It’s undeniable that many enthusiasts developed an interest in General Motors and Chevrolet vehicles at a young age with toy models of their favorite cars. And as the 2014 Corvette C7 Stingray continues to win industry awards, accolades, and all kinds of praise left and right, the vehicle also has another honor under its belt: with over two million official GM-licensed Stingray scale models sold globally in 2013, the C7 has become the most-licensed die cast model car in the world this year, according to General Motors Branded Entertainment and Licensing.
From scale models and power wheels toys to remote control cars and ride-on versions for kids around the world, the C7 Stingray has been made into pretty much every kind of downsized item imaginable. The iconic sports car is now even a game token in Monopoly Empire, thereby becoming the first “real” car in the game.
On top of that, recent appearances in Disney Pixar Animation Studios’ Cars 2 and 2014 Transformers movies, as well as Mattel’s Hot Wheels and Fisher Price models, which allow pretty much anyone to have a Corvette at home, has contributed to the iconic sports car being in the hearts and minds of children big and small for 60 years. In fact, the Hot Wheels Chevrolet Corvette, which debuted in 1968 with the C3 Stingray, has regularly held the top spot as the world’s best-selling toy car.
Some facts about Corvette Hot Wheels models:
- The 1968 Chevrolet Corvette C3 Stingray 1:64-scale toy was one of the 16 original Hot Wheels models to be produced. The model is one of the most valuable Hot Wheels toys among collectors.
- Placed front-to-rear, all 1,000 variations of Hot Wheels vehicles produced in the last 40 years would encircle the Earth more than four times.
- Some of the largest Hot Wheels collections are valued at more than a whopping $1,000,000.
- More than 41 million adults have grown up “driving” Hot Wheels cars.
- The first full-size production car to carry the Hot Wheels brand by any manufacturer is the 2013 Chevrolet Camaro.
- Fisher-Price Power Wheels Corvette Stingray is the fastest Power Wheels vehicle ever, with its 12-volt battery giving it the ability to run at 6 MPH.
With the 2014 Corvette C7 Stingray being such a well-received and highly-desired model (2014 Car of the Year, anyone?), and the even more capable 2015 Z06 on the way, we can only imagine that the scale toy models will become in even greater demand.
We’d love to hear about your scale model collection of GM vehicles in the comments below.
Comments
I have 500+ diecast, 99% of which are Chevy’s. I have 80+ 1/18 scale (the larger scale) Chevy muscle cars with a large number being Nova’s, the rest Camaro’s,Chevelles, Vette’s and Impala’s. I have a large collection of Earnhardt cars in 1/24 and 1/64 scale,a lot of police cars,some old Nascar’s,old drag cars (large collection of Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins,one autographed). I have some rare cars you never see in diecast like a Beretta drag car, SSR and vans and pickups. I used to decorate the Christmas tree with 1/64 diecast as ornaments until my wife put a stop to that!! Some of the newer diecast have reall seat belts,opening glovebox,functioning shifters,carparting and moveable sunvisors. I can own my dream cars and a lot of them by buying them in diecast. I also bought my grandson the C7 Corvette ride on toy for Christmas.
My GM diecasts outnumber any other brand, but I collect all makes. I favor 1:18 scale and added today my 3rd 2014 C7 Stingray, a blue Maisto coupe, a match to my black one. Getting a Velocity yellow one to match the one sitting in the garage would be even better, but my wife did find a 1:24 scale yellow convertible. Also found two (red and yellow) plastic radio controlled C7’s at Toysrus for gifts for the grandkids. It’s a fun hobby, but having space to display them really helps (if only). Have also tried with limited success to find a copy of cars I have previously owned. Lastly, I have yet to try painting them to match, but maybe some day. Get the ones you love and you can be Jay Leno on a much smaller scale.
I have a silver Sideswipe from the Transformers franchise parked on my nightstand, does that count?
One of my first AMT scale models was the 1963 Corvette Stingray, which I painted in gold. Later I built the 1967 Mako Corvette and painted that one in metallic red. If I find a scale model of the 2014 Corvette Stingray, I will buy it, too.
