Tin toys were made in Canada before World War II already, and Londontoy, a company owned by the American toymaker Louis Marx, produced diecast model cars in the 1940s. Later, several Canadian producers released plastic toy cars, and the Strombecker slot cars from the 1960s were also made in Canada. In more recent times, some Canadian manufacturers made 1/43rd scale handbuilt white metal model cars. Brooklin, one of the most important companies in this sector, was founded by John Hall in Brooklin (Ontario) in 1974 and moved production to England only in 1979. Like Brooklin, Mini Auto Emporium and Durham Classics concentrated on models of classic American cars in the early 1980s. Durham Classics, founded in Oshawa on the shore of Ontario Lake in 1980, was soon the only remaining Canadian manufacturer of white metal model cars. Finally, Promotex, founded in 1987 as North American distributor of Herpa models, also manufactures its own range of 1/87th scale plastic models in Altona (Manitoba). Several cars by the big US companies General Motors and Ford which were assembled in Canada have been modelled by various model car manufacturers - namely the Ford Crown Victoria, released in many different police liveries by companies such as Road Champs, Gearbox and others, particular versions of the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado pick-ups, as well as the Monarch and Acadian cars built in Canada by Ford and General Motors in the 1950s and 1960s. A detailed 1/43rd scale resin model of the Bricklin sports car, built in St. John's (Ontario) in the mid-1970s for a short time, was Automodello from the USA in 2010, and since 2002 already Tim Palmer from Fairbanks (Alaska) has made 1/25th scale models in limited quantities in his "Bricklin Factory". A 1/43rd scale resin model of another Canadian sports car from the 1970s, the Manic GT, was released by Autocult in 2015. Finally, there are also some models of Canadian-built commercial vehicles, namely Prevost buses made by the American manufacturer Tonkin Replicas, New Flyer buses by Iconic Replica, as well as the Siku model of the Argo Avenger, a small amphibious vehicle.
Canada