In this scale (1/43) you can buy thousands of cars from hundreds of makers. The manufacturer can be a small one making from 5-10 types per year or a bigger one with hundreds each year. Some make many varietis of each car, for example if we are talking about competition cars, the cars can have different number in different races, and even if they have a new hood in the middle of the race it could be your choice whether you want the car with the old or the new hood. The cars can be open, closed , convertible or with hard top etc..
The casting goes from factory to factory. Solido today can be Verem tomorrow, Solido from yesteryear can be Metosul today. Metal 43 can use Burago model to make a new casting. Even Matchbox can sell Vitesse as its own.
The cars can be 'code 1', 'code 2' or 'code 3' . Where 'code 1' are models straight from the manufacturer. 'Code 2' are models modified with a licence from the manufacturer. 'Code 3' are models modified without a licence, nobody say anything if you take a model and modify it for your own use, but a forgery of a rare model for example are against the interest of all collectors.

At my opinion you can divid collector in two main groups, those who collect f.e. Hot wheel's from Mattel, Matchbox , Jhonny Lightning and Racing champion. Those cars are often not very accurate and the collector has to get all the varietis. Mattel's Hot wheel's has f.e. 'First edition' (FE), 'Limited edition' (LE) and 'Tresure hunt' (TH), several colors and series of the models, and bye changing the wheels they can make endless varietis. Take a look at the newsgroup rec.toys.cars on the internet to get a insight view of this kind of collection.
On the other hand you have those who are interested in cars. They are often oriented on a certain scale and like to have their models accurate. They study the history of the cars and have all the technical data about the cars.
There are many scale to choose from.

• 1/87 Is very common, widely used for trains too. Called HO.
• 1/76 Commonly used for military vehicle.
• 1/72 Used mainly for aeroplanes.
• 1/64 Mostly Hot wheel, Matchbox and Majorette cars. Etc.
• 1/60 Used for trucks, lorrys and busses.
• 1/55 Used for trucks, lorrys and busses.
• 1/50 Used for trucks, lorrys, busses and military vehicles.
• 1/43 The most common scale to collect ? Plenty to choice from, can be rather accurate and you don't have to buy a bigger place even if you manage to geta a thousand or so.
• 1/35 Mainly used for all kinds of military stuff.
• 1/32 Used for slot cars racing.
• 1/25 Americans love this scale.
• 1/24 All other love this scale, detail not so much better than in 1/43 scale. (If you are not to close.)
• 1/20 Bigger is better ? One car take as much space as ten in 1/43.
• 1/18 Same applay as in 1/20
• 1/16 Same applay as in 1/20 and 1/18
• 1/12 A few to choose from and take a lot of space. You have to be very selective.
• 1/9 Not very common, but from f.e.ERTL you could get VW Kubelwagen, Nsu Kettenkrad and several motorbikes.
• 1/8 Heller and Pocher make some outstanding cars in this scale.

• 1:1 18 feet full-sized automobil
• 1:12 18 inches 1 inch equals 1 foot
• 1:18 12 inches
• 1:24 9 inches
• 1:32 6.75 inches L scale
• 1:43 5 inches O scale (7mm = 1 foot)
• 1:48 4.5 inches (1/4inch = 1 foot)
• 1:55 4 inches
• 1:64 3.4 inches
• 1:76 2.84 inches OO scale
• 1:87 2.5 inches HO scale
• 1:144 1.35 inches N scale
• 1:220 1 inch Z scale

I have been able to keeping up with the news by reading English magazines f.e.
Model collector by Link house Magazines LTD Link House, Dingwall Avenue, Croydon CR9 2TA
and Diecast collector by Warners Group Publications PLC, The Maltings, West Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH,
those magazine help me to have always handy a wish list , just in case somebody is going abroad.
Swapmeating are unknown in Iceland as there are none collectors club here. I know about some who have maybe about 10-20 cars, but no they are not collecting, some cars do just appeal to some people. At last we have a diecast collector club here in Iceland . We meet twice a month in the winter time. Those who are interested to meet us can send a email to orvarm@simnet.is and I will reply where and when we meet.

