Metal toy cars: small, regular and big, for a collection or a child

Toy shops sell metal cars by size and collectors sell them by scale, and the two vocabularies describe the same three things. A small metal toy car is usually 1:32 or 1:36, around 12 to 14 cm, the size that fits in a school bag; we do not stock many because the detail drops off quickly at that size. A regular metal toy car is 1:24, about 18 to 21 cm, with opening doors and a pull-back motor, and it is most of this page. A big metal toy car is 1:18, 25 to 28 cm, and it is the size where the bonnet opens onto a real engine and the interior has carpet.

If the car is for a child, buy regular size. It is sturdy, it has the motor and the lights, and at ₹1,500 it is affordable enough to be played with rather than kept in a cabinet. If it is for an adult or for a desk, buy big size. The ruler section on this page shows the two side by side against the same car so you can see the difference before ordering.

Under ₹1,500 you get the regular-size pull-back cars: Lamborghini Centenario, Porsche 911, Bugatti Chiron, Defender, G-Wagon, Skyline, Beetle and about forty others, all with metal bodies and opening doors, most with lights and engine sound. Between ₹1,500 and ₹2,000 are the regular-size cars with more detail or an unusual subject, the Formula 1 cars in 1:43, and the entry RC cars. From ₹2,199 to ₹2,599 are the big-size 1:18 models: Range Rover, Defender, G-Class, 300SL, Phantom, AMG ONE. Above that are the licensed remote control Formula 1 cars.

There is nothing on the site under ₹1,499, because a metal car cannot be made well for less. The ₹300 metal cars on marketplaces are 1:36 or smaller with a plastic base and one opening part, and they are not what this page is about.

Three to five: none of these, honestly. Button cells and mirrors are small parts, and a three-year-old will pull a door off. Buy a plastic car and come back in two years. Six to nine: regular-size pull-back cars. Show them once how the doors open and they will look after it. The Wrangler, Defender and G-Wagon are the sturdiest. Ten to fourteen: anything on the page; this is the age collections start, and the JDM and supercar cars are what they ask for. Adults: big-size 1:18, and increasingly the licensed F1 cars.

Weight first: a regular-size car should be 150 to 250 g, a big-size car 700 g to a kilogram. Anything much lighter has a plastic body pretending to be metal. Then the doors: open and close them, and check the gap is even. Then the paint in daylight: small specks in the clear coat are normal, runs and chips are not. Then the lights: the button is on the roof or under the chassis, and the battery has a pull-tab that must come out first. Every model here is checked for all four before it is listed, and we replace anything that arrives damaged within 48 hours.