I have too many die cast to count but I can assure you that all of them are from a GM division! It’s GM cars and trucks or nothing and the same goes for my real garage!
I once got a die cast car from a family member for Xmas one year, I put it back in the box and took it to good will the next day!
A few months later that family member came over and looked in my display case and didn’t see the car he got me for xmas and he asked where it was, well I explained to him that I appreciated the gift he should know me good enough to know that crap is not welcome in my home so I took it to good will!
Needless to say his family no longer gets a xmas card from me anymore!
I drove you in Vegas. Between the strip and that Hoover dam, you went sideways when I shifted into third. By 150 and sucked into your seat, I had enough, but you, you, were just getting warm. They say all Corvettes are red, but you I am sure, were bright yellow.
I still think of you now and then.
“That crap is not welcome in my house” – What kind of a response is that? You do know that most diecasts are not made in the U.S. As far as actual vehicles go, competition is what makes them better. I can appreciate anyone’s vehicle for what it is, something they wanted. The world would be poorer if we had cookiecutter cars made from one manufacturer. GM has it’s act together now, but they have made mistakes in the past. They have learned from them and build even better cars now. I would not have invested almost $70k in one otherwise.
Hey Dave, good luck trying to reason with Brian Ritter. None of the regulars here would be surprised that he’d alienate a family member over a die cast model. He probably doesn’t get many visitors to his house cause if they showed up in anything but a gm product they wouldn’t be allowed to park in his driveway. Hard to believe some people are so narrow minded but he’s living proof.
Where the die cast car comes from is irrelevant it’s a toy! But what car it is matters!
I’m a GM fan, I don’t care about other cars don’t care of their designs, don’t care about their story!
It’s GM or nothing!
I own a set of Corvette models, from C1 through C7. Not a huge collection, but very special to me. I have had the privilege to drive a C4, C5 and C6. My C7 is on order! (Oh yeah… all of them….models and the real ones….. RED!)
You could park in front of the house with a non GM car or truck but in my drive way or garage not going to happen sorry please don’t even try I’ll ask you to move your shitbox!
Remember my house my rules! You Don’t Like It Don’t come over
Brian Ritter is what happens when you decided to live INSIDE a corporation.
The is no quicker way to become insular, or a bigot, or a racist, or a jingoist! We’ve seen it all from him.
He’s so deluded, he thinks GM should give out prize money to people who’ve bought cars from GM in past. It’s like a lottery where the price of the ticket is huge, the odds are terrible, and the winnings are crap. He thinks brand loyalty matters in 2013.
Finally something we both can agree on! Brand loyalty is all we have in life, otherwise (which is a great band I might ad) you are just wondering threw life hoping to find happiness!
You Think Loyalty Is Not Very Important? Why don’t you go ask your wife if being loyal is important?
Being loyal speaks to your character, or lack there of! Do you have respect for men or women that are not loyal to their wives/husbands?
Do you want your kids dating/marring a disloyal person? A person that dumps what they have for the new cute thing down the street?
Loyalty matter. Brand loyalty does not. Brand loyalty IS NOT all that we have in life, as I’m sure you can find other reasons to get up in the morning other than to wank to a GM logo.
Brand loyalty is not the same as inter-personal loyalty.
The loyalty you keep with people is more valuable and more important than brand loyalty. Both are incompatible, and not interrelated with each other.
Go ahead. Name your first born Impala, or reject a potential mate on a dating website because her first name wasn’t Scottsdale.
I know how you like those Scottsdales, ritter.
Brand loyalty does matter cuz it shows what type of person you are, it shows people around you if your willing to stick it out threw good times and bad!
As for the difference between material relationships and human relationships they are one in the same cuz it’s a reference to one’s character and what level of importance you put on being with the one your with!
If you will have zero brand loyalty and you will walk away from a car company at a drop of a hat then what does that say about how you feel about your wife your kids or your friends or family!
The character it displays shows of a person that likes to be around when things are really good and runs when things gets tough!
