The Yat Ming Story - part 3
by Doug Breithaupt

The Yat Ming story continues with models number 1101-8915 and 801-899 (Yat Ming Story part 1) (Yat Ming Story part 2). Models in the 1100 range appear to all be military tanks and helicopters. The 1200 range includes four new models. The 1300 range begins with an assortment of Formula 1 cars. Most if not all of these are copies of models produced in the 1970's by Polistil. Number 1306 and 1309 are labeled as such in the 2001 yat Ming catalogue but both have the number 1306 on the base. The remailing 1300 series models are either motorctcles, construction equiptment, semi-trucks or twin-packs. The 1500 series includes a van, school bus and military vehicles. The 1600 series is a mix of Jeeps and pickup trucks. Number 1700 is a single model of the Chevrolet LUV Pickup.

I do not have all the military, construction and semi-trucks in my collection and cannot identify individual models. These models have been grouped into their series of like vehicles.

1101-1107 Military tanks and helicopters


1201 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Sedan


1202 (Ferrari 355)


1203 (BMW Z3)


1204 (Mercedes-Benz SLK)

1301 "Honda" Formula Race Car

1302 "Ferrari" Formula Race Car

1303 "March" Formula Race Car

1304 McLaren-Ford


1305? F1 Car (un-labeled)


1306 Brabham BT44 #7


1307 Lotus 72


1308 Hesketh 308


1309 Brabham BT44 #9


1310 Ferrari 312 B3


1311 Lola T370


1312 BRM P210

1339 Motorcycle

1351-1371 Construction Equiptment

1372 Touring Bus

1381-1392 - Semi-Trucks and twin packs

1501 Ford Econoline Van (same as 899)

1502 Ford School Bus

1503-1509 Military Vehicles


1601 Chevy Stepside, older issues have opening tailboard

1602 Jeep CJ-7, opening hood


1603 Jeep CJ-7, opening hood, revised casting of 1602

1607 California Pickup Sneaky Pete


1608 Jeep convertible


1700 Chevrolet LUV Pickup


The 2300 series are all the same truck with different rear bodies. The 3100 and 3800 series appear to be friction and pull-string models. The 7100 models are ones that would seem more natural in the 1000 series. Why they were numbered differently is not clear. The first four 8900 series models are all cars for the 1950's. The remaining 8900 series models are more modern cars.

2301-2310 Commercial Trucks with different rear bodies

3104 Mazda RX-7, friction motor

3801 BMW 635 CSi, pull-string

3802 Pontiac Firebird, pull-string

3804 Benz 500SEC, pull-string

3806 984 Chevrolet Corvette, pull-string

3807 Porsche 944, pull-string


7114 Toyota Celica


7116 Silvia Hatchback 2000ZSE-X


8901 1959 Ford Fairlane 500 convertible


8902 1953 Cadillac Series 62 convertible



8903 1948 Lagonda 2.6 litre convertible


8904 1950 Buick Roadmaster convertible


8911 Ferrari Testarossa 512TR


8912 Ford Granada

8913 Volvo 760GLE


8915 Mercedes-Benz


The 800 series models are Yat Ming's budget line. Most are sold in large multi-model assortments. A few, like the Volvo and Toyota Rav4 are sold in individual packages or twin-packs. While these models are quite basic, they do have interiors and dark plastic windows. What make them a bit more interesting are some of the seldom-seen models offered in this line. For their low price, they are a reasonable value to the collector. Number 899 is the same casting as number 1501 and not part of the budget line.

801 1980's Chevrolet Camaro


802 Ferrari 328GTB


803 1980's Pontiac Firebird


804 BMW 850i


805 Toyota Celica


806 Lexus


807 Mazda RX-7


808 Nissan 240SX

809 Chevrolet Corvette C4


810 Honda Prelude


811 Porsche 911


812 Mercedes-Benz 500SL


813 Chevrolet Pickup

814 Jeep


815 Peugeot


816 Audi 80


818 Ford (European)

819 1990 Pontiac Grand Prix Coupe

820 Mercedes-Benz 380 SEL


821 Mercedes-Benz 190 E

822 Chevrolet 1500 Pickup

823 Chevrolet Caprice


824 Volvo 850 Wagon


825 Toyota RAV4

826 Toyota Previa

827 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee Police

828 1993 Chevrolet Camaro

828 "1993 Chevrolet Camaro" Police with light bar


829 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan


899 Van (same as 1501)


This concludes our review of Yat Ming's 1:64 scale models. If you can add to the list or provide missing images, please contact me at doug@breithaupts.com. I would like to thank Dave Weber, Mark Foster and Kimmo Sahakangas for their help in getting Yat Ming model data and reference materials for this list.