A Lamley Correction: What we should have done with the Hot Wheels Mexico Convention Texas Drive ‘Em in the first place…

I was scolded yesterday by my Lamley partner.

Among some normal email correspondence with David Tilley, the UK-based Matchbox-only side of the Lamley Group, I got this:

BTW I saw that blog you did on a model in a blister.  Wuss!  A 5,000 piece run should be opened.  There are loads more.  Now get on with opening that non-Matchbox crud.  Ha ha ha ha!

Tilley likes Matchbox.  Nothing else.  On a rare occasion I can get him to admit a Tomica Limited Vintage is nice, or on a even rarer occasion a Hot Wheels, but he will always qualify that he would never buy one, no matter how nice it is.  I promise that Mattel could put a Tilley logo on a Hot Wheels Porsche 934 (DT loves the 911) and he would pass right by it every time he saw it on the pegs.  That may seem like an exaggeration, but it is 100% true.  Those that know DT can attest.

(Incidentally Mattel has put Tilley’s name on a Matchbox model.  Anyone know which one?)

So it was a surprise that DT even acknowledged a Hot Wheels model, but when he sees a non-liberated model, even one from evil blue, he is bound to say something.

That is the other thing about Tilley.  He opens everything.  No matter how rare, no matter how valuable, the packaging doesn’t survive.

Anyway, DT is right.  The Lamley Group was founded on the premise that models should be opened. DT also started the Diecast Liberation Movement (DLM), so he felt compelled to give me a little kick in the pants and get me back to Lamley’s roots.  So after last week’s atrocity, let me offer this correction:

Hot Wheels Texas Drive ‘Em (2014 Mexico Convention Exclusive):