Editing Model car (section)

=== The plastic promo ===

About the time Banthrico was declining as a promotional maker, two companies, [[Product Miniature Company|PMC]] and Ideal Models (later to become [[Jo-Han]]) were introducing plastic promotional models to the public. Similar to metal model producer Banthrico, PMC also made many in the form of banks. Many Chevrolet bank models had the inscription on the bottom "To help save for a rainy day, or to buy a new Chevrolet." The scale for these cars was 1:25, however a few Chevrolets and Plymouths were produced in a larger 1:20 scale. Other less well known plastic companies like Lincoln Line, Cruver or Burd Manufacturing, made the occasional promotional model though cars may not have been the company's specialty.{{sfn|Consumer Guide|1979|pp=34&ndash;37}}

AMT began producing assembled 1/25 friction and [[coaster models]] in 1948. These were mostly promotional models manufactured for automobile dealers. Youngsters would be given the scale models to play with while the parents and the salesman haggled. Collecting and trading these "promos" soon became a popular hobby. AMT soon took control of SMP, another plastic promotional model producer. By 1960, Wisconsin-based PMC ceased to produce promo models, though continued to make toys.

Interest in the hobby peaked during the 1950s and 1960s, with AMT, Jo-Han, and [[Model Products Corporation]] (MPC) as the primary promotional manufacturers.

Throughout, the promo producers were at the whim of the real automakers and would respond to requests of particular scales, paint colors, and other details like working suspensions or even, on occasion, detailed engines, or other opening features.{{sfn|Doty|2000a|pp=88&ndash;89}}