It actually has nothing to do with inches but is rather the scale of the car. For 1:16th scale, the model is 1/16th the size of the original. While this does work when it comes to saying that an inch on the model would equal 16 inches on the original, it is relative for all measurements, inches, gallons, MM, liters, etc so say for instance if it had a gas tank 1:16th scale to that of the original, it would hold 1/16th the amount of gas that the original would hold. Now granted this is only a little matchbox car but when it comes to making scale replicas of farm machinery, which anyone who lives in MN and knows what Farm-Fest is all about, on occasion you'd see a true to life working scale model of a considerably larger tractor or combine. All the parts work, it has a matched engine and transmission and all the other parts that make them work and depending on how exact they got, would sometimes even have all the controls and little buttons to scale.
God I miss being a kid. That stuff was so cool to see.
