1:64 scale is a LIE

Once upon a time scale was scale. If I drafted something in, say, 1/4 inch to the foot, my carpenter knew to measure the drawing in inches, then multiply by four to get the number of feet in the real dimention (actually, all he really needed was a scale rule, which is a special type of ruler that does the math for you). When I bought an HO scale train car, it was 1/87th the length, width, and height of the real thing; if I bought it in O scale, it was 1/48th. Not 1/47th, not 1/49th: 1/48th.

Below, from left to right are a a Jeep Cherokee, a London double-decker bus, a 2006 Ford Crown Victoria police car, a 1997 Land Rover Defender 110, and a 1963 Cadillac hearse. According to some who deal in die cast cars, all are 1:64 scale.


According to the manufacturer (Matchbox - which is really now Mattel (who also owns Hot Wheels - that's right, Matchbox and Hot Wheels are the same company these days, which may explain some of the slip in quality in Matchbox products)) the Jeep is in 1:58 scale, the police car is in 1:71, the Land Rover is actually in 1:64, and the hearse is in 1:81. The scale of the bus isn't given, but unless we're prepared to argue that a Land Rover is about as long as a double-decker bus, that bus isn't even close to 1:64 scale.

EDIT: 26 Mar 2008 11:14AM: The bus looks like a Routemaster, whose standard length was 27 feet, six inches, according to Wikipedia. The model itself is almost exactly three inches long, which would make the scale 1:110. This is almost half the scale of the Jeep.
EDIT: 27 October 2009 6:43 PM: Later packaging identifies the bus as a Routemaster.