#261 MICRO MACHINES – INSIDERS COLLECTION #1, #3, #6 and #18 (1990 and 1991)

The insiders were first released in 1990. These new Micromachines were slightly larger than Ultrafast Micromachines and their great feature was that they could be “opened” revealing a smaller car in its interior. These small cars are probably some of the smallest toy cars ever made, and they even have 4 independent rolling wheels.

Surprisingly, there were 20 collection made of these, each of them with two different models. In case of Collection #1, the cars were:

• ’55 T-Bird conceals Ultrasmall ’55 T-Bird
• ’55 Vette conceals Ultrasmall ’55 Vette

In some cases the concealing car and the concealed car are the same model, like in collection #1, in other cases, they're different models of cars, or even different types of vehicles.

 

The “Ultrasmall” cars are one half or three quarters the length of an ordinary, ultrafast Micromachine. These are often missing; due to its size they were easily lost. The big cars are marked © 1989 Galoob China, but the small are not marked at all, what makes them also difficult to identify if you’re not a toy expert. Another “weak-point” of the Insiders is that the hinge that opens and closes the car is a bit breakable.

Considering all that, I was very happy to find these two in a flea market. I wasn’t even aware that there were such Micromachines, so when I got home, I was surprised to discover that in their interior there were two more MM! A hidden treasure!.

The Insiders should not be mistaken with the Triplesiders, which were basically the same models, but with one bigger, additional car. That’s a car concealing a car concealing another car. The “middle” and “small” cars in the Triplesiders collections were often the same models that were available as Insiders, even in the same colours. Triplesiders were available in 1990 and 1991, 8 different collections each year.

UPDATE (JAN/2017): Added Collection #3, consisting of:

• ’32 Hot Rod conceals Ultrasmall ’32 Hot Rod
• ’41 Willys conceals Ultrasmall ’41 Willys

UPDATE (Dec/2018): Added Collection #18 consisting of:

• Ford Taurus conceals Ultrasmall E-Type Jaguar
• Bugatti Royale conceals Ultrasmall ’65 Lincoln 

This collection was made one year later, in 1991 and is much more hard to find than the previous ones.

UPDATE (Jun/2023): Added Collection #6 consisting of:

• ’55 T-Bird conceals Shelby Cobra
  
• '56 Ford Pick-up conceals Dodge Funny Car
  

 

 FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: INSIDERS COLLECTION #1, #3, #6 and #18
• Scale of the cars: 1:150 aprox.
• Year: 1990 and 1991
• Company: Galoob (U.S.A.)
• Size: approx. 2 cm