Are you a car enthusiast? Even if your answer is no, you probably played with some form of a toy car as a child. And even as an adult, collecting miniature replicas of your favorite cars can be a great hobby.
But as with any hobby, there exist extremely rare "Holy Grails" of collecting. Usually, rarity and historical significance play a part, as millions of collectors scramble to find that hidden gem most people overlook. And that's the real question that will keep you up at night, as most people's childhood toy cars end up in terrible condition from years of play, or are thrown out altogether.
If you can find a photo from your youth with one of these extremely rare and valuable gems in sight, it'd be well worth it to get sorting through your old belongings, as these seemingly inconspicuous tiny metal playthings can be worth shocking amounts of money. So read on, to see the 15 most expensive toy cars that probably are worth more than the actual car in your driveway:
15 Matchbox No.30 Brown 1961 Magirus Deutz Crane - $13,000
If you found one of these old toy trucks in your local thrift shop, would you even look twice at it? Probably not, unless that is, you're a collector of vintage Matchbox toys. Only 2 of these are known to exist, and that rarity led to Matchbox collector Jim Gallegos buying one for $13,000, so be sure to check through your old toy car collection for one of these hidden gems.
14 Dinky No.505 Foden Flat Truck With Chains - $15,000
One of the first British toy car makers, Dinky has a stronger collector's market than most people may think. This vintage toy truck happens to be one of the Dinky collecting Holy Grails, with remarkable detailing for its time. The rarity, age, and amount of detail led this old toy truck to sell for the equivalent of $15,000 in British Pounds when it hit the auction block.
13 Hot Wheels 1969 "Mad" Mighty Maverick - $15,000
In the world of real cars, knowing your car had a major mistake in production would most likely be a very very bad thing. In the world of Hot Wheels cars, mistakes are more valuable than gold. This Hot Wheels, designed after the Ford Maverick, was originally called the "Mad Maverick."
A legal dispute with rival toy car maker Johnny Lightning caused them to change the official name to "Mighty Maverick," but a few examples with the "Mad Maverick" name made it to toy store shelves, and are estimated to be worth around $15,000 if you can find one.
12 Hot Wheels Antifreeze Over Chrome 1968 Camaro - $25,000
At first glance, a yellow-green Hot Wheels Camaro isn't anything special, but that's far from the truth with this one. Only 30 examples of "Over Chrome" Hot Wheels are known to exist, mostly used for the filming of Hot Wheels' higher production value advertisements. The "Over Chrome" finish was meant to look like a Christmas ornament and looks pretty damn cool. These were never meant to be sold to consumers, and the estimated prices reflect that.
11 Dinky Pre-War No.22D Delivery Van "W.E. Boyce" - $25,000
To begin with, only one of these antique toys is known to exist. Having been founded in 1934, these early Dinky Toys are incredibly hard to come by, as most have been lost to time. This delivery van bearing the name of a 1930s London bicycle shop is incredibly rare, and being made right before WWII meant it sold at auction for the equivalent of $25,000. People have made replicas of it though, so be wary of any too good to be true deals you can find on a W.E. Boyce delivery van.
10 Hot Wheels Strawberry/Watermelon Over Chrome 1968 Mustang - $40,000
Another member of the ridiculously rare "Over Chrome" line of Hot wheels, the Strawberry/Watermelon Mustang is the most valuable of the bunch. This is mostly due to the fact that only a single example of this shiny Mustang toy is known to exist. Hot Wheels experts estimate that if the lucky owner was to sell it, it could easily fetch a cool $40,000.
9 Dinky Pre-War No.28/1 Trade Box Of 6 - $43,000
While the W.E. Boyce delivery van is as rare as a single Dinky toy car can get, a complete set of 6 in their original retail box smashed auction records in the Dinky toy collecting world, selling for the equivalent of $43,000. Rarity aside, it's an awesome time capsule of toys from the 1930s, showing that even over 80 years ago, children played with similar toys to what we today know and love.
