Wanna ride a dinky in Lahore?

A resident of Allama Iqbal Town, Lahore has stunned people with a collection of more than 4,000 dinkies (toy cars) at his home. A 39-year-old Aamir Ashfaq has been collecting dinkies for the last 31 years, consisting of various car models. Aamir claims that he has the biggest collection of dinkies in Pakistan. Passionate about his hobby, Aamir has designated a special room in his house to place the toy cars.

Aamir is married and has three daughters. Talking to Pakistan Today, he said that although his daughters were not much interested in cars collection but they help him while cleaning the dinkies.

Aamir’s dinkies have various interesting features including hoods, trunks, doors and fuel caps that open, ashtrays that slide out and glove compartments that work are some of the realised features. Some models of cars even have hanging ignition keys and removable hood pins to open the hood. Most have working steering and suspension with real materials used in interiors. Aamir said, “New models have always attracted me, whereas, Eidul Fitr, was the day full of excitement for me each year because car models were presented to me as Eid gifts from my parents. Similarly, I always preferred to purchase dinkies from my Eidy.”

Aamir has a variety of toy car models such as Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Buick, Cadillac, Pontiac, Plymouth and Dodge, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Audi, Porsche, Volkswagen, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati, Fiat, Peugeot, Renault, Citroen, Rolls Royce, Rover, MG, Austin Martin, Austin Healey, Lotus, Morgan, Land Rover, Range Rover, Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Isuzu, Mazda, Toyota, Lexus, Subaru, Saab, Volvo, Holden, Ford, Hyundai and others.

Talking about his wishes, Aamir said, “It is my dream to drive the world’s fastest sports car Bugatti Veyron. This kind of treasure takes decades to build, hours and hours of care but if you have the passion then all that hard work brings pleasure and always keeps a smile of satisfaction on your face.”

Aamir also possesses antique cars such as Nascar, London Bus, London Taxi, American school Bus and Hollywood movies cars such as Knight Rider, Dukes of Hazard, Gone in 60, The Italian Job, Fast & the Furious Series, Back to the Future, the animated movie Cars and various cartoon characters. Aamir said that his parents always facilitated him in the collection of cars, especially his father told him about the matchbox dinky, made in the UK and Majorette dinky cars, made in France, which were easily available at super stores in Lahore worth Rs 10 in 1977-1978. The friction power Tin dinkies, made in Japan, were also available in Pakistan in the 70s at Rs 25.

Related:  My Passion Collection