Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Whatever your tradition, I hope it is a wonderful day.
If you want to do something diecast-related on what I hope is a cozy day, watch this video, and vote on the poll below.
With the release of Drag Strip Demons, Hot Wheels has closed the books on its third year of Car Culture, and it has been nothing but a stellar success. There was some worry among you about the price increase, but I haven’t heard any complaints since. Hot Wheels releases them, and we keep gobbling them up. I know I do.
So, with 16 mixes released (excluding Team Transport), what are your Top 3? I ranked mine, so watch, hopefully enjoy, and vote:
Of course Japan Historics 2 has the most popular vote. No surprise there. But it was one of my votes as well. That was such a great set with stellar castings, beautiful colors and simple detail. My favorite in that set was the purple Nissan C210 Skyline. My other two votes were Cars & Donuts and Modern Classics. Love the Mercedes 190E Modern Classics and the Subaru Impreza.
My top three were 1. Shop Trucks, 2. Drag Strip Demons and 3. Cargo Carriers.
My picks:
1. Japan Historics 2
2. Drag Strip Demons
3. RLC Exclusive set
Great models and card art 🙂
ALL of the Car Culture series are looking TOO CARTOONISH. I will strictly stick with the RLC club releases from now on and only buy through the club, no more ebay.
What about them do you see as ‘cartoonish’? Is it the proportions of the castings, the decos, or something else?
Yeah, I’d love to know what’s “cartoonish” about cars like the 190E, black Porsche 911, Alfa Giulietta, etc. This is some of the best work Hot Wheels has done in a long time.
Cartoonish is rlc with cheap ugly redline wheels and tires, and ugly Hw Decos, dude!
My votes went to:
1) Race Day
2) Cars & Donuts
3) Eurospeed
It was tough to rank them and tougher yet to pick just 3! My “honorable mentions” will go to Japan Historics I and Circuit Legends. You can tell from my choices where my passions lie. It was very easy to eliminate the funny cars, drag racers, gasers, etc. right off the bat. Muscle cars and trucks were the next to go. Japan Historics II didn’t have a chance with me (though I know many will disagree). I just can’t get past the ridiculously tiny wheels. Japan Historics I, just got edged out mainly due to the fact that I never saw a single one of these models anywhere. Some beautiful castings and decos though. I’m happy to see the brand new Mazda 787B make its debut in Circuit Legends and I love that they were fairly accurate with the livery on both this and the Ford GT. Another release of the Porsche 962, this time in Advan livery, perfectly rounds out this set.
Race Day got my vote for the inclusion of 3 perfect Porsches, and that stunning NSX. Cars & Donuts was such an enjoyable mix of pro cars (M1), hyper cars (P1), classic Euro (Giulia) and tuners (240Z, WRX). All the decos hit the mark with the exception of the McLaren which would have been far better were it done clean without the black flourishes. Eurospeed was all about the mix of cars. From vintage Alfa Romeo to classic BMW to modern Mercedes and Porsche to the contemporary debut of the Audi R8 LMS. I hope the future holds for us more mixes that are just as good.