[1][2][page needed][3] The scope of the vehicles involved in the hobby, according to Louis Heilbroner Hertz author of The Complete Book of Building and Collecting Model Automobiles, encompasses "ordinary or stock automobiles, racing cars ([...]), buses, trucks, specialized service vehicles (especially fire engines), military vehicles, including such equipment as self-propelled gun carriers and mobile rocket launchers; construction equipment, including bulldozers and road rollers, tractors and related farm equipment; mobile showmen's engines, customized automobiles, hot rods, dragsters, the recently popular so-called 'funny cars', early self-propelled road carriages, and so on.

As time went by, companies in the United States, Europe and Asia made, provided, or sold toys or precision promotional models to attract succeeding generations to their products.

In the United States, less labor availability would not allow for complex toys with opening doors, hoods, and complete interiors with all detail, so they were often single castings with few parts.

Northern Europe and the British Isles were the homes of the most successful European producers in the 1950s and 1960s in the post-war revitalized economies across the continent (Rixon 2005, p. 9).

Non-market system communist countries also had some successful factories, like Kaden models and Igra of Czechoslovakia, Espewe of East Germany, and Estetyka of Poland.

State factories of the Soviet Union (commonly known as Novoexport, Saratov, or Tantal) produced many carefully crafted diecast models mostly in 1:43 scale.

1:24 and 1:18 scales did not become really popular until the late 1980s when other brands like Yatming and Maisto were produced in Hong Kong or China by either American or Asian companies.

Examples of these would be plastic windows, interiors, separate wheel/tire assemblies, working suspensions, opening/moving parts, jeweled headlights, mask-spraying or tampo-printing, and low-friction 'fast' wheels.

Many dies previously made by Corgi, Efsi, Tekno, Sablon or Solido, trekked southward in Europe to Spanish or Portuguese companies like MetOsul, Nacoral or Auto Pilen.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, David Sinclair in Erie, Pennsylvania, was important in bringing new, more sophisticated and rarely produced years and makes to the United States.

Also in the early 1970s, craftsmen like Carlo Brianza and Michelle Conti started making ultra-detailed large replicas in Italy and Spain – costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

This led to mass producers such as Matchbox (specifically with its Models of Yesteryear series) and Corgi intentionally catering to a higher-price market segment with exclusive 'limited editions' of collectible vehicles.

Since 2000, more than fifty different diecast, resin and white metal manufacturers in England, France, Italy, Ukraine and Russia have exploded onto the adult collector market.

These include Spark which focus on motorsport such as 24h Le Mans and F1, Bizarre is the brand dedicated to the unusual and extraordinary in the car world, FDS, YOW Modellini (from Japan) and many others.

Since 2000, companies like Altaya, Ixo, and Model Car World (for example, with its White Box line) have been started in Europe – with production increasingly seen in China.

Later manufacturers like Winross, Lesney Matchbox, Lledo, AHL, and White Rose used their toy vehicles to advertise logos on their flanks promoting various companies.

These primitive promotionals included Buicks, Cadillacs, Lincolns, Packards, DeSotos, Chryslers, Dodges, Ramblers and the more common Chevrolets and Fords.

For example, Jo-Han produced most Chrysler products and Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles from GM, while AMT did the Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac, and Fords.

Probably, because of the promo look, however, today these often command higher prices than the detailed "3-in-1" kits, especially AMT's Craftsman series of the early and mid sixties.

[citation needed] With the exception of some firms like Stahlberg which made larger scale plastic promotional models of Swedish Volvos and Saabs in an American style, European promotionals were usually based on the 1:43 or 1:32 scale diecast metal models produced as toys or collectors items, often brightly colored or with authentic tampo or silk screen liveries for commercial products.

Scale miniatures of real production vehicles, designed as kits for children or the enthusiast to construct, can be made of plastic, die-cast metal, resin, and even wood.

Major manufacturers are AMT, MPC, Revell, Monogram, and Tamiya but many smaller plastics companies, like Aurora, Pyro, IMC, and Premier have come and gone.

MPC joined the kit/promo business in 1965, and among their first annual kits/promos, was the full-size Dodge Monaco, which was released with a gold metallic plastic body and is a valuable collector's item today.

[33][page needed] A revival of sorts was seen in the late 1980s, especially among adults, as Monogram introduced a series of replicas of NASCAR race cars, as did AMT with a kit of the 1966 Chevrolet Nova, which American modelers had been requesting for years.

[citation needed] The internet has also fueled a growing modeling community through websites, online forums and bulletin boards, and sites that host photographs, allowing the hobby to expand internationally.

Nevertheless, Hasegawa also produced 1/25 scale models of 1965–66 American cars, including the 1965 Chevrolet Impala, and 1966 Buick Wildcat, Cadillac Coupe DeVille, and Thunderbird Landau.

[citation needed] Since the mid-1990s several companies including: Tameo, Studio 27, Model Factory Hiro, and Renaissance have issued hundreds of Sports Car and Formula 1 subjects in limited-run, multimedia kit sets.

These so-called "multimedia" offerings consist of a combination of resin, white metal, photo-etch, and machined aluminum instead of inject plastic parts.

These multimedia kits are very high quality, require a wide set of construction skills to complete, and are marketed to international competition enthusiasts.

In fact, the first commercially successful slot cars, the Scalextric 1/32 line (originally 1:30) which debuted in 1957, were simply motorized versions of the earlier Scalex clockwork racers.