A quick search on ebay showed some really nice cars and trucks from WW II time period. Are those kinda what you had in mind?
Yes, there are loads of them, the plastic model makers also discovered these possibilities after the diecast ones.
What scale is 1/35 in mm? Is it 54mm?
54mm is 1/32. For wargaming, especially for civilian vehicles, the difference is negligible between the two.
1/35 is rarely translated into millimeters, but I saw it as 52mm and 50mm too.