It’s a hard call. Keep it in its vintage style packaging, packed nicely in a protective box, with the model beautifully nestled inside. Or open it, allowing the spectraflame to shine?
It isn’t even a contest. Open it. Which I did, and the Custom T-Bird looks amazing. You should do the same when the model goes on sale today exclusively for RLC members. Good luck!
How do you even make Spectraflame, much less apply it with this kind of quality, at home?
Definitely open it so you can enjoy that spectra flame. Just keep the packing so you can still put it back in the protecto pack.
Still available, so it hasn’t been a hot seller.
Just my opinion but I’m guessing the car is most likely still available as the Mattel HWC website is an absolute nightmare to place orders on and their customer service representatives are not empowered to do anything beyond provide information and submit “trouble tickets.”
The Thunderbird is gorgeous, but to even buy it ($25.94 after club discount) you have to spend $32.94 for the privilege. Sure, that gets you a Spectraflame Bluebird (unfortunately in the same exact color as the Thunderbird) but that went immediately to backorder, so I’m not even sure I’m getting one. There is also no way to place your Membership Order and buy the Thunderbird at the same time to save on shipping (a separate $9.00 charge for each order).
My order for the Thunderbird won’t take on the site, it shows pending on PayPal but does not show up on Mattel’s site in my order history. I started my attempts to order the car on March 1 and called the 800 number regarding the site problems immediately. I called again on March 2, no progress, but a promise of being called back with a resolution on Monday, March 5. The order is still stuck in fiasco status as of end of business day March 8th with no calls, no emails, nothing.
Update: Called HWC back again today (March 9) and a representative did place the order for me. I’m confused based on early HWC contacts but happy someone took ownership of the issue and resolved it on the spot.
Also, in case anyone else is waiting, the backordered Datsuns are supposed to be in stock approximately March 17th.
It’s only available to RLC club members for the next day. Let’s see how it does once it’s available to the general public.
It seems like they’re emulating the US casting versions on all these old redline re-releases: slightly less detailed bases (but a little heavier) and steering wheels molded with the interior rather than as a separate piece. Overall, the castings have been very faithful to the originals.