The
history of Sinclair's Mini-Auto goes back almost 40 years, long before
the "mints" started selling scale model cars. As a matter of fact
Dave Sinclair started the whole industry. His was the first company
to sell  miniature auto collector items by mail. In the mid-Sixties
Dave Sinclair was Advertising & Sales Promotion Manager for a corporation
in Rochester, New York. He had long been fascinated with the mail
order business and operated a tiny sideline business selling miscellaneous
imported novelties. One of them happened to be an early Rolls Royce
that was silver-plated and mounted on a black porcelain ashtray. He
began getting letters stating "I loved that little car! What other
little cars do you have? Preferably without ash trays attached".
Eureka!
That would be his specialty.
In those days the only miniature cars you
could buy in department store toy sections were Matchbox, Dinky, and
Corgi. All die cast in England and aimed more at the kid's market
than to adult collectors. Dave reasoned that there must be miniature
cars made in other countries besides England and after much travel
and correspondence he found 1:43 die cast in Italy, France, Germany,
Denmark, and other countries that seemed actually to be made realistic
enough to be adult collector items. He began to import them and  for
a few years was the exclusive dealer in the U.S.A.
The only problem was that those die cast firms
made primarily miniatures of European cars. He could get lots of Fiats,
Alfa Romeo, VW, Mercedes, etc. but the die casters made only a rare
Corvette or Ford Model T. While collectors liked some of the exotic
imports they eventually longed for some American car models and sales
began to slow down. To keep the business afloat Dave diversified.
He sold hundreds of larger 1:8 scale Kits of Alfa Romeo, Mercedes
and Rolls Royce. He even imported ½ scale Ford GT 40s and Ferraris
with gas engines from France and a wonderful ½ scale battery powered
Bentley that had adjustable pedals so father or son could drive it.
You see Dave driving it himself in the photo on this page. These three
½ scale models sold for $999 each in the late Sixties and early Seventies.
Then some enthusiasts in England, primarily,
found they could hand mold 1:43 cars from white metal. At first they
offered them in kit form, which sold well in Europe but few Americans
had the time or patience to build them. When firms such as Western
in England and Brooklin in
 Canada started offering these models of
American cars ready built; sales began to boom even though the prices
were considerably higher than the kits were. Dies to make die cast
models are very expensive, averaging about $200,000.00 today. So die casters are limited as to how many different ones they can make and
they must limit themselves to those that will have a wide sales appeal.
They can't risk that kind of money on obscure
marques such as Hupmobiles and Bantams. Since the white metal modelers
make only an average of 250 pieces they can afford to make limited
interest cars as well as unlimited numbers of different Cadillac's
or Chevy's whereas the die casters might only be able to afford to
make a few different years. Sinclair's Auto Miniatures Inc. (Mini-Auto)
specializes today in handmade 1:43 scale autos although they do carry
some 1:24, 1:18, and other scales and some outstanding die cast models.
While die cast models are widely available Mini-Auto is one of very
few dealers in handmade models and carries more handmade lines by
far than anyone in the business.
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