New Ray vs Road Champs vs Road Signature etc.

Franklin Mint would be my first choice. Road Champs and Dinky would be next on the list. New Ray is not a bad quality item for the price.

I have found Yat ming not too bad.

I have the Yat Ming '49 Cadillac, '48 Ford wagon, and the '50 and '58 Studebakers displayed with very expensive models. The only "bummers", IMO, are the '57 Chevys.

ilike franklin mint 50's cars-opening hood w/engine-doors that open-still like road champs next-was addicted to buby collectibles-not cheap-brooklyn's are the nicest buit expensive.

I like the Yat Ming and Road Signature models at their price point best for the most part. I will say the Matchbox/Dinky 1:43 models are really nice. I've added 4 or 5 over the years, including my favorite: 57 Nomad (which is superior to the Yat Ming model). They have a nice weight to them, decent detail for the price. Depending on what your budget is, for $5-7 more than say a Yat Ming or Road Signature they are definitely worth it if they are going to be in a highly visible place on the layout.    

This '57 Chevy Nomad origionally carried the Vitesse name, before Matchbox/Dinky started making them...so I have it in red, black, and turquoise blue. The blue one is hard to find. I had to buy it from a seller in Israel.

I have lots of makes and I find they all have some good points and bad points. Side view mirrors missing, saggy doors if they open with large unrealistic gaps, silver painted headlights, large mounting nubs on the bottom, metal flakes in the paint and a host of other downers plague many of these makes. The more you pay the more detailed they get I find. I most definitely noticed you can get classic cars with convertible tops by the truck loads. But hard tops are a little harder to find. A city full of classic cars is not realistic to me.  I am waiting on a dinky ambulance from Europe and will work on it as soon as it gets here. I will order new decals for it, touch up the paint a bit and call it a day.

How about Matchbox 1:43?

I purchased several of the Matchbox Collectibles 1:43 die cast car sets during the 1990's. I paid the msrp.[sucka!] when I purchase

them mail order. IF you can get them for less IMHO They are nicely detailed and worth below the $20.00 ea. Most of the Matchbox collectables are 1960's-1980's muscle cars and convertibles. the only cautionary matchbox collectables are the "1970's-1990's big rigs' [18 wheelers] they appear too small- smaller than 1;50 even though 'matchbox collectibles' claims 1;50 scale.

The matchbox are very nice - hard to find in good shape - the old ones at least.. New Ray - I have plenty and they are in a box somewhere, not really pleased with them.  The best 1:43 I think are the (very expensive) American Excellence models. Just gorgeous.  Spark and Bezarre are very good, too.   Solido makes some good models and Vitesse are good, too.  Brooklin models vary - all are heavy and well cast but only some have enough detial to really look good, but they cost so much you really, really have to want that particular money to part with them. 

SunStar makes some very nice inexpensive cars. Their '55 Chevy convert is far better than the Franklin Mint or Buby/CC versions. Others include a '59 Chevy, '56 Ford, '47 Chrysler T&C, and a '59 Nash Metropolitan.