You kind of know what they are when they hit. Might be a fun feature too. Those models that one day will the models that future collectors are sad they missed.
I am not talking about the models that were once pegwarmers but are now popular, like the Datsun 510. I am talking about the models that we all appreciate now, but probably take a tad for granted.
The Nissan Silvia in Car Culture Street Tuners is today’s example. It is definitely the first to go when Street Tuners hits the pegs, and there is no reason for me to talk about how cool it is. I think most will agree it is the star of the set.
Thinking bigger, the S15 is already a star. It was a big deal when the news got out that Hot Wheels was doing a proper premium S15, and it was a must-have in both the Forza Entertainment and Fast & Furious lines. They both looked good, but the busy decos just made the desire for clean S15 that much stronger. And boy did Hot Wheels deliver.
Street Tuners was Hot Wheels’ nod to those collectors that wanted clean, graphic-less models in Car Culture. Nothing but front and rear tampos. The S15 was a no-brainer, and Hot Wheels knew they were doing something special with the pearl white model with black Real Riders. It was going to be the definitive S15, and it is.
The S15 will be a popular casting for a long time, but I don’t see any surpassing this model. That means anyone collecting this later will be searching for this one. It will be the first one they want. I’ll just be glad I have this one.
It’s clean to the point of blandness. It’s a nice casting of a pretty boring car. It needs some interesting graphics to make it even remotely desirable to me.
It’s clean or full tampo. Just like maroon 180sx or full greddy tampo. No “some” in between to make it better. Just like ugly white Honda civic EF, with only a greddy stripe, makes it look uglier.
I bought this casting based on the clean design set up. I found that this was the car that appealed to me. The fast and furious one was nice but I like this one better.
Why photos away?
Can we now please get a Car Culture Supercars set in the same manner as this one!? Just plain colours and full details, no flashy side decos.
You mean, when funky graphics are used as such in a premium Forza line?
No, Hot Wheels loves to put stripes or ugly designs on supercars (ex – McLaren P1 from Cars and Donuts, XJ220 from this year) and it just doesn’t work.
Yep I agree…first two releases were not great. Was glad to see a proper release and it’s even better in hand. Also interesting to see your front tampo is in the right place: every one I’ve seen has had the headlights shifted up slightly from where they should be. Doesn’t ruin the model but it’s just one mistake away from perfection.
OK, excellent. We got the fancy treatments down pat. Now can they please take it to the basic line and at least share the fun for the rest of us? I mean come on, I too like full-premium releases but limiting castings to high-price lines is a bit of a waste. There’s so many Car Culture-debuting castings that have yet to get on the mainline, and all of them deserve one of the 365 slots.
Sorry, but no. Mega yawn.
As a halfway house between a stock TLV and a decorated mainline, it fills a good niche. The only premium JDM I’ve bought so far is the Impreza from Cars and Donuts, simply because it was left stock.
“Future collectors” you say? What about collectors now? We’re pining for this model now! When will distribution of Car Culture ever catch up with demand? I’ve only seen the Street Tuners wave once. And only two cars were left, a single S2000 and RX7. Now I ain’t complaining about finding those, because both are beautiful castings done up sweetly in clean graphic-free decos. But how about getting more cases out to more stores?
You rarely find Car Culture backing up on the pegs. In fact, every Walmart in a 25 mile radius has empty pegs for most of the year. When and if a wave shows up at any local stores, I find 2, maybe 3 models, the pegs are cleared in the blink of an eye and then back to empty pegs for a few more months.
Target has been doing slightly better with this premium line, but it is still often a matter of impeccable timing to be able to find the cars you’re wanting. Silhouettes seemed to stock in decent numbers based on the amount of Corvettes and Porsche 935s that hung around for several weeks. The other 3 models however, were nowhere to be found. Open Track also stocked decently, with plenty of both Mercedes and the Audi hanging around for weeks. The Acura could also be found, but no signs of the Skyline anywhere. Gulf Racing was completely MIA. Did it even get released to major retailers? I don’t recall Dragstrip Demons showing up, but it’s not a genre I collect, so I may have come and gone in a blink and I missed seeing it. They certainly didn’t peg warm. That I would have noticed. Circuit Legends did make a rare appearance at Walmart and also Target with a week or two run, so not bad! Shop Trucks obviously got wide distribution as evidenced by the gobs of Econolines pegged deep for a month or two. Euro Speed may have been a Target exclusive at launch(?), only showing up in wing panel displays at the end of the aisles. Very much picked through displays might I add.
Come to think of it, I believe Kroger also got Euro Speed a month or so later. As is typically the case with Kroger, they don’t get anywhere near every wave and when they do stock a wave it is typically many months or nearly a year behind. In fact, they are still sitting on some remnants of Cars and Donuts. They seem more like Mattels dumping ground for anything left in their warehouse that didn’t get distributed when “fresh”.
All that to say this great work Hot Wheels is doing on designing the cars collectors want in the decos and details were looking for, do us no good if they can’t be found.
Wow, what a beautiful new casting! I say new, because it has proven very difficult to lay eyes or hands on since its debut in Entertainment Forza (never saw ANY of that wave!). I saw (and bought) the Fast and Furious release once. Not exactly my favorite, deco wise. While I know there were some arguing the merits of this wave, being too similar in theme to the F&F line, I for one am happy to have it. These are exactly the type of cars I’m looking for. Unless F&F shifts their attention away from the over the top tuner look, festooned with spoilers and wings and skirts and gaudy graphics and moves to this look of “thoughfully tuned” cars with clean graphic-free paint jobs, I’ll be very particular about which of those models come home with me. Unfortunately The Fast and the Furious franchise is all about the former.
As far as this being the definitive S15 Silvia, I’ll say that’s subject to the views of each individual collector. While I certainly think this one looks great and have no complaints, my definitive S15 would be in the metallic blue of the Forza release, but without the graphics. That or the deep metallic red of the basic 180SX of a few years ago. Both being brilliant eye catching colors. But that’s just my preference.
I love this one and the Forza one. The F&F one is nice but too busy. It is definitely a favorite casting of mine. I really hope they do something similar with the S14 from F&F someday.
Yeah wish Hotwheels Premium Distribution wasn’t so shit,these can go for near TLV money here in NZ for the popular stuff.