That’s not the type of person I want to go to war with!
Would you switch sides if you we’re in the military and it looked like the other side was going to win?
“If you will have zero brand loyalty and you will walk away from a car company at a drop of a hat then what does that say about how you feel about your wife your kids or your friends or family!”
It says I value their livelihood over an inferior, unsafe, and/or unreliable product. If any automaker made a car that was substandard for many years (like a American cars built between 1971 and 2002), you’d be a fool not ignore the automaker and buy a better product. I think you’ll find many, many people have already done so. They wanted want worked and met their needs NOW, and not with frivolous things like brand loyalty.
And what it says about me? It says I have my family’s best interests in mind. Pure and simple.
As for war, war is written by winners. Better to be have blood on your hands than to be blood on someone else’s hands, especially if you’re trusting yourself to inferior products that can’t perform what’s expected of them in a combat situation.
I’d use a Russian gun as equally as I would an American or Chinese gun in combat; as it is what a solider is there to do. They are there to kill, not wrangle with thoughts and petty concerns about brand loyalty.
Again, what it says about me? It says I have my country best interests in mind. Pure and simple.
Winning is winning, and a war is not the place to worry about HOW you win, so much as it is a place to actually win.
But hey, if brand loyalty is so important, why are so many AK’s in your country? Might it be because it’s a highly versatile gun that didn’t come from the USA? Or are you willing to call all those people who own them unloyal to the US?
Remember, ritter, you have to dig your way out of your graves. No one else will do it for you.
I would care and q’s that person if he picked up a Ak instead of a us service rifle to go and fight for my country!
Do I want my fighter pilots in us war jets or migs, or us tanks or Russian tanks!
The point is this, you pick a side and you stick with it, as for having your families best interest does that include leaving them for that cute blonde that’s new in town!
The answer to all of your ‘examples’ are “if the shoe fits”.
You can’t keep making special cases for special circumstance when it suits your feeble world view. If the US service weapon is inferior, then no amount of loyalty to its use will win any war; it would be a disadvantage. Same for a tank or a fighter jet. Ask that of the countries that don’t use weapons designed by themselves. They’re going for what works, not for what makes them weep on veterans day.
If the blonde has better living conditions and is of a stable temperament, then go. Marriage is an old world excuse for a tax break anyway. Coincidentally, fewer people are getting married.
You’re getting closer to nihilism, as you should be. Pursue happiness to the fullest extent, not inferior weapons and unhappy relationships.
Here’s more proof that brand loyalty is dead; count the number of people who’ve done LS swaps into non-GM cars. If you were right, mr. ritter, you’d scorn those people, but you won’t because you’re a fool.
Wow… we were talking about diecasts, weren’t we? Sorry about my absence for a few days, as I was being loyal with my time to my employer, wife, family, and friends. They are, of course, all welcome at my house, any time, and in any vehicle of their choice.
I could hardly believe where this discussion went. Grawdaddy, you’ve got it right, and Brian, I think I’ll just keep my non GM diecasts, rather than smash them to pieces. Are you ever a happy person Brian? Please don’t tell me you have kids or a wife that share this warped view of loyalty……..I don’t want to know.
I will tell you even if you don’t want to! I do have beautiful kids a gorgeous wife and yes we are GM loyal and not just GM!
My kids love GM cars, that’s all we own!
Bright (Velocity) Yellow was my choice too.
“I will tell you even if you don’t want to! I do have beautiful kids a gorgeous wife and yes we are GM loyal and not just GM!”
That’s great Brian – you’ve done something right. Hopefully the kids won’t grow up and buy a Ford. My lovely wife and (grown up) kids love my C7, but own vehicles such as the CRV, a Lexus, Subaru, Suzuki, HHR, Ford, and second hand whatever and I couldn’t be more proud of them.
Would you be intrested in a yellow 1:18 scale C7 2014 corvette? give me your email and I can send you photos. I breakdown the Maisto model to bare metal and redo it in yellow and then put it back together. I can do one for you for $275.00.