Project Petrolhead

A Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental Saloon. It’s a car I will never be able to see in real life, let alone own or drive but it means a lot to me, in fact, I’m looking at one as I write this. It’s a 1:64 scale model built by a company called “Days Gone” and it’s one of the earlier toy cars I still own.

Toy cars are the gateway drug into the petrolhead lifestyle. Hook them while they’re young and in no time, a child will be able to tell you the 0-60 time of their favourite supercar, decide which manufacturer design language speaks to them the most, and demonstrate lift-off oversteer on the living room carpet. By letting them get up close and personal with miniaturised versions of unobtainable exotica, you can trigger a lifelong passion that I’m sure many people in my position share.

Kids also have a perfect opportunity to live vicariously through these models. Statistically, not many of us will grow up to have 15 Ferraris tucked away in the garage, but if you have some stacked-up books and a bucket of Matchbox, you can live that life without leaving your bedroom. It’s vital to instil in children the desire to dream about what they want to achieve, what they want the world to be and how they want to better themselves, and what better way to do that than by saying “If you work hard, one day you might own the big version of that Porsche.”

The best toy cars, however, are the more obscure, niche models. The ones that not only get launched into a skirting board at 100mph, but also make you want to research “How did that get made?” and “Why is that built that way?” A perfect example of this is the 2003 Hot Wheels model called “Fish’d & Chip’d”. To the keen observer, this is clearly a Jaguar Mark X with the ride lowered and roofline chopped (known as Lead Sledding) and that opens up not just an interest in Jaguar saloons of the 60s, but also an interesting look at the American car modifying scene of the 1950s, presenting you with the opportunity to learn more about that culture and broaden your automotive knowledge.

Be warned however, if you allow this seemingly harmless hobby to follow you into adulthood, you may quickly discover that all of you shelf space and disposable income become consumed by the menace of these four-wheeled fancies.