I recently had a friend and fellow die cast collector tell me he wasn’t much in to the Johnny Lightning brand. It really got me to thinking about why I branched out from buying exclusively Hot Wheels and Matchbox fairly early on in my collecting “habit” and currently collect items from JL, HW, MBX, M2 Machines, Green Light, Auto World and a very select few items offered by Jaida. Here is some of my experiences with just a few of the currently competing die cast brands.

My experience with M2’s has been a very consistently produced cars with an extremely high level of detail with livery “and paint to result in a beautiful presentation of the finished product. The one drawback I have noted with the M2’s is that they all seem kind of lightweight despite their die cast construction and often times I find loose parts rattling around inside the clear plastic presentation box that they come in when new (I feel compelled to say that I do not find this to be the case when purchasing M2’s sold in the blister packs and/or with a card). These are typically parts that have come loose or broken off the car most likely from having been dropped or handled roughly. The rough handling can also result in cracking of the clear plastic presentation cases that they are often times sold in.

My experience with Johnny Lightning is that they are a company that has been at the craft for quite awhile so they’re not new to the industry. I have found that JL consistently produces a very high quality product that you can feel from the moment you pick them up due to the weight and solid construction. JL too, has a very high level of detail that is most pleasing to the eye when you first behold one of them. They tend to remain realistic in proportion, size and detail to real life counterparts but they do also delve into fictional representations of vehicles from popularized movies, television shows and popular culture. I often wonder why JL has not realized as much as, if not more success than HW and MBX among today’s collectors.

Green Light is another brand that I find myself pulling off the pegs to look at and buy quite often. I would say that GL cars and vehicles are probably most comparable to JL but they don’t always feel as solid and heavy as the JL’s and the packaging of the GL’s can not hold a flame to that of the JL’s either in my personal opinion. Green Light products are heavy on the pop culture items but you can also find a very good inventory of real to life vehicle castings as well. Though not quite as affordable as the HW and MBX main lines, Green Light will usually beat out any competitors of similar quality in pricing.

Auto World, though mentioned last is far from last when comparing like products. AW has arguably the closest to true scale castings of any of the die cast manufacturers out there. Their cars/vehicles are mostly all representative of what you would see in the real world with very few if any fantasy, fiction or concept deviations from real life productions. They have the heavy feel when in your hand usually indicative of high quality construction made of high quality materials and true die cast metal. What AW may or may not lack in flair and imagination is made up for in the realism and quality of product department.

Jaida was the first manufacturer to spark my interest in collecting die cast cars with their “Muscle Machines” line of castings. Though Jaida introduced me to the world of die cast my taste quickly grew out of their “cartoonish” looking exaggerated style of castings in favor of a bit more realistic looking castings coming out of some of the other die cast manufacturers product lines. Jaida truly has their own style of castings that clearly sets them apart from their competitors but some might argue they lack that heavier feel of solidly built die cast, though I’ve never had any break or fall apart on me. Their representations are imaginative but light on the realism scale if that is what you are pursuing. Still I find myself running across a casting that will turn my head and make me take second admiring look.

Whatever your taste in toy cars, or reasons for buying them, Im sure that there are plenty of choices out there to suit your needs. If you pay close attention and have a clear idea of what you’re looking for, you are certain to find something that pleases your taste and style.