True Scale Size Verses Track Scale 1:64 Diecast Cars

May 4, 2020

#382

Gentle reader,

Happy Star Wars day. May the forth be with you.

Having been a car guy since I was two (61 years ago), and having raised kids and helped raise (and played with) our grandkids, having 1:64 scale diecast cars, AKA: Hot Wheels, is a given. 

"Hot Wheels" has become a generic term for this size of toy cars made of cast metal. Just as Kleenex means facial tissues, Bandaid means small self-adhesive bandages, Xerox means copying machines, and Q-tips means cotton swabs, etc.

What has really rekindled my interest, and countless other adults is 3DBotmaker Diecast Racing.  H o m e | 3DBotMaker

Aside from making racing tracks and other racing items, they have two race circuits: One is called King of The Mountain on which they race two, four, six or sometimes eight cars at a time, and the DRC (a play on the WRC, World Rally Championship's acronym) which is a different track setup and the track is made to resemble dirt. Here is their YouTube channel: 3Dbotmaker - YouTube

Both tracks I mentioned are new for 2020, so anything you see with an earlier date will not be, at least to me, as entertaining. Here is a link to the very first DRC race:
Diecast Rally Car Racing | Event 1 Round 1 | Tomica Hot Wheels Matchbox - YouTube 

Do check them out, they commentate on the races like they are real races, the banter between the two announcers can be hysterical sometimes.

But enough about that. You can see that I have changed my format on the blog, blogger.com has made it mobile device friendly. As a result the  photos I put up tend to stick over to the right. And that the writing space is narrower. But size matters, so I will continue to make the photos easily visible.

These cars are both representative of a small batch, only six were made, of the 1965 Shelby Daytona Coupe. 

The world famous Shelby Cobra roadsters topped out at a fairly low top speed due to aerodynamic drag.

So, Peter Brock came up with this much smoother coupe body which enabled the cars to beat Ferrari in the World Sports Cars Championship.

Long ago, each country was assigned racing colors. America's colors were blue and white. These two images are of a 1:18th scale diecast. All six cars were painted like this.

 

The colors of the smaller one are more accurate to what some American racers in the 1950's and 1960's were painted.

Both of these cars are considered 1:64th scale. Yet look at the size difference. That is what this column is all about.

The blue car, a Ford GT40, #72 is true 1:64th scale. Which means, one inch on it equals sixty four inches on a the real car. Daytona Coupes are smaller than GT40s. So, the white car is not 1:64th scale.

The blue one was put out by Autoworld and is a tribute to the very first Ford GT40 that won a race. It is highly detailed.

Blue #72 was made for adult collectors and having rubber tires would not race well due to friction from the rubber tires.

Black number two is a Hot Wheels car made as an homage to the first Ford GT40 to win, in 1966, the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France, defeating Ferrari for the first of four times in a row. 

If you saw the film, Ford v Ferrari or Le Mans 1966, you saw this car and the other entrants in that historic race. It too has rubber tires and is too nice to race.

Here are two photos of Audi TT cars in various scales. Far left, above, is true 1:64, next is Hot Wheels 1:64, then 1:43 scale, then 1:32, the red one is 1:24 and the black one is 1:18.

Above is a clearer example. 1:18 means an inch on the model is eighteen inches on the real car. 1:24 an inch = two feet, 1:32 an inch = thirty two inches, 1:43, well, you get it. Just LOOK at the difference of the two on the right. Hot Wheels 1:64 verses actual 1:64. 

If you click on this photo (or any) it will open up much larger. So, do that and look at the second row of cars, all Porsches. Specifically the silver, green and silver ones. 

Here they are. Look at the photo above. The car on top is a 550 Spyder (that's how it is spelled in German) which was made in the 1950's. The real cars are TINY. The seats give you an idea. Two people in one would rub shoulders.
The silver one on the bottom is their Carrera GT was made in the 2000's. Below is a photo of Doug DeMuro, who is six foot four, standing behind one.

Now, below is two men in a 550 Spyder. I told you they are tiny.

Yet, in Hot Wheels world, most of their cars, and countless other brands, are made for racing on their iconic orange tracks which are a certain width. 

And finally, the green car above is a 914, all three cars are mid-engine, which means the engine and transmission are behind the driver and passenger.
The 914 was made from the late 1960's to 1975. Below is a photo of a real one with a driver for scale.

As you can see, it is larger than the 550. While clearly smaller in "1:64" scale when made for playing with.

I can't blame the small cars makers, they are making them as toys with better quality ones for adult collectibles. They are in business to make money, not to please picky people like me. 
Look at the cars above. Most are 1:24 scale with a few 1:25 which are models. The fifth shelf from the bottom holds a Porsche 356 roadster, a 1974 Chevy Vega and 1975 Chevy Monza. The two Chevy cars are Dealer Promotional models and are exact scale. The 356 is HUGE when in reality, it is much smaller than the two Chevy cars. 
The forth shelf down has a Chrysler Sebring convertible next to a Volvo C30. The Volvo and Audi TT are HUGE compared to the Sebring, when in reality, they are compact cars to the Sebring being midsize.

Thank you for taking the time to read my humble blog. Please take a moment and click FOLLOW to receive notifications of all my upcoming articles.

Scott
May 4th, 2020
#382