Whether you collect carded diecasts or free them all, age is truly the nemesis of the collector. Cardboard becomes soft and bends, plastics yellow and become brittle, glue breaks down, ink fades, and metal starts to corrode — we can try and keep our prized pieces in mint condition, but sometimes it’s the packaging itself that does the harm. It may sound crazy but I’m guessing many of you have had the same issue I’m about to cover: packaged cars held in with rubber bands that break down and can wreak havoc on paint.
I knew I would need a solid candidate to open in order to test the issue. Introducing our 20 year old test subject for this topic: a 2000 100% Hot Wheels 1957 Plymouth Fury drag car.
The Fury is an AWESOME casting and it doesn’t hurt that it wears the iconic white-over-red Christine paint scheme — so I was excited to crack the two-decade old seal on it. Just photos wouldn’t do for an occasion this momentous, so I recorded the whole process in the video below. It was pretty interesting cracking open a 20 year old premium — especially if you’re new to the 100% Hot Wheels line. Either way, check out the video below to see the damage a rubber band can do:
I know you’re not sneaking ahead and you watched the video, right? Either way you could probably guess by the post that rubber bands do indeed damage paint. The Fury, like a few other 100%’ers I’ve opened before, had hood or fender damage due to drying, corrosive rubber bands. If you did watch the video you’ve seen the marks the bands left on the fenders – the good news is I was able to get most of the driver side residue off with a baby wipe and some elbow grease. The passenger side fender was not so lucky. The mark left there is bigger and permanent, but I am working on a fix for it…so if I do find a way to fix it, I’ll post it up. If you have a fix for the rubber band issue, please, post it up in the comments and help a fellow collector out!
For those of you who can’t watch or didn’t watch the video, I’ve also included a photo gallery of the packaging and glamour shots of that sweet, sweet Fury.
As seen in the video, the package accumulated a little dirt over the past 20 years.
Even if the entire front end had been ruined by rubber bands, it would still be a casting worth buying. LOOK AT THAT STANCE! Photo flood incoming!
BONUS! Here’s the 100% Hot Wheel Fury vs. the Retro Entertainment Christine
Looking to add either of these amazing Plymouths to your collection? Click the links below to see what’s available right now on eBay 🏁:
Do you know why the 100% line was dropped?