Under the hood
The questions we are asked most, about the cars themselves and about how this catalog works. The answers below are the ones we would give across a table at a swap meet.
Are Matchbox and the other Mattel diecast line the same thing?
They share an owner and nothing else. Matchbox was founded in England in 1953 and spent its first decades making scaled-down versions of vehicles that existed: delivery trucks, fire engines, tractors, family sedans. The other line started in California in 1968 with fantasy castings and speed. Mattel now owns both and keeps them deliberately apart, which is why a Matchbox shelf reads like a street.
If a listing carries the other brand in its title, it is not in this case, even when the two names appear together on the packaging.
Why do two cars at the same 1:64 scale look different sizes?
Because the real vehicles are different sizes. The ratio divides whatever the real thing measures by sixty-four, so a small hatchback lands near two inches and a long American sedan runs past three. Both are correct at 1:64. The only way to make every model the same length would be a different ratio for each vehicle, which would make the shelf look wrong rather than right.
What is a Moving Parts car?
A mainline casting reworked with an opening part — a hood, a tailgate, doors — and usually a better paint finish and rubber-look tires. They are numbered out of a set for the year, which is why titles carry a figure like 28/54. They cost more than a basic car and less than a Collectors release.
What does a number like 62/100 on the card mean?
It is the position of that casting in the year's mainline run. Sixty-two of one hundred means it is the sixty-second model released in that series that year. Collectors use it to work out what is missing from a run; on its own it says nothing about rarity.
Do Sky Busters aircraft follow a scale?
No fixed one. An airliner reduced to 1:64 would be the length of a dining table, so the line is sized to the hand instead and the ratio drifts between models. A Sky Busters jet and a Sky Busters helicopter look right together, and both look oversized next to a 1:64 car.
Which models work with Action Drivers playsets?
Any standard 1:64 Matchbox car fits the tracks, gates and lifts. The playsets ship with a vehicle of their own, and the connectors are shared across the line, so two sets bought a year apart still join up. Large-scale trucks and Sky Busters aircraft do not fit.
Are the older castings worth anything?
Some are, most are not. Value sits with sealed packaging, short production runs and the Lesney-era models from before 1983. A loose car from the nineties in played condition is worth what somebody will pay for it. We do not price the secondary market here; every figure on this site is the current asking price of a new item.
Where do the prices on this site come from?
From the partner store's own listing for each model, read in a single pass on the date printed in the footer. We do not set them, we cannot negotiate them and we cannot hold them. A figure that looked right this morning can be wrong by evening, which is why every card sends you to the listing.
Why is the same car on the site twice at different prices?
It usually is not. Where two listings cover the same casting we keep the one that was in stock when the case was packed and drop the rest. What does happen is two colorways of one casting sitting side by side: same tooling, different paint, different listing, different price.
Can I buy from you directly?
No. Nothing on this site is sold by us. We index models, photograph them, write up what they are and send you to the store that holds the stock. Orders, payment, delivery and returns all belong there.
How often is the case re-sorted?
Prices and stock are read in full every few weeks, and new releases are added as the brand puts them out. Models that go out of production stay listed until the last listing for them disappears, at which point the slot is removed rather than left showing a dead figure.
What age are these toys for?
The mainline cars are marked three years and up, which is a choking-hazard line rather than a judgment about play. Playsets with small figures carry the same mark. Collector releases are often labeled fourteen and up because they are display pieces with fragile parts.