Jalopnik: Toy Cars

This Steampunk Model Car Is Powered By A Beautiful 19th Century Air Engine

Raphael Orlove — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST

German medical and precision parts manufacturer Böhm just released two new model cars, both powered by an engine that's seriously old school — a Stirling air engine. Not only are they amazingly detailed, but these models can actually drive around, completely without electricity. More »

Hilarious Hungarian Ice Hummers On Hoth

Peter Orosz — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:30:00 EST

Last week’s ridiculous Hummer accident in Hungary has, predictably, become the pictorial meme in these still-frozen parts. Apart from a well-executed and faithful tribute in Lego, this obligatory Star Wars AT-AT version may be our favorite. More »

The Hidden Beauty Of The Bottom Of Toy Cars

Jason Torchinsky — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:00:00 EST

Like most car-obsessed folks, I have many more toy cars around than a reasonable person with a mortgage should. It's a limited way of satisfying car-ownership urges without turning your yard into an oil-soaked scrapyard. Well, turning it into more of one, I mean. More »

Watch the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans recreated with slot cars

Mike Spinelli — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EST

The small details of this music video featuring a recreation of the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans with slot cars are staggering. There's Porsche's "psychedelic" 917LH of Martini Racing. Is that a miniature Sam Posey starting that Ferrari 512S? Or is it Nino Vaccarella? (Ok, so the numbers don't match.) Still, it's an amazing stop-action sequence, and it's also a music video. More »

The incredible mind-controlled Scalextric track

Peter Orosz — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:30:00 EST

Italian designer Riccardo Giraldi’s Scalextric track is an interesting way to model the deep focus needed to race cars around a circuit. Using Arduinos and some sort of weird headset, the players control their cars with, well, their minds—and get a bit of extra boost when they blink. More »

World's fastest toy car could reach 200 mph

Mike Spinelli — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 14:00:00 EDT

It took Nic Case six months and upward of $4,000 to build the world's fastest radio-controlled car. The Schumacher Mi3's got a chassis of carbon fiber and an 11 hp motor pushing it to 161.76 mph. Next stop, 200 mph. More »

New Stratos To Go Racing

Justin Hyde — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 10:30:00 EST

German dreammaker Michael Stoschek will take his resurrected Lancia Stratus racing, turning to Danisi Engineering to upwork a GT2-capable version for next year. Its livery was revealed by a 1/8th scale model, just 199 of which will be sold. [Amalgam] More »

Meet The Grown Men Paid To Set Hot Wheels On Fire

Vinny Minchillo — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EDT

What do you get when you combine a nice set of Hot Wheels and fire? My childhood. But some grown men in Montana get paid to relive my childhood. Except their game might just save your life. More »

The Greatest Toy Car Track Ever

Matt Hardigree — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 12:30:00 EDT

Two guys calling themselves the "Darda Brothers" created this outrageously twisted and seemingly endless toy car track using a little ingenuity, some clever editing, and miniature cars capable of going a scale top-speed of 600 mph. Ooh, and they jump! More »

America's Most Elaborate Slot Car Track

Matt Hardigree — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 16:30:00 EDT

The White Lake Formula 1 Ring is a slot car track, in a basement, built by someone with a lot of spare time. But check your bias at pit row, because this scale track is better than most real ones. More »

Mattel Recalls 7 Million Tricycles, Toy Cars

Justin Hyde — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 09:50:00 EDT

Mattel recalls 7 million tricycles for stabby keys and toy cars for chokeable wheels. [CarGuyDad] More »

Kids’ Fashion Meets 1930’s Silver Arrow Race Car

Peter Orosz — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:00:00 EDT

In a case of visual merchandising gone slightly weird, this is a display window of the Italian fashion brand Benetton selling kids’ clothes with a toy version of the V16-powered 1936 Auto Union Type C. More »

Diecast Toy Car Of The Day: GAZ-3102 Volga

Murilee Martin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:00:00 EDT

We'd all love an obsessively detailed 1:18 scale Volvo 240 coupe on our desks, of course, but no collection of automotive tchotchkes is complete without some Soviet iron! More »

Diecast Toy Car Of The Day: Volvo 240 Coupe!

Murilee Martin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 13:00:00 EDT

I've been admiring the 1:24 scale 1969 Dan Gurney Special Mercury Cyclone I got as a bribe from a LeMons team all week. It looks good next to my '79 Chrysler Town & Country, but something is missing... More »

Now This Is a LeMons Supreme Court Bribe!

Murilee Martin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 13:00:00 EDT

This Is a LeMons Supreme Court Bribe!" alt="Click here to read Now This Is a LeMons Supreme Court Bribe!" src="http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/images/12/2010/08/dangurneycyclonediecast-500px-12.jpg"/>

The problem with toy cars is that you can never find the Mercury you're looking for. As a former Cyclone owner, I'd long ago given up on finding a good office-cluttering Cyclone tchotchke, but check out what I just got! More »

How To Clean Your Ferrari 250 GTO

Peter Orosz — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 09:30:00 EDT

You wouldn’t want a $10,000,000 racing legend sitting around all mucked up in gnats, would you? All you need is a sponge and a sturdy wrist—and please mind the open sky. More »

Here’s Your $76,500 Platinum Toy Car

Peter Orosz — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EDT

Tom Cruise’s $30,000 toy Indy racer for his kid? Please. Consider this: an all-platinum Datsun Fairlady Z created by a Japanese jeweller to mark the 40th anniversary of model maker Tomica and the Fairlady Z itself. More »

Juan Manuel Fangio Does Geneva

Peter Orosz — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST

Fifty-six years after he won the last Formula One Grand Prix held in Switzerland, the Maestro is applying a dab of oppo yet again at the Geneva Motor Show. More »

Alex Cox Goes HO Scale: Repo Chick!

