Britain's Toy Car Wars: The War of Wheels Between Dinky, Corgi and Matchbox

If you were a lad growing up in the 50s and 60s, a post war baby boomer, then this book has to be for you. Starting with Matchbox because they were affordable but quickly moving to Dinky and the windows of Corgi, I found this book a real kick in the nostalgics!! Giles has hit all the sweet spots and shows us all the icons of our childhood where the competition drove due-cast greatness. Oh the joy of that Christmas when a rich uncle turned up with a Dinky Supertoys Foden Regent tanker. Buy this book and remind yourself of a great childhood, you won't regret it!

Looks at the story of the three companies and their rivalries, successes and failures in depth. Tells their stories well and is good value. Firmly bound hardback. Has images, if limited. My main issue is with the typeface - it is a thin sans font that makes reading less pleasant. Goodness knows why this was chosen. Hence one star less (A 'Lone Star' - perhaps scope for a book here too....)

This book isn't a catalogue of all the models produced but a really interesting history of the makers. From sometimes basic backgrounds these iconic toy makers went on to rule the model world for many years, all of them encompassing my early memories. The sad decline in the markets is also recorded. A real nostalgic reminder with plenty of good pictures. This book will undoubtedly encourage the reader to discover more! A helping hand is the discography, but be aware that some of the more detailed reference books are quite expensive!

Not enough photos of the model’s to much text

I’m not British and wanted to learn about the die cast toys my wife and her brother played with when little; I found it really interesting, may be not as good as a collector of these brands would think; I would have liked web sites where I could buy some of these for my son.

This reminded me of my childhood. I saved my pocket money each week to buy a toy car. Unlike Giles I lacked the wisdom to see the financial value and each toy was played with to destruction.Happy times and a great book.

This was a gift for a man who has everything and is very nostalgic when it comes to toy cars . He really liked it.

Easy reading and very informative.