Matchbox / Hot Wheels really HO Scale? - Model Railroader Magazine

I have a couple of the old Lindberg HO vehicle kits, that seem to measure out fairly close to what they should be, so I use them as comparisons.  I also have a couple old Varney and Life-Like cars that seem a bit small.  My son had a fair collection of Matchbox, Hotwheels, and others, and some of them match up pretty well with the Lindberg, some are larger and wider, some are obviously smaller.  I;ve purchased some of the Matchbox and other industrial type equiopment, like garbage trucks, fork lifts, and as long as a scale figure looks right along side it, I accept it regardless of what a scale rule says.  Right now, I kind of figure some of the custom hot rod cars and imagineered ones would look good at a local restaraunt for a Friday afternoon type car show, which is fairly common around here.

I personally think these cars are built to a particular wheel base and tread specification, plus TLAR, rather than any particular exact scale.  They could run from 1/64 to maybe 1/96 scale.  For our purposes, it's probably a matter of if it looks like it fits, its close enough to 1.87 as to not matter.