It is one of the last models from that “Last Golden Age” I have been talking about so much. And if the era had to end, this beauty was as good as any to bid adieu.
And I remember clearly that this was one of the last, because the first images of the Aston were shown by the Matchbox Ambassador at the time, Chuck Wiersma. Chuck was also the Ambassador that was given the assignment to report to collectors the changes that were being implemented at Matchbox at the time. Changes that essentially ended the Last Golden Age.
I remember at the time trying to defend Matchbox, as they were being pushed to use more bold colors, and move away from realistic street cars to more exaggerated castings that represented how a child might look at cars. The goal was to gear Matchbox towards an even younger child.
Looking back, it really did start a dark time at Matchbox, as the orange brand shared the same management as the blue brand, and it seemed, at least from this viewpoint, that Matchbox’s direction was reactive to Hot Wheels. If Hot Wheels wanted to go one way, Matchbox had to go the other in order to keep the brands separated. To be honest, the only result seems to be that Matchbox suffered and Hot Wheels didn’t have any other internal brand to push it forward. That seems to be changing now that Matchbox is part of a different division within Mattel, but time will tell.
But back to the Aston Martin. What a cool model it is. Appropriate, with the Aston being British and all, and different because it is a convertible. Matchbox-esque because it is a beautiful model. It is a tad on the narrow side, but at every other angle it doesn’t get much better.
I will let the photos fill in the rest…
(Find the Matchbox Aston DBS Volante on eBay…)
Very, very nice and detailed casting, but for me bike or coupe cars, no convertible as a mixture. (Except the MX-5 and S2000 with hard top).
The red one is just perfect.
The red one is just perfect.
These wheels are so perfect for this model !