Skip “I”, move to “J”. You may have noticed the last case we opened was an H Case. We didn’t skip any, it is only that the letter “I” can look like the number “1” so Hot Wheels skips it to avoid any confusion. Same with the letter “O”, for obvious reasons.
More importantly, what is in the case? Well, Wheel Collectors answered that when they opened one case at random from their pallet, which arrived today. They picked a good one too. Lots of good stuff, including a pretty Super and the best Regular TH in years. You can find the models at the link below:
Hot Wheels 2018 Batch J at Wheel Collectors
Here are the J Case contents, pulled 3-by-3:
Nice case, right?
The Super is the ’52 Chevy Pickup, looking great in chrome steelies:
Incidentally, Matt at WC said the cases they got only had one ’52 Chevy each, and it was either the basic model or the Super. This case obviously only had the Super. Here is the basic pulled from another case:
This case is also notable for its fantastic Regular TH. The popular Kool Kombi gets the nod, and it looks great. It is nice to see a collector favorite made into a Treasure Hunt.
Here are some other notables:
What do you think of this case?
2 pictures from the upper portion of the box seem missed, only 30 cars are shown. 6 cars including kool. Kombi are missed
Actually a pretty decent case, however way too many repeats. I’m not a color collector I’m a casting collector. For how much longer I’m not sure! I love this hobby it takes me away from everyday aggravations but of late it is causing me aggravation. I spend my weekends hunting me and my wife will get in the car and go. Some times up to 50 miles in one direction. It is great we talk get caught up. However recently my trips have been wastes of times. Not to mention money and gas! I posted my frustrations in the other thread about the sneaks from the Nationals. I just feel I need to get it out and I’m wondering if anyone else feels the way I do? I’m not retired I have a physically demanding job and instead of using my time off to get caught up on home projects, rest or just spending time with my family I’m chasing a hobby that is getting less and less fulfilling! The best castings seem to be the repeat castings and the premiums are just impossible to find! Then add the great stuff that the RLC is getting and I feel beat! Very very defeating as a life long collector, I did the eBay thing for a while also very defeating. RLC just a waste of time something I have not enough of. So what is a life long collector to do then just want to call it a wrap!
I completely agree with you when it comes to the hunting. Sometimes, I really feel the need to get out and hunt and I’m afraid that if I don’t, I’m severely missing out. However, most of my trips recently, like for you, have been a waste of time. I pointlessly head out of town, either north or south, trying to find the newest basics, premium sets and new Matchbox and mostly come out empty-handed. Most stores I go to are either wiped or filled with old stock. Not to mention a lack of pegs for premium sets like Car Culture, Retro Entertainment, Walmart exclusives, etc. Or even from other brands like Auto World, Greenlight, and M2.
It really is a major waste of time and money that I could’ve used to get stuff done around the house or better spent on groceries instead of gas. It doesn’t help I have a gas-guzzling Dodge Ram pickup with the 5.7L HEMI V8 that only gets about 13 mpg combined! By the time I get home, I already burnt half a tank of gas! I could understand if I actually found something good but most cases, I didn’t, so it’s a major loss!
It seems as if the distribution at most big-box stores is getting worse and worse with every passing year. This hobby is more like a competition nowadays as oppose to a thrill. I feel like I have to have connections with the stores in order to get anything good but then that would make me a scalper, which I don’t want to do. More and more people seem to be studying this hobby trying to find out what’s the most popular out of every series and buying every one of them up at every store making it impossible for an average collector like me hoping to find something in the store at a random time in the day. NOTHING IS SPARED! It’s really frustrating not being able to find whatever you want most times and sometimes having to cave in on eBay if you really can’t find what you want. I’m almost about to with the H case cars that I still haven’t found yet but are “supposedly” hitting Walmarts and Targets. Not around here!
I felt like you do about a year ago. I decided to stop buying new diecast and didn’t buy any for 6 months. Now I don’t go out of my way to look for models. If I’m in a store I’ll check the diecast eisle and will sometimes be pleasantly surprised by a great find.
So they made a blue Ford GTLM, then another in white, now a red one. I guess Hot Wheels is doing a 4-color separation in anticipation of the actual GTE-Pro winning car coming to Car Culture.
Right now I’m still bummed at the lack of a “factory” livery for the AMG-GT3. Livery is still ugly, and the blue doesn’t look too nice. So many liveries that are a variation of the reveal livery (base color and contrast stripe), yet they went with that. https://www.benzinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/mercedes-amg-gt3-4.jpg there you go, start from there, or better yet, do ZAMAC with red stripes and numbers.
On the positive, we get white recolors of black liveries for the Advan 180SX and Boost Brigade Integra, and the 918 gets an extension. Woo!
The hobby is going to get harder and harder to continue with Toys’R Us closing and all the K-Marts shutting dowm….why even bother with Kmart days any more. I really don’t find it enjoyable to buy from EBAY because thats not hunting & finding something cool… It might be time to just stop and start customizing the many many extras I have.
I think you summed it up with your “other notables”. The white Advan 180SX and Yokohama REPU are the only hits that aren’t carried forward from H case.
I’m happy to see the McLaren 570S, Porsche 918 Spyder and R30 Skyline again, as I have not found them from H case. Though I have been a big fan of the Ford GT Race, Mercedes-AMG GT3 and Cadillac ATS-V R race cars, I have to say I am less than enthralled with these recolors. I may just pass on all 3 of them. The recolored Honda City is a maybe, as is the recolored R33 Skyline and K&N Ford F-150. I want to like the VW Mk2 Golf, but ugh, that deco!
Finally, what is the deal with the Fiat 500? I’m OK with the casting, not so much the daredevils deco. Is this the official car of 2018 or something? This is now the third color and it seems to be making its way into just about every case. Everything but ‘H’ so far.