Who wouldn't want their kid to drive a 917?Half Scale Cars: 917K

Half Scale Cars: You never knew you needed this, until now!

Have a kid you want to turn into a petrolhead or just want a 1:2 scale model of your prized possession, look no further.

Before I was old enough to drive an actual car, I was fortunate to have one of those pedal cars to make me think I was driving the real thing. I’ll be honest, it was pretty ugly. It was red and blue and more importantly it was shaped like an egg. But, it had four wheels and a steering wheel, that’s all I cared about! However, a company called Half Scale Cars in the UK is making cars specifically for your children to drive that are cooler. Much cooler.

What are they?

Well, as the name suggests they’re cars built to half the scale of the originals. And they aren't building family hatchbacks — they’ve made a replica of a Porsche 917K, a Jaguar E-Type, a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR and a bunch of other cool cars. Of course, you can request them to build your pride and joy and they would happily oblige. While my childhood car had my legs as a propulsion system, these have an actual motor! The engines depend on each model — the 917K gets a 350cc Yamaha motor while the E-Type and the 300SLR can be had with either a 45cc two-stroke engine or an electric motor. If that didn’t excite the kid inside you already, get this — the models have working lights, a horn and a key to start them! There are actual disc brakes too. The cars have a steel chassis and a glass reinforced plastic body.

Beautiful, even when it is half as bigHalf Scale Cars: Roadster

Your kid would instantly become cooler!Half Scale Cars: Roadster

I wish I could be a kid again!Half Scale Cars: Roadster

Perhaps the coolest factor of these is that you can customise the cars — don’t like the Gulf livery on the 917? You can have any livery you want! They offer a range of colour options ranging from solid, metallic, metal flake and candy finishes. The interiors can be custom too — the colour of the leather and the carpet can be chosen and the steering wheel can be either trimmed in wood or be solid aluminium. But that’s not all. You can also customise the colour of the stitch or the piping on the seat and choose a pattern on your leather in your kid’s E-Type. I almost forgot, you can also have a custom number plate on the front and back, if you wanted it to match your actual car or just want your kid to be a baller.

Why?

I wouldn't mind turning up to work in thisHalf Scale Cars: 917K

The steering wheel is detachable too, just like the real thingHalf Scale Cars: 917K

The attention to detail is shockingHalf Scale Cars: 917K

Imagine this — you have a garage full of exotic beauties and an enthusiastic little kid who loves cars. What does he drive? Surely daddy’s Porsche 911 GT2 RS is out of bounds. These half scale cars are perfect! You can order one to match your car exactly and officially convert your kid into a petrolhead for life. A wise man once said, “Raise your kid with a car addiction, so they don’t have money for a drug addiction”. There is no better way to get them hooked. Moreover, if you’re an average sized adult, you can probably squeeze in one of these cars too! Unless its a half-sized Mini.

We're speechlessHalf Scale Cars: 722 Racer

How?

Log on to their website, or drop them a message on Instagram — they ship worldwide. Pricing is available on request, only if you’re a serious buyer. Remember that these are properly bespoke cars, the level of detail is properly insane. The 300 SLR? It was a project in collaboration with the late and great Sir Stirling Moss, and a limited number of those cars were signed by the legend himself. So don’t expect these to be cheap. However, considering it takes almost two months to build each car to the customer’s exact specification, they surely are worth it.

Images by: Nat Twiss

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