Last Updated on April 23, 2026
It is fitting that this magnificently illustrated colour guide to toy cars should appear in the vear that marks the centenary of the automobile industry. The world’s toymakers were quick to realize the powerful hold that the car would establish on the fancy of their potential customers, and since the turn of the century they have produced, at first in tinplate and later in cast metal, representations of almost every model of every marque that has ever put rubber to the road.
Most of us will never own one of the classics of the automobile world: for us, Cord, Delahaye and Duesenberg are the names on museum exhibits; Cadillac, Ferrari, Mercedes, Porsche and Rolls Royce are names we conjure with while we scan the“used car” columns.
But in miniature we can make our automotive dreams come true -and the price need not be high. Although some early tinplate models now command four-figure sums, many highly-collectable diecast cars of the past fifty years can still be purchased for no more than the price of a tank of fuel for the family saloon – while many models currently in production, the collectables of the future, cost no more than a sparking-plug.
In this book, in close on 100 pages of specially commissioned colour photographs, the reader will find some 700 examples of the model cars produced by international makers, ranging from the tinplate classics of the pre-World-War-l period to Japanese-made tinplate toys of modern times; from tiny diecast cars to child-carrying pedal cars and powered vehicles.
Among the wealth of items on display in full colour are:
- Tinplate cars of the “golden age of toy:
- Increasingly-collectable tinplate cars made in the 1950S-19/05 by Japanese and other Far Eastern makers
- A comprehensive selection of the diecast cars produced over the past 50 years by such makers as Dinky Toys, Lesney, Corgi and Tri-ang of Great Britain; Tekno of Denmark; Solido and Norev of France; Märklin of West Germany; Mattel of the United States, and many others
- Pedal-, petrol-and electric-powered play-cars by British, French, American and Australian makers
- Examples of packaging and manufacturers’ catalogues
As well as being a superb all-colour reference work for both experienced and novice collectors, this book will delight
“car buffs” of all ages and nationalities.
This book was previously for sale at Margot’s Books. The shop is now closed — this post is kept as an archive record only.
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