	The most interesting for Icelandic collectors would be those cars connected to Iceland. Ford 1000, a small transporter made by Tekno in the years 1957 to 1966 marked Rodi ( a shop in Reykjavík) see picture. This car is 'code 1'. This model must be very rare as a Danish Tekno specialist I conntacted had never heard of or seen it. I have only picture to vitness about its existence, it did appear in Model collector magazine about 1985, the car was on auction in Germany, when I got the magazine the aucton was already over, so I have not been able to get this model. As the picture is in black & white there is no way to know in which color the car was, it could be either red/yellow or red/white..
	As I do not have any informations about the colors of the Tekno Ford 1000 it is tempting to think it was in the same color as Tekno Volkswagen bus Tekno issued later. I did therefore reproduce one in red/yellow.
	More common color combination of the Tekno ford was red/white, so I did one in those colors too.
	Volkswagen Van made by Tekno for the same shop possible at the same time. In the book Tekno Samlerkatalog printed 1997 by Samlerbörsen, there are some information about the car. The author's of this cataloga are Hans Hedegard and Dorte Johansen and they say the number is 543-43, and the Vokswagen series was made in 1959 to 1972. The Tekno Ford should then be number 546-?? and made 1957 to 1966. This model was on Ebay in mars 2005 but unfortunately it was not bought to Iceland. The picture to the left is from The Tekno catalog.
	This is a reproduced Tekno van. I got the car through www.qxl.dk, in rather sorry state. I got the decals from www.teknobil.dk where you can get decals and spareparts for many Tekno cars.
	Volkswagen Van made by Hongwell, painted in the same colors and with the same decals. A typical 'code 3' car. You could not mistake it for Tekno, because of all the chrome.
	Dodge truck made by Reykjalundur with licence from Lego around 1957-59. Maybe not the best model ever, but fun to have. The tank is a snap on so it is changeable. A flatbed version was available and a trailer too.
	After some email from Clarke Bakker an american Lego collector I was a lot wiser about those trucks. Here ar two flatbed trucks, from Shell and from The Icelandic petroleum company, the pictures are from miniland.nl but they where clearly labeled from Finland.
	Reykjalundur was rather strong in the icelandic toy market in the fifties, most children had some cars, boats, dolls or bricks made by them. Here is one Ferguson TE20 with some accessories.
	Renault L4 made by Vitesse number L141. This car was one of twenty something cars in a expedition to Iceland about 1985 and was probably only made for one year, as it probably did not sell well. It was made about 1997 or 1998 and was available at some swapmeating until 2003 but are sold out now ?
	Edal ehf. - Katla , an Icelandic company, who is importing all kinds of foods suppliment, did celebrate its 40th years anniversary, by giving its customers a diecast car. Cadillac made by Solido with the companys logo. This is a code 2 model with tampo printed logo. About 500 to 1000 where made.
	I do not own the orginal model , but I got one preproduction sample.
	Frimerkjasalan Icelandic postphil has it own diecast collector series. The first car B101 was Ford AA from Lledo in 1/64 issued 2003, 2000 was made, with the car you get an Icelandic stamp with a picture of the car and a postcart also with picture of the car. The orginal car is in a museum in Skógar at the south coast of Iceland. Unfortunately it was produced with the stearing wheel on the right side although the pre production sample had it on the left side.
	The preproduction model .The windows on the preproduction model are only half shaded and the stearing wheel is on the left.
	The second car B102 from Frimerkjasalan was issued 2004. This is Renault Eurovan the same as the Icelandic post office use. The model is from Lledo and is in 1/64 number made 1000. With the car you get a postcard with the picture of the orginal car.
	Sample of car no 2 from Frimerkjasalan. This is Ford Transit but as it was not in use at the Post office, they did choose the Renault instead.
	Later in 2005 they issued a variant of this car B102c, the difference is , on the back door there is no number "Nr 2" and instead of standard Lledo promotional box it is in yellow/red box market "Posturinn". 1500 was made there off 400 was offered to sale to collectors.
	Car no 3 from Frimerkjasalan, B103 issued 26/05 2005. It is a Bedford 30 CWT Box van 1950,it is in 1/64 as the others from Frimerkjasalan. Probably the postoffice never used a red Bedford, but the car is nice to look at. 1500 was made.
	This is a preproduction model of car no 3. The only difference is the white wheels.
	Car no 4 from Frimekjasalan B104 issued 15/07 2006. This is a Mack lorry and it is supposed to be a typical car used by the post in the years 1920 to 1930. 1224 was made. With the car you get ağ postcard with a picture of a Chevrolet 1928.
	This is the pre production model, the only difference is the sacs on the back of the car.
	Fifth car from Frimerkjasalan B105 was issued in mai 2007. This is a Landrover and it is supposed to be a typical car used by the post in the rural areas in Iceland. 1296 was made. With the car you get a postcard with a picture of a Landrover. The scale is 1/43
	Sixth car from Frimerkjasalan B106 was issued in mars 2008. This is a Bedford bus and it is supposed to be a typical bus used to transport people and post between Akranes and Akureyri about 1950. With the car you get postcard with similar busses used by the Post office . The scale is 1/76 and 2000 was made.
	Seventh car from Frimerkjasalan DG73 was issued in november 2010. This is a Volkswagen Van and is first in a series of theme cars.This one devoted to Icelandic volcanos ( Eyjafjallajokull ) The scale is 1/64 and 1500 was made.
	Eight car from Frimerkjasalan DAF LF, was issued in mai/june 2013. This car is a typical lorry used to bring post to postoffices in Reykjavik and nearby towns. 1200 was made. The model comes with a certificate of origin and a postcard without a stamp