Murilee Martin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:00:00 EST

Repo Chick!" alt="Click here to read Alex Cox Goes HO Scale: Repo Chick!" src="http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/images/12/2010/01/repo_chick_trailer-500px.jpg"/>

I say Alex Cox's Repo Man stands as The Greatest Car Movie Of All Time. His latest film- which should be released this year, Hollywood politics permitting- might turn out to be the Greatest Toy Car Movie Of All Time. More »

REPORT: Tom Cruise Drops $30K On Suri's Custom Indy Car

Matt Hardigree — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:30:00 EST

Suri Cruise has been so "mesmerized by auto racing" on TV, her father Tom dropped $30,000 on a custom car for the three-year-old. An Escalade? Nope. A miniature replica of a freaking open-wheel racer according to gossip sites. More »

30 Years Of Tamiya R/C Cars

Matt Hardigree — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:00:00 EST

In 1976, Tamiya took apart a brand new 911, using what they learned to create their first remote-controlled car. This poster? What they accomplished over the next 30 years. [Overshadowed via Save The Enzos] More »

Period Slot Cars with Creepy Kids for Post-Holiday Fun

Peter Orosz — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:00:00 EST

In the mood for some post-holiday shopping? These vintage Czech slot racers may come in handy to suck up your saved dollars. More »

Camustenger Creates Holy Muscle Car Mess

Matt Hardigree — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:15:00 EST

Perhaps attempting Kissingeresque détente in Muscle Car Wars, this modeler has combined the latest generation of Mustang, Camaro and Challenger to create the Camustenger... Muchallaro... Challustangero. More »

Japanese Wall-Climbing Laser-Controlled Cars All We Want For Christmas

Matt Hardigree — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:00:00 EST

Takara Tomy already had our interest with Aero Spider cars, capable of racing up walls with the use of reverse suction fans. Now they blast into awesome with "laser" control. Thank Gamera there's video of these wall-climbing machines in action. More »

Toy Cars On Toy Tokyo Streets In Epic Stop-Motion Action Movie

Wes Siler — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:30:00 EST

This stop-motion movie's plot is harder to figure out than a Michael Bay flick, but luckily the toy-car-on-toy-car action is even more epic. Who knew toy soldiers were such good drivers? More »

Papa John's Camaro Z28 Goes Replica

Matt Hardigree — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:30:00 EST

Jalopnik played a small role in bringing Papa John's Camaro back home to Kentucky and now the Z28 itself is going small with a limited edition toy car. More »

Blowin' Up Toy Cars In Slow Motion!

Murilee Martin — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:30:00 EST

If only I'd had a Casio EX-F1 slo-mo camera as a kid. The awesome destruction of all those 1:24 scale model cars I stuffed with M-80s would have been captured! Sadly, Malaise Era kids had to settle for Super 8. More »

The Most Affordable Cars Of The Frankfurt Motor Show

Matt Hardigree — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:20:00 EDT

Expect wall-to-wall coverage of the Frankfurt Motor Show over the next two days. In the meantime, enjoy this image of high quality toy cars at the show. Can you name them all? Photo Credit Torsten Silz/AFP/Getty More »

Old Porsches, No Engines

Peter Orosz — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:15:00 EDT

Get your fix of 1:32 wind-up Porsches at A Time To Get, where Nick Maggio has even dug up an old 917. In Gulf livery, of course. [A Time To Get] More »

Top Gear Approves Of The Lego Caterham R500

Matt Hardigree — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:00:00 EDT

The chaps at Caterham will do anything to save weight. This time, they've taken the Caterham R500 and cast it in Legos. We can't wait to see The Minifig Stig toss it around the Top Gear track. More »

Toy Car Wall Art

Matt Hardigree — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:30:00 EDT

When you get to a certain age, people start judging your collection of toy cars. We're guessing this may be part of the motivation for this attractive piece of car-based art. [Apartment Therapy via Tchochkes] More »

Ladies And Gentlemen, Start Your Wind-Up Engines

Ray Wert — Fri, 22 May 2009 08:00:00 EDT

Here's an amazing CT scan of a wind-up toy race car — perfect for a weekend that's the putative start of racing season. Isn't it adorable and child-like — sort of like a couple professional racing leagues we know? More »

More Spectacular Toy Car Racing Action With Explosions

Peter Orosz — Mon, 18 May 2009 10:00:00 EDT

Following the adventures of the Fairlady Z, here’s something similar, an ad for Turkish die-cast retailer Dekalo. And the cars? All German. They blow up real nice. More »

Make Your Own Mad Max Interceptor From a "Ferrari"

Peter Orosz — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:45:00 EDT

A toy Ferrari hacked together with kitchen and office equipment makes for one wicked balcony toy. More »

Buick Grand National Hot Wheels Pretty Rad

Matt Hardigree — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 08:30:00 EDT

In case you haven't noticed, we're big fans of the Buick Grand National, so when we saw this Hot Wheels Turbo Buick action, we just had to make it ours. More »

The Air Hog Zero Gravity Micro R/C Car Uses Vacuum To Drive On Walls And Ceilings

Andrew Stoy — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 10:20:00 EDT

Ever tried to drive an R/C car on the wall only to come face-to-face with that stupidest of Newton's laws — gravity? No more! Air Hog Zero Gravity Micro R/C cars channel Jim Hall and his Chaparral 2J design, using a small fan to create enough suction to allow the little radio-controlled critters to cruise right up a flat wall and even across the ceiling. We're not sure if you can shut the things down mid-cruise, allowing you to launch off the ceiling ballistic-missile-style right into someone's head, but we're sure hoping so. And for just $44, ask yourself: Can you afford not to have one? [Dvice] More »