I have less than three cars from my childhood. A weird thing to say, “less than three”, but I can’t remember if it is two or three. I know one is a Corgi London Taxi that was given to me by my father, who got it when he visited London when I was young. The other is a Matchbox Lamborghini Countach. There might be a third, but I can’t remember. I actually can’t remember where the Lamborghini is, but it is somewhere in my possession.
And I have no reason to tell you that, other than this new Lamborghini Centenario from Matchbox reminds me of that old Countach. It seems a bit throwback. There was a time that Matchbox did a ton of Porsches, Ferraris, and Lamborghinis, and they all had the Lesney name embossed on the base. Many had opening parts. We all thought they were cool cars.
And while Matchbox has done some Lamborghinis recently – Gallardo Police, Miura, and LM002 – the Centenario seems different. It seems a little more “poster on the wall“ than the others, a little more Countach. And it seems very fresh, like something new from Matchbox. It’s a legit supercar.
And it has opening doors. Scissor doors that look so good pointing to the sky next to that flat, slanted hood. I will never have a Centenario poster on my wall, but I will definitely have this model in my collection.
Some will argue this model doesn’t deserve the nostalgia. The doors are plastic, and oldschool Matchbox would always have metal doors. I guess. But these doors don’t bother me at all. They are well constructed, function beautifully, and match the metal paint. You wouldn’t know the doors were plastic based on those photos if I didn’t just tell you.
It doesn’t bother me. Considering this model will be released in Opening Parts, which stays relatively cheap despite the extra parts, it is quite cool that Matchbox could release this model in that color with that trim.
This massive Matchbox resurgence continues. The push towards licensed cars and realism is near complete, and now the brand gets stretched a bit. Even more to what it used to be. This Lambo is so 1984 of them.
It’s just too bad that I can’t go out and look for cars anymore. With this whole pandemic going on, you can’t go out and hunt anymore, considering the social distancing, lockdowns, etc. I’m sure this will put a halt on collectors and scalpers hitting the stores for a while. I’ve noticed that big chain stores like Walmart and Target aren’t really even focusing on restocking the diecast aisle and focusing more on the essentials for this pandemic. It makes sense. So I’m not really missing anything anyway at this point.
That’s not a supercar, that’s a legit hypercar. Only 20 were ever made and each one costs more than £2.5 million. In fact, this is the first proper hypercar Matchbox has ever made (the Divo will be the second). There was the SLR McLaren that came before but that’s more of a grand tourer than an all-out hypercar. Props to Matchbox for doing a stellar job on this one, it looks sharp. Much better than the Hot Wheels one. Even the wheels are a very close match to the real ones. If it wasn’t for the plastic doors I’d given it 10/10 considering the price point.
Here’s where Mattel scores vs Tomica. MBX seems closer to 1:64 than Tomy, with equal detail, and the doors take it over the top. Tomy does boast all-metal construction, but I say MBX still has this one in the bag.
Now HW is up to the test: Tomica has made the McLaren Speedtail and Dream Team just revealed their own. If I get to acquire both, I’ll put them together to see who nailed it better.
It’s beautiful. I want one.
Too bad the distribution makes the whole line a rare fund.
Tomica Diablo SV is FAR BETTER than this and hw’s rlc Countach, change my mind