    A few Icelandic companis have got promotional models, here are few of them.

	Volvo with a trailer from Flytjandi 500 was made. This car has printed stickers and is 1/87. It was made by Adtruck. Webpage for Flytjandi is www.flytjandi.is
	Another car from Flytjandi, 2000 was made. Probably a Daf ? in 1/87 with "Tampo" printing. Made by Adtruck.
	This one was only a sample and was never produced. This is Mercedes benz Actros with trailer, it has a printed sticker onits sides and in scale 1/87, made by Adtruck.
	Scania 113M with trailer from Landfluttningar with "Tampo" printing, in 1/87, made by PP models. No information about how many was made. Webside for Landflutiongar Samskip is www.landflutningar.is
	Jonar Transport have Mercedes benz Actros with trailer. It has a printed sticker on its sides and the scale is 1/87. It is made by Elawo models. Wivapromotion B.V. did handle the layout of the model. In total 500 were made, 350 were distribute in Iceland and the rest, 150 abroad. Webside for Jonar Transport is www.jonar.is
	Samskip truck and container, 1/160 made of plastic by Herpa
	Samskip truck and container, 1/87 made of plastic by Herpa
	Mercedes Bens sprinter from Vorubill, "Tampo" printing 1000 pieces, in 1/87 or a litle bit smaller scale. . Made by Adtruck.
	Hydrogen bus from Reykjavik. The only one in my collection made of paper. Scale about 1/64 SVR Straeto bs has been using hydrogen busses for a few years.

a few car connected to Iceland ghas been on Ebay, they are code 1,code 2 and code 3. I have got few of them.

International truck with trailer from Winross, marked Iceland seafood, rather crude model.

Jaguar XKR in 1/43 used in the Bond film Die another day , part of that film was filmed in Iceland 2002. The car is on Icelandic registration plates. Model made by Minichamps. Also availible in 1/18 from ERTL.

The Icelandic registration plate. In the middle there should be "05" instead of "02" as the sticker tells when to bring the car to inspection

Ford Transit from Lledo, marked Iceland food shops, partly own by Baugur from Iceland.