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#lamleydaily – June 27, 2017
Model: Matchbox Honda Civic Type R
Line: 2009 Superfast 40th Anniversary
Where to get it: Matchbox Honda Civic Type R on eBay
Why it’s in the collection: Well I could say it is because this is one of the Superfast 40th Anniversary models that Matchbox did, but really it’s not. It is mainly because it is a Honda Civic Type R. It was a bit of a surprise when Matchbox announced they were doing the Type R, and the 3rd Gen Euro version at that. But I am glad they did. And looking back it isn’t a surprise that it was done, considering the main designer for Matchbox at the time was Ryu Asada, who has been churning out cool Hondas for Hot Wheels the last few years.
The casting is just about perfect, and tremendously detailed. In fact, the basic releases of this model were already well detailed, so that put this Superfast release at a disadvantage. It is hard to upgrade a model that already looked near perfect when you don’t have a metal chassis or Real Riders to put on it. So Matchbox could only add more deco and include the Superfast wheels. The result is mixed. The wheels are too small, and the deco a little busy. Or maybe the deco just looks busy because the wheels are too small.
But I kept it anyway, and I am glad I did. Matchbox released 8 Civic Type R’s. This is by far the most sought-after. (It rarely appears on eBay.)
With Hot Wheels releasing the latest Type R soon, it is nice to revisit the Matchbox release. They will make a great pair. Can you guess who designed both?
THAT is how you do a factory livery. Hot Wheels should re-release this for the 2016 Type R, and uh, maybe make an EK9 too, Mattel.
One of the best deco I’ve ever seen
Yeah, the deco’s a little busy but I still like this model. I look for it on ebay every once in a while and never seem to find it…seems to be pretty scarce.
And John, that’s a really good point about the high quality of the mainline releases. I have a few of them, and the paint and tampo quality (especially the tampo) is STUNNING. It puzzles me when I see Matchbox and Hot Wheels releases with far LESS tampo work that looks absolutely horrible (alignment, coverage, etc.). Looking at the gray Type R I have, I don’t see a single flaw anywhere. I often wonder what happened to that kind of quality.
Yes please. A yellow or white EK9 pl0x.
Every single time HotWheels does a car, Matchbox then does it better. Every. Single. Time. It’s like HW is Matchbox’ ugly cousin or something.