Micro Machines

If you were a kid in the 1990s, you almost certainly played with Micro Machines. The makers claimed they were the smallest toy cars in the world – and they were probably right, as most were less than an inch long.

Thanks to their low-friction wheels, Micro Machines could zoom across the floor at incredible speed, as the burglars in the 1990 film Home Alone discovered when they stepped on the collection that Macaulay Culkin had spread out at the foot of the staircase.

The San Francisco-based company behind Micro Machines was founded in the ’50s by Lewis Galoob, who launched this ingenious new line in 1987. He was bought out by toy giant Hasbro 12 years later and production continued until about 2007. In a good year, such as 1994, these little cars generated $113 million in sales.

Minute though they were, Micro Machines featured all sorts of gimmicks: some could change colour in the sunlight; others hinged open to reveal an even tinier vehicle inside; the ‘X Ray’ series was transparent so that all the interior detail could be seen. You could buy playsets, buildings,

garages and carrying cases to keep them in. They weren’t all car-related, either: there were boats, aircraft, space shuttles and even dinosaurs, and lots of licensed movie tie-ins that led to Micro Machines sets on the themes of Star Wars, James Bond,

Star Trek, Indiana Jones and more. Micro Machines are a fairly recent product and that means prices are still generally low today, but one enthusiast claims on his website that he has the world’s largest collection of the world’s smallest cars – 6224 to date – so they offer plenty of scope.