It’s a case off!
You can only claim one case, and your choices are the Hot Wheels 2013 Boulevard L Case or 2013 Boulevard P Case. Try and choose one. It won’t be easy.
Our friends at Wheel Collectors were nice enough to send over three cases for me to open as part of their ongoing Boulevard Sale, and for Part 3 of my Boulevard Unboxings, I opened the P Case:
Nice case, right? Now try and decide between the P and the L, which I opened earlier:
And compare:
L case:
- 1971 Datsun Wagon (New Casting)
- Renault Turbo 5 (New Casting)
- Nissan Skyline H/T 2000GT-X
- Pontiac Fiero
- 1955 Corvette
P Case:
- Porsche 993 GT2 (New Casting)
- 1988 Jeep Wagoneer (New Casting)
- Ford Bronco (New Casting)
- Corvette C6R
- ’63 Corvette
Fiero/Corvette vs Corvette/Corvette is a wash. But those other three. What would you choose? I love the Wagon, the Renault is under appreciated, and the Skyline is the Skyline. But the plain yellow Porsche, wood-paneled Wagoneer, and stock Bronco make for a formidable trio.
Choose one. Or don’t. It’s all hypothetical. I think we should all be happy that these actually saw the light of day, and didn’t join other never-released batches like the legendary final HW Racing batch that included several JDM race cars.
Boulevard was a treat in and of itself, and paving the way for Car Culture makes it even better.
It was a fun little trip back in time opening these. It won’t be fun sealing them up and sending them back. Oh well.
Hot Wheels Boulevard Sale at Wheel Collectors
To note, there were actually TWO mixes from 2012 Racing that never saw the light of day. A rally mix (which was to include that Renault 5 Turbo and the off road 4×4 James Garner Olds 442), and another road racing mix, which the cancellation of that last mix affected this specific Boulevard mix as well as another series in 2013.
So, the ’63 Corvette, in this livery and all, was supposed to be in that last 2012 Racing series mix I mentioned above. Apparently, even though that mix was dropped, they had a contractual agreement that the Corvette HAD to be made. So, it was moved to this final mix of Blvd. We never found out what the ’63 Corvette ended up bumping out of the mix. On top of that, since Blvd were being made in Malaysia (sigh), that caused the 3rd mix of Flying Customs to be one car short because the ’63 Corvette was also supposed to be in that mix, but with the tool in Malaysia and FC being made in Thailand, the Corvette was pushed to a later FC mix. BUT, that version of the Corvette was ultimately dropped when Mattel made the unfortunate decision to cut the series short (something I am still sort of pissed about 4 years later).
It would be the L case for me, without hesitation. I was actually able to find the Bronco and Wagoneer from the P case for some reason…never saw the 911, though I really really really want one.
But I never saw ANY of case L, so it would be that one if I had to choose. Especially considering buying the 510 Wagon and Skyline now is well out of my price range, as far as frivolous ebay buys are concerned. I covet the Renault as well, though it isn’t as clean a deco as the real gems are.
That ’63 Corvette is borderline embarrassing…That casting should have been retired a couple decades ago.
I like and love both boulevard cases the same. I have all 5 from the p case boulevard’s but I only have 2 from the l case boulevard’s. The 1955 corvette, and the 1984 Pontiac fiero 2M4. So I’m still on the hunt for the 1971 Datsun bluebird 510 station wagon, the Nissan skyline h/t 2000 GT-X, and the Renault 5 turbo.
Thanks for the explanation that these were never bought by the big box stores Walmart and Target. That explains why I never saw many of them. I do remember stumbling upon a few at Tuesday Morning and also at Northwest retailer Fred Meyer.
Having said that, I didn’t really get into this line. For a premium line that is going to cost me 4-5 times a basic car, I want something that blows me away. In many cases I am more excited about the basic release than these premiums. A metal chassis, rubber tires and “premium” deco are nice, but I must say I am not a huge fan of the deep dish 10-spoke wheels cast in colored plastic rather than painted. And the deco choices rarely seem to be more desirable than what is used on a basic model. For example, the Ford GT LM, while a beautiful casting, turns me away with the garish paint scheme. How about something more production based? Or based on a real race livery? I will say the SVO Mustang is nice, though admittedly I am more about European and Japanese models. But why no headlight tampo? Any premium deserves both headlight and taillight treatments.