Introduction

I wanted to provide some background as to what I collect. I focus on 1:18 scale Lane Exact Detail Replica diecast cars from Lane Collectables. Lane Collectables is a division of Lane Automotive. I find it unique that a parts distributor and manufacturer decided to start producing their own line of diecasts. When originally sold, Lane Exact Detail cars fit the niche of around $80-$110. Unfortunately, they don't make these models any more so the Lane collection is finite. Since I am not an original collector, it does take some effort to find these models. Lane manufactured diecast cars for model years 1965-1972 that included some of the America’s most iconic muscle cars, such as Shelbys, Camaros, Oldsmobiles, Firebirds, and Chevelles.

The Series

Exact Detail Replicas were released from 1999 through 2009 in 7 separate series, noted below with replica ID’s:

1965-66 Shelby (replica ID’s 101-119)

1967-68 Camaros (replica ID’s 201-227) (Supercars editions are 228-229?)

1970-72 Oldsmobiles (replica ID’s 301-313)

1967-1968 Firebirds (replica ID’s 401-410)

1965 Chevelles/Malibus (replica ID’s 501-508)

1970 Chevelles (replica ID’s 601-605A)

1967-68 Shelbys (replica ID’s 701-710)

How many are there?

I have identified about 130-135 cars that were produced by Lane. I’d like to say it’s pretty easy to add up the numbers and get to the total number of cars released, but it’s not that easy. The 1967-68 Camaro series has 41 cars in it while the 1970 Chevelle series has 7. Interspersed in some of these series are replica numbers with an additional “A”, “R”, etc., which are for models with particular features. For example, the 1967-68 Shelby series includes a replica ID of “702Z”, and the car with replica ID “703” also has a promo version. There are also some cars such as special gold or platinum versions that commemorate 80th and 100th anniversaries. To add to the confusion, diecast distributors such as Supercar Collectibles had Lane produce cars just for them. In the case of Supercar Collectibles, I have only identified two of the Supercar diecast versions. There are undoubtedly more, but since they aren’t produced anymore I am forced to rely on them periodically popping up on sites like Ebay, Amazon, etc. Theoretically, I guess you could consider Supercar versions as a separate series. I think at some point, when I acquire a few of them, I will probably consider them as a separate series. For now, since I only have one, I keep them within the original Lane diecast series structure. 

Holiday Cars

There is one particular subset of Exact Detail cars that I do consider to be the “8^th’ series. These cars were not available to the general public and were given out as holiday gifts to company employees of Motor State Distributing, which is an affiliated company of Lane Automotive. There were 12 cars in this "Holiday" series given away from 2001 through 2012 around Christmas of each year. Some are slightly different versions of previously issued diecasts, with variants in paint and detail. But the last three diecast holiday models, 2010, 2011, and 2012, are diecast models that were not produced by Lane, since they stopped producing cars in 2009. Ertl now produces cars for the Lane holiday giveaways. The diecasts for each of those years appear to be original Ertl diecasts since they are cars that were never part of any Lane diecast series. I have recently learned that Lane has licensed their diecasts to other manufactures so it is possible that the Lane models will continue on with different producers.

What do I have?

I have a modest collection of 41 cars, including 8 of the 12 holiday cars. Because the models are 10-11” in length they do take up quite a bit of display space, however, I do not have a warehouse or special room for them so they reside in my den behind glass, if they’re not in their box. I will post some pics of my cars soon. I hope you enjoyed my collection summary. Thanks for taking the time to read it.