Lamley RLC Preview: Hot Wheels HWC Gulf Racing Porsche 993 GT2…

Alright let’s break this down.

Tomorrow, hopefully you will wake with a whimsical sense of excitement.  “Glad I signed up for the Redline Club!” you will tell yourself.  “Today’s the day!”  You will have your Cheerios (part of this nutritious breakfast!) and get ready.  Check the computer.  Are you logged in?  Check the phone.  All set?  That backup iPad.  All charged?  Do I have my wallet?  All ready.

(At this point, if you are me, you will go to work and get too involved in whatever is going on, and at about 11 Mountain Standard Time you will remember you were supposed to buy something, but it will be gone.  So let’s skip that part.)

You are all ready, and at 8:45 AM Pacific Time you hop into the RLC waiting room.  The texts from your friends start coming in.  “Got my two!”  “Any luck?”  “Stupid *%^&ing website, should I call Mattel?”  You don’t answer.  You are too busy deciding whether you should manually refresh or just let the site refresh itself.  You decide to manually refresh on your phone and let the computer do its thing.

You finally text the friend who panicked too early.  You tell him to give it time.  You check Instagram.  Only the angry collectors have posted screenshots of their waiting rooms.  You don’t dare check the RLC Forum.  That might accidentally sign you out.  Facebook?  Same thing as Instagram.

You didn’t notice your computer refreshed to the store.  You frantically order your two.  Adrenaline that doesn’t need to be there still rears its trembly head, and you wonder why you are so worked up.  The site worked.  You ordered your two.  Now to not refresh that page until the confirmation email shows up.

It does.  You are in.  Now to go and calm that frantic friend down who still hasn’t gotten in and act like you really feel sad for him and throw some encouraging words his way while you go back to work.

A few days later, this arrives:

Nice box, but you won’t care much about it after you pull this out:

Wow.  Some nice packaging for sure.  Now, pull that top off:

This.  THIS!  Metal base, Real Riders, full tampo, beautiful acrylic case.  Steve Vandervate wins.  The design guru has put the 993 in its best outfit yet.  And that is saying something considering it originated in the legendary 2013 Boulevard line and just this year is a Super Treasure Hunt, and a darn nice one at that.

Now here is where I will truly lose some of you.  You are admiring Steve’s work on Jun’s casting, and at this point you either put the Gulf packaging back on and store it away, or you put the acrylic case up to show it off.  Not me, and not many of you.  Let’s move on…

Time to remove that acrylic lid.  The poor model is probably suffocating in there.

Oh my.  Even better.  Look at the pavement on the packaging.  That’s cool.  The super speedy Gulf Porsche looks like it is driving on that road.  Only it is not, because it is screwed to the base of the packaging.  That’s a darn shame.  Toodles to some of you, as removing the acrylic case is as far as you can go.  You true DLM’ers, the moment of truth.  A car cannot roll unless it is free.  Wheels roll, orange plastic bases don’t.  This is Hot Wheels, for heaven’s sake, not Kyosho.

Freedom!

FREEDOM!

That is a proper DLM’d HWC Gulf Racing Porsche 993 GT2.

Now it is time to enjoy it.  And time to explain that this Porsche is not part of the RLC Gulf Series that has been so popular.  It is by itself.  No spectraflame paint, and obviously in different packaging.

The Gulf Series has been a huge hit, and there are more to come, but this separate model in a more realistic color scheme is a gem.  An instant classic.  And one you will be very happy to have once it goes on sale on March 15.

Of course having this in hand compels you get out some other Porsches from the collection.  How about that Toy Fair 934?

Definitely the Boulevard:

And of course the Super Treasure Hunt:

Actually, why just take those out when you can take out all versions of the 993?

They make quite a group, and there honestly hasn’t been a dud in the bunch:

Look at those!  Gulf caps that set off nicely, and we still have one more 993 to make its way to the pegs in the Car Culture line.  2016 has been VERY good to the 993.

I love the variety we are seeing in the RLC exclusives lately.  The premiere Hot Wheels originals are still there, as is the muscle, but now are many other aspects of car culture.  It makes me excited for what is coming.  Even more, I am happy to have this Porsche.

Hopefully you are able to get one too…

(Thanks as always to Mattel for allowing me to preview this one.)