Hot Wheels redlines. Kid approved.

My 13-year-old son hated trudging through flea markets and antique malls. Unfortunately for him, his mother and I enjoy going to places like that. A couple years back, someone gave the kid a Custom Barracuda Hot Wheels car at a garage sale. The Barracuda was one of the original 16 redline castings introduced in 1968. He did a little research, and found out how collectible a Hot Wheels redline can be. Now, our junking excursions are a little more tolerable for him. If we run across an interesting car that doesn’t cost a fortune (usually 12-bucks or less), we’ll grab it for him. You can be sure that he pays a lot more attention to what he’s looking at. The residual effect is that he’s amassed a nice little collection of Hot Wheels redline beaters. Last weekend, he helped me stage some photos of the cars in his collection so I could put a story together. These things are always more fun with an assistant.

Itty-bitty Buicks. Models and toys of the Buick brand. BUICK WEEK

You don’t have to be a grown-up to develop a passion for Buicks.  Over the years, General Motors’ “Doctor’s Car” has been rendered in miniature hundreds of times.  What youngster wouldn’t want to imagine themselves in a powerful ’87 GNX or a luxurious ’53 Skylark?  With that in mind, today’s “Buick Week” entry examines all kinds of Buick scale models and toys.  Some of them may still be favorites among kids today.  Some of them may be full-fledged adult collectibles.  But they all convey the enthusiasm that people have had for the tri-shield brand over the years.

Mattel Pixar Cars die-casts - a hit with kids and collectors alike

Six years after the release of the movie, Pixar Cars 1:55-scale die-casts are still hot.  It’s a product line that refuses to die, and the folks at Disney know how to keep it going.  With a second feature film last year, the popular Mater’s Tall Tales shorts, and several new books and special events, they just keep coming up with reasons to introduce new die-cast models.

1963-1968 Dealer promo model cars are like 1/25th-scale memories

I think dealer promotional models are fascinating little bits of automotive memorabilia. Most people can’t just go buy every old car they ever wanted, but many of those cars were rendered in bright, colored plastic, in the just perfect size to fit in your hand.

Dealer promotional models, or “promos,” as people like to call them, aren’t typically made for new cars these days. But 30-50 years ago, they were pretty popular. People anticipated the arrival of the newest models, and going to the dealership was considered an event. So while dads drooled over the latest creations from Detroit, his son was often treated to a highly detailed 1/25th-scale version of the actual car.

Corvette dealer promo models showcase America's Sports Car in 1/25th scale

Kids who love cars tend to gravitate toward car-related toys. Then, when they grow up, they often buy real cars. But sometimes, they still have a place in their hearts for the miniature cars they played with when they were kids, and a new form of automobile collecting strives.

Some of the most collectable, and often the most valuable, scale vehicles out there are dealer promotional models. For the purposes of this article, these will be limited to the plastic, 1/25th-scale cars that were originally sold or given away at new car dealerships.

A little history on little cars. Matchbox diecasts - a great way for a kid to burn through a buck

If you were a 10-year-old, and you managed to scrape a dollar together, what would you buy? Candy? Baseball cards? Maybe you’d try and save up for something bigger.

Well, when I was a kid in the 1970s/’80s, there was a K-Mart within bike riding distance from my house. And if I was able to lay my hands on a buck, there was a good chance I was going to buy a Matchbox car with it.

Find a little car collectible of your own at W.D. Pickers Antique Mall in Platte City

If you’re like me, you can turn any experience into a car experience. Going to the grocery store? Hey, there’s Jeff Gordon’s car on the Corn Flakes. Going to the doctor’s office? I haven’t read this issue of Motor Trend yet.

Naturally, the old car radar doesn’t shut down at someplace like an antique mall. There could be a stack of Picassos, but if they had an old toy poking out from behind one of them, I wouldn’t see the paintings at all. When it comes to antiquing, I have perfect automotive tunnel vision.

Heartland Model Car Nationals. I won't be entering any time soon.

Every once in awhile, I like to work on a model car. And when I'm done, I usually think they look OK. But then I go to something like the Heartland Model Car Nationals, and I realize that my modeling talents have a long way to go.

Hosted by the KC Slammers modeling club, 2011 marks the 20th year for this model show and swap meet. The most talented model builders from the area, as well as some of the more prominent model car dealers from the Midwest, packed the Overland Park Convention Center for some small scale fun.

Check out the toy cars and trucks in the World's Largest Toy Museum in Branson, Mo.

One of the sub-categories we delve into here from time to time is the fascinating world of toy and model cars, and it so happens that there is an impressive public collection just south of us in Branson, Mo.

The World's Largest Toy Museum is full of all kinds of toy cars and trucks, both rare and common. It would be easy to get caught up in all of this for hours once you get through the doors, but Branson has so many other things to do that you had better plan your time accordingly.

Some of the more interesting transportation toys included cast metal trucks like the popular and valuable Smith-Miller line, a smattering of dealer promos, old slush metal cars and trucks from the 1940s and earlier, a large Hot Wheels collection, vintage tin litho gas stations, and more.

Vintage car toy ads. What to buy for the kids in your life. Or maybe your kids at heart

Why do you like old cars?  Maybe it's because you were influenced by someone; parents or grandparents.  Maybe it was a natural instinct--your heart told you you cars were good, and you believed it. 

But for some folks, automotive passion came from playing with toy cars as a kid.  And why not?  It's pretty hard to resist the lure of a cool little diecast, painted in an irredescent color, ready to follow your every command.  There are no traffic laws on your bedroom carpet.  It's just pedal to the metal, as fast as your little arm will take it.

I know I used to love playing cars.  I had various sizes, so I could play with a different set of cars depending on how the mood struck me.  Big cars were 1/25th-scale, so I could usually fit in a model or the rare large diecast in those chases.  Medium cars were somewhere around 1/43rd-scale.  There weren't as many of those, but they were still cool as something different.  And of course, the 1/64th-scale Hot Wheels/Matchbox-sized cars were the favorites.  That's mainly because they were the easiest to come by, and you could have lots more cars in a much smaller space.

Car & truck toys of the '50s and '60s may have been from a simpler time, but they're not that simple

Back in the 1950s and '60s, there might not have been Wii's and Nintendos to occupy kids time, and cars and trucks didn't have lights or computerized voices, but that didn't mean there weren't some pretty killer interactive toys back then.

Many of the toy cars of the late '50s focused on repair. Certainly, real cars and trucks weren't as reliable as they are today. It wasn't uncommon for the patched tube in a bald retread to give up the ghost, forcing a roadside delay. Overheating was another common problem, so kids were used to seeing mom or dad dumping a little water in the radiator.