I’m traveling. That means I’m not at JCCS, but I wish I was. So I am following what is there on Instagram and via texts with friends. So here is a post from Japanese Nostalgic Car showing the 2020 Hot Wheels being showcased at their booth.
My friend Jay Kho took a couple pics too:
The Subaru looks great! But, uh, what’s with the Choro-Q looking thingy?
Looks like a tooned version of the Mad Manga… and I love it!!
Mad Manga!
Wow! Can it really be true? Are we finally getting some additional Hondas long in the waiting? We got the completely unexpected City Turbo II last year and a modified Odyssey before that. They’ve knocked out the ’16 & ’18 Civic Type R’s. Now we get the no-brainer ’97 Prelude and ’92 Civic hatchback. All I can say is it’s about time! The Civic looks great in yellow with black (carbon fiber?) hood, but baby blue on the Prelude? I’m truly hoping that is not final. Really should be red for the debut of this model, followed by any other production color before going into custom paint choices. The CRX looks nice enough in white with blue & red deco, though not necessarily better than the debut red or black/copper. I’m still questioning the City Turbo II in premium. It doesn’t look horrible in orange, but it doesn’t feel like a must have at this pricepoint.
Otherwise, the rest of Japan Historic 3 turned out great! I am so excited for the Cosmo and Silvia. Love the colors they chose. R30 Skyline looks great, but I’m wondering if it would have garnered more excitement had it preceded the basic version in this same color scheme. The Sunny pickup looks nice enough, but I’m on the fence with whether I need this one or not, pickups not being much of a focus for me. What’s the 6th car in this row and how will it be released? Looks like a Subaru WRX STi, but is it the current model or the upcoming 2020? Either way, looks great! More WRC please!
What’s the matte black car in the front row? At first I was thinking Toyota Corolla SR5 Coupe, now I’m leaning toward Nissan Silvia. We’ve already seen a preview of the 2020 basic ’98 Subaru Impreza 22B STI-Version, but I can’t get enough. This model always looks great! Speaking of looking great, the Mazda Miata has never looked better! So nice to see this reworked without the roll bar.
I’m liking the white/green/red Datsun 510, but it seems to be missing the Castrol logo. 😉 The RX-7 looks fantastic in this deep orange Renown inspired livery. The red/white 280Z also looks great. Is this part of an upcoming Team Transport release? I’m not so sure about this R32 Skyline. The metallic gray is gorgeous, but the purple hood/roof/trunk and gold wheels ruins the look. Interesting that the R33 & R34 Skylines were both given the same deco. Not totally stock clean, but a very simple conservative race day graphic that I can appreciate. Great that the R33 will also pair well with the Team Transport Aero Lift. Any word on how this R33 will be available?
Finally, can’t overlook the Cruise Boulevard Supra. Beautiful in red. Now, if only I am able to find one of these beauties! 2020 is shaping up to be a great year!
The white car is a 2015 Subaru WRX STI from Fast and Furious 8 (used in the submarine chase scene). The matte black one is a Silvia S13.
Oh, gotcha. Thanks! I was close with the matte black car. The reason I was having trouble placing it was, the car we got in the U.S. – ’89-’94 Nissan 240SX Coupe – looked significantly different, with the sloping, rounded nose of the liftback, with its pop-up headlights. Cool! Glad to see we’re getting the JDM version.
That would explain why I didn’t recognize the Subaru. I do my best to avoid anything with the words “fast” and “furious” together. It was only the grill and headlights that gave this away. With its double-wide body kit and stunted rear end, it looks more like a Citroen C4 WRC at the back.
The deco on the R33/34 is a replica of real cars Nismo made. The R34 was called the “R Tune”. It was full of Nismo’s best go-fast bits at the time and was kinda a development showcase for the very very very expensive parts they offer nissan owners. Here’s a page with info about the handful of the R34 R Tunes that exist. Not all of them have the graphics package but there are clear promo pics from Nissan showing it:
http://gtr-registry.com/en-r34-gtr-nismo-r-tune.php
Because Nismo is cool, and because the R32/3/4 have such similar engine architecture, Nismo also built up R Tune R33 and R32 models as well. Here’s a picture of the R33 (a matching R34 is behind it)
https://cdn.sau.com.au/post-11029-1221108400.jpg
I really love this pair in real life. Seeing it as a Hot Wheels is just frustrating, because I live in a town of retirees who scalp every Skyline because they sell on ebay, and especially team transports. I will never see these cars and it’s gonna be SOOOO expensive trying to get em on ebay, and yet lots of the scalpers won’t even understand the significance of this particular deco unless they read this comment. It’s a bad time to be an autistic person with a hyperfixation on both Skylines, and Hot Wheels
The first link isn’t working, bud. But I have seen both cars and know what you mean. At least Team Transport is available in your area, even if scalpers get it first. My country doesn’t even get TT and we have to source them from outside by paying high import charges on top of the already high prices. But I’m glad these models at least exist.
SUPER DEFORMED MAD MANGA FTW !!!
It’s so great that Hot Wheels is doing a 5th gen Prelude!!! That car never gets the attention is deserves and I’m happy to see this one being done.
I’m also super excited for the white Subaru from Fast and Furious!! As many other cars from this line, this one passes off as just an awesome clean white Subaru WRX by itself. I’m thankful that the one in the movie did not have any graphics because it looks best just like this. Speaking of Fast and Furious and clean cars, that yellow Civic EG is another highlight for me. It only appeared in the background in FF4 (Letty’s funeral scene) but like the Subaru I’m glad this one is also clean.
Other highlights for me are both the Silvias (S13 and CSP311), Cosmo, 22B, Nismo R33 and of course the return of the Supra (Fast and Furious next please!!). Overall, all these are amazing and I can’t wait to see them featured here on the blog and eventually (hopefully) get my hands on them!
Just think that ten years ago you would never see a lineup like this in Hot Wheels’ mainline. Back then it was all about muscle cars. It’s great to see Hot Wheels expand its horizons and take on a very popular car culture and never disappoint. Sure some are getting sick and tired of Skylines and Silvias but I think it’s great. Bring it on! I just found the 22B by surprise at a Publix a couple of days and absolutely love it! Glad they made it! Can’t wait to hopefully find most of the rest!
Just think, in another 10 years we’ll all be collecting virtual renditions of our favorite electric autonomous transport pods! I wonder if they’ll still have case models, that only a select few that wait outside the virtual doors of the website, will be able to find and download.
Got a chance to see them in person yesterday and i must say, they look rad in person! It was such a surprise to see the new Honda models,but the stunner for me was the Nissan Hardbody D21 pickup! Really looking forward to hunting them on the pegs!
I think they should have started with a 92-96 prelude first and then make a 97+ later on since a 97+ prelude already exist from other makers. As far as I know, no one has made a 92-96 prelude in 1/64 scale.
Nothing that peaks my interest immensely but they all look very well done. Good to see nice proportions and a couple old track cars.