Small scale motoring...

[Palmer]

Over the years I have owned many classic cars but previous to that I have always collected old toy cars ( I still have my first toy car, A Matchbox Datsun 260Z 2+2 )...

Do you folks collect them also and what's in your collection?!

I have varied tastes that include the standard Matchbox/Corgi/Dinky triumvirate but I also have a passion for early Hot Wheels and Siku made some glorious toys in the 1970's.

Also, I love toy cars that have been played with and show signs of love and fun...  I know that people love the mint and boxed toys that are out there but they just seem a tad sad for me!!

So, what do you have in your miniature motoring collections?!

[D.C. Burtonshaw]

I've been an avid collector of old diecast "toy" cars too since I was a boy and still have a fair number from my childhood which I carefully looked after at the time. Although many others are long gone, I kept a fair number of 1/36 scale Corgis from the late 70's and early 80's;

"The Return of the The Saint" white Jaguar XJS with a red interior, blue Jaguar XJ12C coupe, metallic blue MK3 Escort 1.3GL 3 door, blue SD1 Rover 3500, Porsche 924, 2 x Rolls Royce Corniches, (one was my brothers), one maroon (although the chrome grille and bumpers have yellowed a bit now since I first got it!) and the other metallic blue. Also The Professionals Ford Capri 3.0S in silver minus the 3 plastic figures.

I used to think the 1/36 scale Corgi range was the best at the time, when Dinky/Meccano were on the point of going under, and their last few new model vehicles which were Hong Kong produced didn't seem as appealing somehow. Lesney Matchbox Superkings were quite good too, but their smaller 1/75 superfast and earlier miniature series were the best of that size and marker sector! Used to love those as boy and artwork on the cardboard boxes they came in was nice I thought, if a little exagerated with the illustration of the model on the side!

I always found the older Dinky, earlier Corgis and Spot On toy cars and vans fascinating (Spot On were a range of contemporary car and commercials produced by toymaker Tri-Ang from 1959 to 1966), and many were made before my time, so I have collected a few of them over the years, as well as some of the Dinkies made in France by the Meccano branch in that country.

More recently I have bought examples of the Vanguards range under the Corgi brand which have made a huge (and for many years interesting) range of cars and commercials from the 50's to the 2000's. I've not really bought anything of cars modelled from the 90's or noughties by Vanguards, but a number of them from the 60's to the early 80's. The brand was originally brought out by Lledo in 1996 but Corgi took over the range when Lledo sadly went bankrupt in 1999, and then Corgi brought some superb models out for a while. Lately they mainly seemed to have just done new colours of exisiting castings, and churning out lots of Fords (as they sell well at the moment I suppose) and not as many new castings. And when they do it is more recent cars.

Oxford diecast are another British based maker of nice 1/43 scale often British cars and commercials, although doing more pre war and up to the 60's era vehicles and the upmarket cars, they've recently brought out a nice MK2 Cortina Crayford convertible casting, the proportions of which are quite accurate.

Other more expensive adult collector models are produced by various firms too but they are getting more and more expensive now, around £84 or even more for a 1/43 scale model..............

[Cartman]

I had quite a lot of the Matchbox ones with the superfast wheels when I was a kid in the 60s, ones I remember were a racing Mini, an MG 1100, Mark 2 Cortina, Capri and VW Beetle. Some of the earlier ones without those wheels were a Rover P4, Austin Healey, Austin taxi and some buses and lorries, AEC Ergomatic, Daimler Fleetline, and Routemaster.

I've got some now, which I have just parked up on the model railway, in the car park. These are a mixed bag of stuff, ones which my lad had when he was young and doesn't need any more, they are all going to be from about 2007 onwards.

[Palmer]

Some lovely memories there but I am sure there are more to come from other forum members...!!!

I have to say that Oxford Diecast and Corgi, with their Vanguards series really are providing us with some gems.

You still can't beat a handful of battered and beaten up old toy cars though can you?!