Well at least they are consistent…
We know a lot of you have been eagerly awaiting the first images of the brand new Hot Wheels Aston Martin Vantage GT3. After all, the Hot Wheels/Aston Martin marriage of late has been a good one. The DBS is a fan favorite, and the DB5 released last year may be one of the best and most accurate castings Hot Wheels has released in years. So, it was not a surprise that there has been a lot of excitement about the Vantage GT3.
But there was reason to worry too. It was those three letters at the end. G…T…3. For car fans, “GT3” means this:
Take the street version of a car, add some bells and whistles to make it track ready. Well, Hot Wheels agrees. Cars have to be track ready. Only they mean “orange track” ready. And that means this:
Oh no. Track ready in Hot Wheels Land means exaggerated rear wheels and yes, that up-sloped chin. The same thing attacked a Lotus Evora GT4, a BMW E36 M3, a Viper SRT, and most recently a Corvette C7.R. Well Aston Martin could not escape.
If you love the signature front grill of any Aston Martin, we warn you to proceed with caution before viewing the next photo:
Or this:
Or all these:
Obviously, these are being done on purpose, to make these Hot Wheels replicas of track cars actual Hot Wheels track cars, and yes, obviously the carmakers approved of those designs. If it works for Mattel, we can’t argue with that.
But from a collector standpoint, ouch. These are bad. Sorry we had to break the bad news…
Here we go again another terrible casting. First the Viper then the Vette now the Aston.
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Can you please express our displeasure to Mattel at the convention over these kinds of cars?
Wow, that's bad.
I'm surprised Aston Martin approved of this. I know it seems there must be a compromise between kid and collector, but it almost appears like it wants to be a “tooned” version.
Maybe it's the color combo, or maybe the rear wing should at least be black. It's like they're going back into the '90's early 2000's as far as appearance is concerned.
It's weird that all those modern GT's are getting this treatment, isn't it?
I can't think of a reason for that except that Hot Wheels is planning on releasing a Le Mans themed track system…
Oh gosh. Why. It's even worse than the vette. I can't… My eyes
Again (darn it, seriously, do you really NOT WANT IT?!), just throw this model off to me if you ABSOLUTELY DO NOT WANT ANY OF THIS. It's easy to do, costs virtually nothing (admit it, this became totally worthless to you with that chin on like that), and you won't regret it. AT ALL. I am telling that to you now. You won't regret sending this model to permanent exile. You chuck an ugly model and focus on the Escort and Datsuns as if nothing happened and I get a car for free.
I think you can do it. The decision is really easy. Take the Viper GTS-R, the C7.R, and this out of Lamley HQ in a garbage bag. Shipping's cheap here in Manila.
I'm serious. I really am. Rather than keeping it to be ridiculed, just send–hell, THROW IT–away. It's the best for all parties involved.
Let me be the one to break it up, so you don't have to make an excuse post. We don't need to find a set-up where you bash the model and I get nothing. We just have to say that it could have been good, but the chin plain pulled it down. So I'm telling you, Lamley, just throw them all away… to my house.
In fact, I can give you Map coordinates to my house.
https://www.google.com.ph/maps/@14.6443062,120.9928401,123m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en
That casting SUCKS! Maybe the same designer is doing these!
It looks like it is trying to be tooned! My first thought. And that wing is horrorible. I like buying every “real” model from every case, but this burns my eyes to look at. Good job mattel ruining a perfectly good car!
OK, now I just got a thought. Take a look at the shot of the real car. Focus on the front end. See the all-carbon black part below the grille? Yeah, that's what they did. They sheared the front splitter by a lot and curved it, because the actual painted part of the real car's bumper only goes halfway round the wheel. Here's a picture to tell you what I mean.
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s–_zvHhPSV–/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/dcu4fkholb74fky4fl3p.png
This means that you can replace the chin area with a custom one that's accurate with relative ease unlike the other ones. And that this casting isn't that bad.
I thought of that one too. Searched for this cars listing on the HW Wiki site. Nope. No designer name. No Jun Imai. Nada.
Well, I see this as a harbinger for something else. Maybe a Speed Machines-like sub-line? I was thinking that they're gonna test out the models to see if it sells and can be sought-after. If the castings sells well like that (you know, kids and stuff) and the clamor for non-chin'd versions rises (mostly for collectors), they can do the far better versions with better front ends (frankly, I love how they do rear quarters) and more liveries.
I wonder if they are slopping the noses on these cars to make it easier for them to be used on track system, especially the tracks with loops in them. If that's the case I can see they justification for the slopped noses but I still hate them.
One of my top 5 favourite GT3 cars and one of my top 5 worst Hot Wheels castings.
It is not a GT3 anymore……………………….GT12………………………Porsche are going to have words if the name is not correct
This one does look more “tooned” than either the Viper or the Vette.
It is like everyone forgets that these cars are TOYS, meant for the TRACK, including LOOPS.
While collectors do not care for the upsloped noses, if they were normal they would not work on the HW track. After all, these are first and foremost toys. Meant to be played with. This is the reason the 2015 Mustang GT and Lotus Scots and I think the Mastretta have the noses like that. They are sports/race cars, so what kid wouldn't want to run them on the track?
This is just so bad. I agree with other posters, it looks tooned. That's a very bad thing. So sad!
Totally meant Lotus Evora above… Autocorrect FTW.
that would be cool, however i doubt Mattel gives a fuck about what collectors have to say.
Sorry, that's pretty bad.
AMEN
That's exactly why they did it but no every car should be designed for the track
Given that they are intended as toys and that some at least have to loop the loop then some will need slanty uplifted noses OR off road style ground clearance.
Why not make the fictional ones have slanty noses? Then everyone can be happy?
However some cars, even low riding ones, seem completly spared of this – I found the Lamborghini Huracán and Porsche 934 today. Both have minimal nose clearance.
Is it that some companies are stricter on their approval?
Interestingly I've got a Norev Porsche Cayenne with adjustable ride height. A plastic insert sandwiched between the base and bottom of the seats slides too and fro. This pumps it up or lowers it.
Sadly I expect even a small extra bit of plastic would be too costly.
Chris
You might be referring to the road-going version that directly competes the Porsche in the niche market. This casting is a rep of the actual competition variant.
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Piece of sh*#! This car dos not enter in my collection…
I prefer the Aston Martin from NOREV…
I do agree with most , that the chin is goofey, but it is a $1.00 toy intended for me I mean my son and his buddies, but as bad as the chins on these models are, for me its the outrageously over sized wheels that wreck the proportions and make them look horribly out of proportion.
It is frustrating to the “adult” collectors that get excited about a new supercar or famous racecar model release only to have it look as if it were made by the ACME toy company.
Buy the Kyosho if you need and exact or as stated do some customization to suit your wants.
Hi, Aston Martin latest model year for 2015
2015 Aston Martin Vanquish
Hi, Aston Martin latest model year for 2015
2015 Aston Martin Vantage