vehicles and commercial vehicles. The models are usually made of a zamac alloy in varying scales.
The Leyland Tiger was a heavyweight half-cab single-decker bus and coach chassis built by Leyland Motors between 1927 and 1968, except the period of World War II.
Holand Oto is a Dutch manufacturing company based in Weert that produces diecast scale model cars and trucks. The company was established in 1959 in Heerlen as "Bestbox", then changing its name to "Efsi" in early 1970s.
Morris & Stone, Ltd., which later changed its name to the more well-known Budgie Toys, was a British die-cast toy distributor turned manufacturer, based in London. The company first specialised in horse-drawn carriages and coaches. It later made a wide variety of miniature cars and trucks.
Fun-Ho! Toys were a brand of diecast toy cars and trucks manufactured and distributed by Underwood Engineering Co. Ltd. of Inglewood, New Zealand. Production was started by Jack Underwood about 1935 and continued until 1982. Since this time reproductions have been made also in Inglewood (Taranaki) at the Fun Ho! Toys Museum. Currently toys are occasionally cast as museum memorabilia using original molding plates and boxes. The name was always portrayed with the exclamation following Fun Ho!
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.
