While Diecast Detective wasn’t live at the very start of 2025, our data engine certainly was. In most cases, our tracking stretches back more than five years — and in some instances, more than 25! We love data, and that depth means we can look at 2025 in full context. And what a year it turned out to be.

We’ve distilled the headline numbers into the infographic below, but a few of the standout facts are worth calling out:

• The top-selling model of the year wasn’t 1:18 or 1:50 — the two scales that dominate overall volume — but the far rarer and more obscure 1:8 scale.
  
  

• The Market Pulse Index finished the year up 11.8%, with 77% of that growth driven by just three models: the original Drake Collectibles Mack Bicentennial releases — Ludwig Leichhardt, Matthew Flinders, and Henry Lawson.
  
  

• Strip those Bicentennial models out and market growth was a more modest 2.7%, bookended by Biante’s 1972 Brock Bathurst Winner (+27.9%) at the top end and the 2007 Bathurst-winning BF Falcon of Lowndes/Whincup (-17.5%) at the other.
  
  

• 4,300 models were added to the database over the year including more than 1,200 1:43 scale (a total which now stands at nearly 1,600).
  
  

• 35,000 sales were added in total — a figure that includes historic transactions beyond 2025, reflecting the depth of data already sitting behind the scenes and ready to be surfaced as members request specific models to be added to the database.