The E30 M3.
Is it appropriate that while I write this post I am listening to Reflektor, the brand new album from Arcade Fire? My full beard has been flowing in the fall wind all day, my orange-souled wingtips kept my feet warm, as did my button-up sweater with a tie, and I am ogling over a ’92 BMW M3. As soon as I am done I will go catch up on tonight’s episode of the Daily Show.
Hot damn, folks, I am a super-hipster!
I won’t deny that my infatuation with JDM and classic BMWs makes my almost a cliché these days, but cool is cool, and these cars are f-ing cool. At least it is a toy car I am writing about, so that makes me either a supercool hipster (“and he collects…get this…toy cars!! man that is cool!), or a hipster-cancelling dork (yeah, but not only does he collect toy cars, he blogs about them. eeeewwwwwww!). I kind of like falling in the middle.
Back to the E30 M3. BMW did the 2002 and the E30 in the same year, 2012. A year after two classic Skylines, and a year before doing a Dastun Wagon and a Porsche 992 GT2. If they are not careful, the next Hot Wheels convention will be full of checkered slip-on Vans, plaid shirts, and full beards with Wayfarers instead of the traditional 55-year-old pot bellies with ill-fitting t-shirts of conventions past.
I keep digressing. Alright, back to the M3. I am glad the E30 barely made it into the now-defunct Racing line in 2012, and that Hot Wheels has seen the casting fit enough to be in the basic range in the two years that have followed. And I am glad each model has kept BMW appropriate deco and wheels.
This is a model that instantly became a Top 5 Hot Wheels casting for me when it was released, so I am always happy to have another version, this time in bright red (orange?).
…AND…
I am always happy when Hot Wheels provides a variation on one of my favorites to hunt down. On the silver model it was the rare vari/error with the Nissan Skyline interior, and on the blue model the even more rare MC5 wheel variation.
The red model is already coming out and we already have a variation. Take a look:
You have this one:
And you have this one:
Can you see the difference?
Yes, the bottom model has a rollcage, and the top does not. It appears the interior of the E30 has been modified, removing the rollcage. From what we can tell so far, the “with rollcage” version is in far smaller numbers than the “without rollcage” version, making us think that the casting was indeed modified.
We will surely have a better idea after Kdays this Saturday, so keep your eyes peeled and let us know which version you find. Nonetheless, two variations are always better than one.
I need to wrap this up. Methinks the lady (who I have been married to for 15 years today) and I are doing lunch in a bit, and we will be sure to include kale. After all, I love the E30, and she is reading Malcolm Gladwell. At least she is supposed to say she is.
(Looking for the E30 variation? Check these listings. There are a few hidden in there…)
Hot Wheels ’92 BMW M3 (2014 Basic):
More pics of the rollcage vari:
The fam:
With wheel variations that occur more commonly with black wheels, sometimes I question if it really is deliberately a VHTF or a mistake the assemblers happen to do more often than what we would associate as an error. The black wheels tend to be mistaken the most for another wheel.. well at least for me. The last '70 Camaro RS I bought was apparently an error (wrong wheel in front) and I didn't even notice it until a year later. That said, I do wonder if something like the black MC5 variation on the blue '92 M3 was an intended variation, because the idea that a few workers mistook the MC5 as PR5 several times doesn't seem too farfetched to me.
Funny enough, it also seems OH5, MC5 and PR5 are the wheels most commonly mistaken for each other when errors or variations come around. Just a thought.
I don't like the silver stripe on this red M3. It's the kind of small detail that ruins a good model.
I wouldn't go as far to say it ruins it but yes, I agree it would certainly look better without it but then it would be more a Matchbox than a Hot Wheels without all that extra flash… I figure we have one more good re-color in this casting before it goes the way of orange windows, green wheels, and retina straining paint jobs?
There is no wheel variation, or nothing wrong with the stripes. But, I did notice the interior has a bar, which looks like NASCARS that have them to protect the driver. Also, the steering wheels, but I don't know to describe about it.
But, why can't there be the BMW M3 (The one from 2011 new models) variation for 2014 too?
How about other editions of the BMW? Like a ZAMAC version, or a… a treasure hunt version, or even a retro entertainment version for the M3 E30? Ask the company what design should the version of the E30, DUH…
Who agrees some examples of these versions for the M3 E30? WHO???
But, I'm always looking forward to a new 2014 or 2015 new model of a BMW.
How about… The 2014 BMW 3 series GRANTURISMO!? Or the 2015 BMW i8 coupe? Them both in 10SP wheels and TEMPOS… and so…
WHO AGREES!!!???
Forgot, ASK THE COMPANT ALRIGHT? RIGHT… PLEASIES!?
PLEASE!?
I think the family portrait should be the red roll cage version as all the others have the roll cage in them