Sideswipe: January 5: The largest auto manufacturer is not Toyota

Miles of style.

While Toyota was busy celebrating its status as the world’s largest car company after selling 9.5 million cars in 2020, Hot Wheels – the maker of the smaller versions that litter living rooms around the world – was already well past the 500 million mark. After starting out in California in 1968, Hot Wheels began with a single dark blue Custom Chevrolet Camaro but quickly grew into the “Original Sweet Sixteen” range. There were plenty of hot rods and muscle cars with engines that popped from the hood. The genuis of this toy was the added accessories ... ”up to 30ft of special track and accessories, so you can race ‘em or stunt ‘em”, said the brand’s original marketing material. From the original 16 models in 1968 to more than 20,000 in 2022. The limited-edition models are in hot demand, with its shrunken Gucci Cadillac Seville replica now commanding up to $750 on the second-hand market.

You shall not pass!

One call and it's Aragorn.

Bad fiction awards

The annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest calls for entrants to “compose opening sentences to the worst of all possible novels”. This was a dishonourable mention: “Tony Angel walked Fiona back to the car and handed her the leash, if only he hadn’t thrown the ball so hard; it had marred an otherwise perfect first date on the White Cliffs of Dover.” (Lizzie Nelson, Wheaton, IL)

Confessions

“I have OCD. I think I control it quite well but my missus says I’m getting worse. She doesn’t know this but recently I’ve started washing the dirty road signs around town. The before-and-after photographs I take are ridiculously satisfying for me.”