The Danbury Mint has gone out of the car business. The Connecticut-based collectibles company, known for its finely honed 1:24 scale replicas of classic cars, announced recently that it would no longer include the die-cast cars among its lineup.
The final offering was a limited-edition model of a 1935 Ford Deluxe three-window coupe, of which the company produced 2,500 versions that quickly sold out.
Danbury Mint has been marketing the die-cast replicas for more than 20 years, producing hundreds of brands rendered in miniature. But the two Chinese factories that produced the cars have closed, the company said, leaving it with no production facilities. The rising cost of producing the high-quality models was also cited for ending their sales.
The Danbury Mint website includes no mention of model-car sales, but shows the company’s continuing concentration on jewelry, commemorative coins, sports memorabilia and figurines.