Something NO ONE ever talks about...

eletrikfiyed
Lost Media Guru

DId you know I make comics?;p Probably not. https://tapas.io/series/World-Of-Dawson

Posts: 755

Something NO ONE ever talks about... Jul 3, 2020 19:48:59 GMT

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Post by eletrikfiyed on Jul 3, 2020 19:48:59 GMT

Here's an odd one but it's been something I been pondering for awhile. There is a huge line of merchandise that has existed for decades yet seems to have no online presence or back catalog or anything. I don't even know if they have names. I'm talking about little toy cars found at many Dollar Stores across Canada and likely across the world. I'm sure they aren't worth anything, but with how long they been around for and how little info there is on them, how would you even know? If you were to try and track down a specific design how would you even go about doing it when there is no back catalog let alone names? For instance, I used to have one I loved as a kid. It was a red ford pick up with a chef on the front hood holding a pizza. All these toys have on the bottom of them is 'Made in China'. They are usually cheap and plastic but back in the day they had metal frames. For example I have an old one here:

imgur.com/gallery/LbqOMiT

forlornjackalope
Lost Media Guru

I just wanted to be Steve McQueen, with my horses of English racing green.

Posts: 881

Something NO ONE ever talks about... Jul 3, 2020 20:11:24 GMT

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Post by forlornjackalope on Jul 3, 2020 20:11:24 GMT

Oh, I had some of those! I don't know how long they've been around for though. If you have the brand names, you could try to trace them somewhere. It probably won't be as bad as the Land of Ta search, but it probably won't be easy.

eletrikfiyed
Lost Media Guru

DId you know I make comics?;p Probably not. https://tapas.io/series/World-Of-Dawson

Posts: 755

Something NO ONE ever talks about... Jul 3, 2020 20:26:45 GMT

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Post by eletrikfiyed on Jul 3, 2020 20:26:45 GMT

Jul 3, 2020 20:11:24 GMT forlornjackalope said:

Oh, I had some of those! I don't know how long they've been around for though. If you have the brand names, you could try to trace them somewhere. It probably won't be as bad as the Land of Ta search, but it probably won't be easy.

All I know about them is that they are sold at Dollar Stores and are made in China. There is literally no other information I've been able to find about them.

milkywaycannonball
New Member

Posts: 31

Something NO ONE ever talks about... Jul 3, 2020 21:00:25 GMT via mobile

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Post by milkywaycannonball on Jul 3, 2020 21:00:25 GMT

This is pretty interesting. They seem to be dollar store generic knock-offs of Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. I've never thought about how hard it might be to find such dollar store toys in general. Even when they have names and labels (and a known distributer, usually made for the store they're sold at), I can imagine many of them would be hard to find info about online. I have never paid attention to the toy cars.

Do you know if they ever have any kind of label or tag on them at all? I swear the ones I've seen at all are at least in boxes with some kind of generic-sounding brand name. I would imagine these might even be made by different companies making almost the same thing.

I am in the US and do not know how different Canadian dollar stores are. Different chains here usually have their own brands made specifically for that chain.

eletrikfiyed
Lost Media Guru

DId you know I make comics?;p Probably not. https://tapas.io/series/World-Of-Dawson

Posts: 755

Something NO ONE ever talks about... Jul 3, 2020 21:17:43 GMT

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Post by eletrikfiyed on Jul 3, 2020 21:17:43 GMT

Jul 3, 2020 21:00:25 GMT milkywaycannonball said:

This is pretty interesting. They seem to be dollar store generic knock-offs of Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. I've never thought about how hard it might be to find such dollar store toys in general. Even when they have names and labels (and a known distributer, usually made for the store they're sold at), I can imagine many of them would be hard to find info about online. I have never paid attention to the toy cars.

Do you know if they ever have any kind of label or tag on them at all? I swear the ones I've seen at all are at least in boxes with some kind of generic-sounding brand name. I would imagine these might even be made by different companies making almost the same thing.

I am in the US and do not know how different Canadian dollar stores are. Different chains here usually have their own brands made specifically for that chain.

I do not remember a name ever attached to them. With that being said, most of them I got when i was very young. You can still find cheap cars at Dollar Stores but I don't know if they are even by the same company:/ The ones I had despite being cheap, had a style to them. Most of them had metal frames and wheels connected by a thin I think tin axle that could be broken so easily. I'm assuming they stopped making the metal framed ones because they were easy to break and become sharp when broken. That picture I provided there the top of the car is broken and there are sharp pieces of the frame exposed because of it lol.

milkywaycannonball
New Member

Posts: 31

Something NO ONE ever talks about... Jul 3, 2020 21:38:26 GMT via mobile

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Post by milkywaycannonball on Jul 3, 2020 21:38:26 GMT

Jul 3, 2020 21:17:43 GMT eletrikfiyed said:

Jul 3, 2020 21:00:25 GMT milkywaycannonball said:

This is pretty interesting. They seem to be dollar store generic knock-offs of Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. I've never thought about how hard it might be to find such dollar store toys in general. Even when they have names and labels (and a known distributer, usually made for the store they're sold at), I can imagine many of them would be hard to find info about online. I have never paid attention to the toy cars.

Do you know if they ever have any kind of label or tag on them at all? I swear the ones I've seen at all are at least in boxes with some kind of generic-sounding brand name. I would imagine these might even be made by different companies making almost the same thing.

I am in the US and do not know how different Canadian dollar stores are. Different chains here usually have their own brands made specifically for that chain.

I do not remember a name ever attached to them. With that being said, most of them I got when i was very young. You can still find cheap cars at Dollar Stores but I don't know if they are even by the same company:/ The ones I had despite being cheap, had a style to them. Most of them had metal frames and wheels connected by a thin I think tin axle that could be broken so easily. I'm assuming they stopped making the metal framed ones because they were easy to break and become sharp when broken. That picture I provided there the top of the car is broken and there are sharp pieces of the frame exposed because of it lol.

Thank you for explaining. Is it possible the metal was replaced to make them cheaper to produce? I swear real Hot Wheels and Matchbox have always been partially metal, though I haven't held or looked at one in a long time. These sound lower quality to begin with though.

I don't know if there is much if anything I can really provide to this search, but I am intrigued by the idea of such hard-to-track-down dollar store toys.

Post by eletrikfiyed on Jul 3, 2020 19:48:59 GMT

Post by forlornjackalope on Jul 3, 2020 20:11:24 GMT

Post by eletrikfiyed on Jul 3, 2020 20:26:45 GMT

Post by milkywaycannonball on Jul 3, 2020 21:00:25 GMT

Post by eletrikfiyed on Jul 3, 2020 21:17:43 GMT

Post by milkywaycannonball on Jul 3, 2020 21:38:26 GMT

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