Greetings friends…
I promised last week that we would focus on cars this week, and here we are. Many of us, including yours truly, consider good-looking autos to be the bread and butter of Matchbox, and happily we are seeing more of those in the line this year.
Interestingly, some older car castings are being reintroduced in the lineup this year. Whether this will be a trend into 2014, I can’t say. Maybe we will find out something at the Gathering in Albuquerque during the Matchbox presentation in July. But each of these are good-looking and realistic versions of the models used. Like I have said before, I hope you can see that while the brand direction of Matchbox continues in the “Unstoppable” theme, the liveries and decos are realistic. This has been a specific direction the team has taken.
With that, a few of the upcoming street car models to look for:
(As always, these images are shown with Mattel’s permission.)
Dodge Viper GTS-R
Ford Shelby GT500
Opel Speedster
Mitsubishi Eclipse
Lotus Europa
Porsche 911 Carrera Convertible
Lastly, another look at an upcoming 60th Anniversary model. The 60th line has been hitting stores in many areas, and I have seen reports of folks finding the Chase Bus in several locations. I was lucky and found one at a Walmart two weeks ago, and many others have done the same. Keep looking, because they are out there.
I have asked the team if the Chase Bus is slated for future batches, and they are looking into that. I will pass it along as soon as they tell me. We should also be seeing another batch of new 60th models in the store shortly.
Some of the most popular models with collectors in the 60th line have been the British cars like the Mini, Routemaster, and Aston Martin. Not only are they beautifully done, they pay homage to Matchbox’s roots in the UK. We are happy to preview another British car to look for in upcoming 60th batches, the Jaguar E-Type. It most appropriately dons the British Racing Green, and sports the 60th logo on the rear window:
Those are this week’s sneaks. We have more for next week, including a new deco for the VW T1 and another new casting. Stay tuned.
Until then…
Really liking the looks of the Shelby and the Jag!
Love the ultra-70s brown on the Europa. Don't really like the black and orange tampos on the XKE; are they based on a real car?
Dang, more non-emergency vehicles to distract me from my original goal… (amassing a giant collection of nothing but fire/police/ems and related models).
It's bad enough Matchbox keeps releasing fantastic new castings of fire and other emergency vehicles–and wonderful recolors of same–so that I have to buy more and bigger storage bins to accommodate what I can't display; but they keep on putting out nice models of “ordinary” civilian vehicles.
Stop it, Mattel/Matchbox, please just stop! 🙂
Now thats what I'm talkin' about! Street cars! Well, what can I say? I like all of them, except the Mitsubishi. That side design kinda spoils the look for me. On the other hand, the return of the Speedster is a warm-welcome. While front&rear light tampos would be enough, I'm actually quiet happy to have it as it is. Same for the Dodge. Though black wheels would look better, at least it dosen't have some “Palm Springs Hotel' tampos to ruin it's character. Lotus looks good in brown but chrome interior lets it down. For me, the best of the lot are the two convertibles – the Shelby convertible and the Carrera cabriolet. Those two stand out in the crowd as a police car does in a group of street racers. Gotta love the blue on the GT500. Makes me want to lick it! The Porsche looks equally sporty, with those wheels, it has that unique charm which only the 80s and 90s 911s had. Love the Jag, but can't pick it up because of availability problem. God! So much to say and type but so little space!
– Black Wind, SwiftysGarage.
Nothing here is NEW, where are the NEW cars? How many NEW models has Hot Wheels introduced this year?
Now I know someone has to be watching what's being posted,no crazy decos no colored wheels. Knock wood but I think realism may be back at MB! I do have to agree there seems to be less new castings. Like to see that change,as I have said there are so many cars,trucks and even boats that can be cast. Yes I said boats I remember JL did a Bass Boat collection and it was one of my favorites. So get licensing for older models that haven't been done or just haven't been done in a while. Dosen't matter if their foreign or domestic just real with some generic mixed in cause you never know when you might hit on one. Nice to see where MB might be headed now, the construction yellow last week and more realism this week love it!
Swifty's Philly Wheels..
Sack the graphic guy,pure rubbish spoiling decent cars.
I like to see the Speedster come back, and its livery is acceptable. I can't say the same about the Eclipse Concept. And that tampo on the Jag? Eew. But the rest is OK+.
Oh hell yeah, the Opel Speedster is back! Loved that thang!
That Eclipse is kinda wack though, Never was a fan of the Europa either, even the real version…
Shelby? Heck yeah! On my list for sure! Porsche? Yes!
And I love the E-Type Jag! One of my all-time favorite cars.
I'll be looking for the Porsche, the Lotus, and the Opel… and hunting far and wide for that sweet BRG Jaguar E-Type!
I'm going to disagree on the fanfare towards the Jag, and here is why.
First, the E-type is considered one of the most beautiful product designs of the 20th century. When Matchbox first payed homage to this car in the 1960s with the regular wheel #32, they gave it spoked wheels, seperate tires, a seperate interior, and a nice even finish of red paint. It was a fantastic toy for children, yet adults loved it for it's realism.
When the E-type was announced for the line-up a few years ago, a lot of us were ecstatic. I have driven the real thing, and, with the support of my wife, swore I would own one some day. I have many diecast models of this car, so I was stoked.
Bummer when the toy made it to production. The details were good, the intital color of red was well done, and proportions were believable. What hacked me off was that god-awful chrome interior. Matttel said they did it so they could give the car chrome bumpers.
This was a bad decision.
When you look at the model, the proportion of bumper-to-interior is uneven. There is simply more chrome inside than out, so the eye is drawn to those big chrome seats. There are collectors unphased by chrome interiors, which just baffles me. Are we not car fans? What car, aside from the Lamborghina Marzal concept, has shiny silver seats? Where are our standards?
OK, deep breath.
This latest offerning of the E-type dissapoints beyond the chrome interior. That shade of green, to the best of my knowledge, was not available on the series 1 – 1.5 Jags. Making matters worse, look how thin the paint is around the door and hood lines. Gloppy in some areas, thin in others. It's 2013, and we still cannot get consistent paint? Really? I could live with the motorboat paint if it at least an even coat.
The rotten cherry on top is the graphics. That scallop stripe on the hood looks like it was inspired by rat-rod pinstriping. It's a trendy ineligant graphic not in line with the beauty or heritage of this car.
The final product is a mess. It looks cheep, gawdy and poorly thought out. Too bad. The E-type is a no brainer, yet Mattel managed to botch it up.
-66alfa_gtv
I agree with a few of your points. I'm not a big fan of chrome interiors either, on any car. And the graphics could have been better as well. I can understand completely from the collector's perspective, I was a bit disappointed myself; I'm am a collector too.
But the reason why I said I would buy it anyway, is aside from being a great casting, I am also a customizer as well. If I don't like certain colors or graphics, I just take it off and repaint them. I am aware that not everybody does this, but that's just what I do, personally.
This cars are old models cars. It really nice when you drive. It have a lot of facility. It having very attractive color and stylish model. And where to get this kind of cars. adjuster called