The Story of Die Cast Models
The craze and fascination for die cast models probably stemmed from the human nature to replicate familiar objects in life in a tiny and realistic form, this allows us to present life in form that is easy to understand. Most children played with toys that are the miniature copy of things that teach them something about these objects that will one day be a part of their life when they grow up. However most of the miniature models before the era of die casting are intricate hand made craftwork, and therefore beyond the affordability of everyday folk. The emergence of die cast miniature models allows affordable ownership of miniature models, in fact it has gain such household appeal that people that lived a 1950’s childhood must have either owned or at least played with a die cast car or truck.
The journey to the birth of the first model cars begins Tootsie toys in the US started producing miniature “Metal Novelties” (tiny animals, whistle, ships etc.) using an adapted Line-O-Type, the new type-casting machine exhibited in the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago during the summer of 1893. The line eventually turns out three dimensional models of train, boats and horse-drawn carriage during the first decade of 20th century. Model cars and trucks did not make their debut until 1911, where the first model of a tiny closed limousine was introduced. Later on, model cars and trucks started taking on real car brand names such as Ford, Paige, Saxon, Maxwell, Dodge and many others. The better known model of T Ford open tourer was introduced in 1915, this is followed a year later by the pick-up truck. The earlier production of T Ford has open spoked wheels, as well as variations with headlights added.
On the other side of the world, the British produced their first die cast model when Frank Hornby spur to create a new line of “modeled miniature” marketed under the trade mark of “Meccano Dinky Toys”. These are the first British toy cars that are produced using advanced die casting method. By the mid 1930s, Dinky toys became undisputed market leader in die cast models, that their name becomes synonymous with any small toy vehicle.
Many of the earlier models of die cast miniature are often crude by today’s standard, where they only consist of a painted outer shell and no interior adornment. The models are also made with ZAMAK (or Mazak) which is a combination of zinc and aluminum alloy. However impurities present in ZAMAK during early production years of die cast cars, resulted in models that can easily crack or simply crumble without apparent reasons. Hence pre war models that are in mint condition are very hard to find and thus fetch prices in excess of £500 if sold in auction.
As time progresses, more and more die cast cars and trucks are produced with increasing intricacy and quality. However the economic climate changes in the 1980s resulted in competition from world wide markets, as a result many of the manufacturers for popular brands like Dinky and Corgi either declared bankruptcy or changed management, as their higher domestic production cost can no longer generate enough revenues. The Mattel Company was among the first to shift their production to the Far East to cut down production cost, this proves to be a successful moves as Mattel eventually bought Corgi and Matchbox. The emergence of global economy also give birth to hundred of other die cast manufacturers that offers models of varying cost and quality to collectors worldwide