8 Tomica Datsun Z432 Platinum - $80,000
Perhaps seeing these prices on such small objects makes you think "they may as well be made of precious metals at these prices!" Well, for this special edition Datsun, Tomica did exactly that, crafting the entire toy car out of solid platinum. While collectible value is one thing, the value of this comes mostly from the platinum its made from, as it wasn't ever meant to be sold to the public.
7 Harrod's 1/2 Scale Ferrari Testarossa - $97,000
Remember Power Wheels? Ferrari happened to have made their own take on a child-sized functioning vehicle in the '90s with this faithful replica of a Testarossa. Sold exclusively through Harrod's department store, this insane toy has an actual gas-powered engine under the hood, letting it reach 25 mph. The doors, gauges and pop up headlights all work like the real thing, and a faithfully re-created leather-lined interior make it a crazy expensive toy, but one guaranteed to turn your lucky child into a future car aficionado.
6 Hot Wheels Enamel White 1968 Camaro - $100,000
If one car is sacred territory for Hot Wheels collectors, it would be the Redline 1968 Camaro, as it was the first Hot Wheels toy to go on sale. This was a prototype for that legendary first Hot Wheels, never intended to leave the Hot Wheels offices. Somehow, a fateful few were mistakenly packaged for sale. Even if you can find one, most were destroyed from being played with, but this one found by collector Joel Magee is the best example ever found and is estimated to be worth a cool $100,000.
5 Hot Wheels Rear Loading Beach Bomb - $125,000
Another prototype never meant to leave Hot Wheels HQ, the Beach Bomb that went on sale had its surfboards mounted on the side after this prototype revealed itself to not work well with the new Hot Wheels race tracks. A small detail like that may seem trivial, but this prototype that was taken home by a Mattel employee as a gift to his son so long ago is as rare as a Hot Wheels toy can get. When brought onto Antiques Roadshow, it was given a truly stunning valuation of $100,000-$150,000.
4 Hot Wheels 40th Anniversary Diamond Encrusted - $140,000
While the Hot Wheels cars on this list were never originally intended to be such valuable collectibles, this one is. To begin with, only one example was made to commemorate Hot Wheels' 40th anniversary. To make things extra special, the usually die-cast metal frame is instead crafted from 18k white gold, and the rest of the car is encrusted with a whopping 2,300 diamonds. All that bling adds up to a massive price tag of $140,000, making it the most expensive Hot Wheels toy of all time.
3 Stuart Hughes Bugatti Veyron Diamond Edition - $2.9 Million
First things first, your typical Hot Wheels toy car is around 1/64 scale, this insane Bugatti is 1/18 scale... And made from solid 24k gold and platinum, with a luxurious slathering of diamonds all around. The craziest part? A real Bugatti Veyron can be had for a full million dollars less than this scale replica. Although, if you're rich enough to realistically consider a Bugatti as a purchase, this should be a no-sweat purchase if you forget that it's a toy car, and treat it as a luxurious new piece for your art collection.
2 Robert Gulpen Engineering Lamborghini Aventador - $4.8 Million
If a $100,000 Hot Wheels was a hard price to swallow, a nearly $5 million custom Lamborghini Aventador model may make you choke.
The entire thing is made from a mix of carbon fiber and solid gold threads, with (of course) platinum and diamonds thrown into the mix, all together it has $2.9 million worth of material in it. That $4.8 million was also just the auction's starting bid, the final price went undisclosed.
1 Robert Gulpen Engineering Lamborghini Aventador Gold - $7.5 Million
So your rival billionaire just bought the previous multi-million dollar Lamborghini Aventador model, how do you show them who is boss? By buying a $7.5 million one of course. Nearly identical to the other, this time, the entire model is coated in solid gold to make absolutely sure that no one mistakes it for the "entry-level" $4.8 million Aventador model. It also comes in a bulletproof glass case, because why not?