[25th Countach]

Id like to say I have 60 1:18s and love each and every one. Ive bought a bunch at a big box discount store for about 10bux. Ive bought 1 at a little shop up in Vermont. Ive bought others for 19.99 in stores (various buy one get one's).. average price Ive paid is about 25.00. And most of them are made by Maisto. I also am good with a hot glue gun and have put one or two cars together.. and have repaired cars also.

The quality is decent, doors open, hood and trunk open. Many details are decent (if you arent totally anal and very detail oriented in the cars).

I do have a couple Countach's and a couple Diablos.. and its amazing the differences in production.

The AUTOART cars are some very very nice vehicles. My belief only,.. Maisto always says theres a limited production or some sort of exclusivity.. but there isnt. They make a couple hundred thousand. I also belief the designs, decals, effort put into the AUTOART cars are some fantasic pieces. But they also cost about double of what Maisto charges. Then again depends where ya get it.. "middle man" or not.

In the end.. ya get what ya pay for. And Im sure I could have 1/2 the cars I have now and have spent equal money.

But do stay away from AUTOshow exhibitors.. unless you know how to make a deal. The prices are far too high for what they paid.

Id also like to say.. 1:18 is a fantastic scale for getting a beter look and being able to display them, show them off and have them look good. The matchbox ones are also nice, but I want to see the car. The 1:24 that the Franklin Mint offers.. are also amazingly detailed vehicles. They also charge 2-3x the price of Maisto. But its the Mint. id buy them.. but I like to stay within my 1:18 scale. Going lower.. impedes on my view and examination of the cars. The 1:12 is a step larger and costlier. It also depends on what ya get, how big and where ya get it from.