Toy Cars

An attempt to reinvigorate the magic of an affordable toy car.

It's safe to say that this guy is the Transit van's biggest fan.

It's like a tiny nostalgia trip back to 1990.

When Dennis Erickson died, he had no one to bequeath his collection of toy cars. So he left it all to his church - all 30,000 miniatures, and a few full-scale ones too.

Working at Autoblog is really a cool gig, but without question, working at the Hot Wheels Design Studio is cooler. Based at Mattel's headquarters, in El Segundo, CA - which is a bonus in and of itself for this Detroit-based writer - Hot Wheels is probably what every automotive designer thought automotive design would be like when they were seven years old.

Normally when we report on promising crowd-funding projects, we're writing about things and ideas that we'd like to see come to life. In the case of this new MO-TO wooden toy car collection from Candylab Toys, however, the online world has already voted loudly that the product should come to market. With close to 900 backers raising about $52,000 more than the Seyth Miersma

For us, one of the few nice parts about commercial flight is being able to look out of the window shortly after takeoff and see just how small and genuinely insignificant we all appear from just a few thousand feet in the air.

Finally, something from our youth returns in a good way, not another Incredible Hulk reboot or power balled Cure cover. Tomica (or Tomy), which left the U.S. in the Eighties after some financial troubles, is coming back next month – and almost just like it was before. A line of miniature diecast cars will be sliding into an as-yet-unnamed retailer next month on their little plastic wheels. They'll be sold alongside playset combinations like the Hypercity Gas Station, pictured, so

Mattel created the Hot Wheels brand back in 1968, and the lives of several Autoblog writers (and readers as well) were changed forever. We're now halfway through the toy line's 40th birthday year, and, coincidentally, halfway through its Hot Wheels 40th Anniversary Road Trip.