So over the last few weeks, I started hearing from a few of you in Europe and Asia about one thing:
“Have you seen the Majorette Red Bull VW Polo?”
I get a lot of messages, and didn’t give it much thought. Then I started hearing from some collectors here in the US:
“Just found the new batch of Majorette at TRU. Have you seen the Majorette VW Polo?”
This isn’t an exaggeration. More and more folks started mentioning it to me on PM’s and such, and I didn’t pay much attention. I don’t know rally cars that well, and things just didn’t register that diecast nerds were going crazy for this new model.
And I surely didn’t remember when I opened a box of Series 3 preview models sent by Majorette for preview. I opened it for my video preview, and while in between an edit, marveled at the awesome new Red Bull VW in the batch.
While doing the video, I remembered all the previous inquiries. Yeah, it caught me a little by surprise, even after the warnings. This model is crazy crazy nice:
The casting is great, and thankfully wheel-challenged Majorette selected the best wheels they have for it. And where Majorette gets the wheels wrong, they make up for in quality fo the graphics, and that is evident here. A wheel swap is a whole lot easier than a repaint.
But no wheel swaps needed here. In fact, this leads to a great niche for collectors new to Majorette. No basic diecast company does Rally better than Majorette. They are based in Europe, and probably know rally cars better then others, and because the go complete on graphics, they are able to make a rally car look like a rally car, with deco on every nook and cranny.
So if you need a place to start with Majorette, Rally is a great place. It will most surely fill a gap in your collection.
Of course, they made it a little harder by making this a Limited Model. As they have done before, one model goes one-per-case, and it is the Polo. Not a Chase per se, but limited nonetheless.
So keep your eyes open at Toys R Us – hoping there is a Toys R is in the future – and grab it if you see it. You won’t be disappointed.
An all-time great model from Majorette. And considering this would cost the equivalent of $2, or probably less (at least where I live), I don’t think this one can be beat.
Found at TRU last week and had to have it. Only saw the one so figured it must be the one per case. Opened and now with the Abu Dhabi Ford Fiesta rally. Very nice indeed.
It looks good, but with the TRU in shutdown mode here and the rest of the stores slated to close, they won’t be easy to find. I can only hope they show up at Big Lots, Dollar Tree or Tuesday Morning.
Looks great, and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for it. Majorette doesn’t seem to be selling too swiftly at my local TRU, so I’m hoping that 1) I’ll be able to find this one, but 2) that that doesn’t mean they’ll stop stocking Majorette.
Last time I was at TRU, they had a Gran Turismo Majorette set I wasn’t aware of full of various “Vision Gran Turismo” concept cars. Because of the price point I only bought one, but it’s a beauty…that crazy silver bullet of a Mercedes-Benz.
Oh you ain’t seen it all yet. They also made the 9-time WRC Champion (correct me if I’m wrong) Citroen DS3 WRC car, which looks absolutely brilliant.
Can you believe it’s been a year since John posted about the MAJORETTE VISION GRAN TURISMO models… couple of you guys had some comments back then.. check it out…
https://lamleygroup.com/2017/03/02/lamley-showcase-2017-majorette-vision-gran-turismo-5-car-set-singles/
To be fair, those Gran Turismo models really weren’t good, quality-wise.
Beautifully made.
But, does it have the interior?
I found the VW Polo too without knowing anything about it and it caught me off guard. It looks fantastic! Bought it along with the Fiesta, which is also a great casting and looks much better in white than the previous black. Posted about it on Instagram saying how these two are much better than the others because of the wheels and the ride height and someone from Majorette responded saying that they’re working on improving the wheels and stance of their models. Good news!
What will happen to Majorette now that TRU is going the way of the dodo?
The same thing that will happen to Greenlight, Johnny Lightning and Racing Champions. They will have a short run in some other stores and then slip away leaving us only frass from Mattel.