If you have been a fan of Auto World for a while you may remember the Auto World Deluxe series. These were more of an “entry-level” series that came in at a lower price point than the Premium or Licensed Premium series. If I remember correctly these originally retailed at Wal-Mart for $2.97 each here in the US. They were actually really nice and highly detailed but differed from the premium counterparts as they had plastic bases and generic wheels.
The Deluxe series was relatively short-lived. For the first two rounds of releases from Round2, the Deluxe series was in stores alongside its Premium and Licensed Premium counterparts.
The Deluxe series was then on hiatus until 2017. In 2017 there was a full Deluxe release (although it was very limited and did not show up in any stores around me) and also some single-car hobby exclusives. The Deluxe castings also made a couple of appearances as display case exclusives around this time.
One of the more favored castings of this line was the 1984-1992 Camaro (tooling number 164-009). It appeared in every Deluxe release and was also released as a hobby and display case exclusive. You will see as we go through all of them (except the Ultra Raws of course) the tooling has variations allowing it to cover a range of model years.
Deluxe Series 1 is where it all began with this 1984 Camaro Z28. I’m not sure as to when exactly these early releases hit stores because I did not start collecting until the end of 2014 and both this release and release 2 were already there. I can tell you the date on the bottom of all three of these first release cars is 6/15/13. Round2 as far as I know never released production numbers for the first few releases so I also cannot tell you what they are limited to.
For the first release of this tooling, version A is in blue and version B is in red. The Ultra Red chase, of course, has the Auto World signature Ultra Red paint on the body. It also has as most of the early release chase cars have which is some sort of white accent (for this one it is on the hood).
Next to appear are the Toy Fair models which are 1992 Camaro Z28s. As I was writing this I discovered that my collection is actually not complete. The car you see here is from the 2014 New York Toy Fair and is limited to 240 pieces. There is no chase version of this car that I know of but I have discovered that there is also a Nuremberg Toy Fair version that is limited to 336.
I am missing the Nuremberg version so I will be on the hunt for that. For the purpose of showing you all the models though, it really doesn’t matter all that much that I do not have it as the only difference is a slight variation of the graphic on the roof of the car (it reads “Nuremberg” in white instead of “New York” in red).
The Toy Fair models and the ones here in Deluxe series 2 are the only releases where we have seen the tooling released as a 1992 Z28. The most notable differences present in the 1992 model are the chin and the rear spoiler. As is true with the first Deluxe release, I am not aware of Round2 ever releasing any production numbers. These made it to shelves in 2014 and the production date on all three of my cars is 11/10/2013.
Version A for this release is in a nice metallic teal and version B is gloss black. Version B is actually identical to the Toy Fair models save for lacking a graphic on the roof. The Ultra Red chase for this release follows the same traits as it did in Deluxe series 1. It has the signature Ultra Red paint with white accents.
After those first two releases, the Deluxe line took a break. Auto World then near the end of 2016 used the Camaro tooling (this time tooled as a 1987 IROC-Z) as an exclusive that would come with their 6-car interlocking display cases. These cases were sold both on the Auto World Store website and at Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby as far as I remember carried these on shelves for at least a year until the model was swapped out for another deluxe casting (Chevy El Camino).
Now we are getting to the last releases which were in 2017. Both this one and the Hobby releases were quite limited. These are going to be hard holes to fill at bargain prices if you decide to go after this casting. The 2017 Deluxe Series 1 release (which never was followed by a series 2) was available through on Auto World’s website and from some hobby dealers. It also apparently showed up in some retail stores although they never showed up anywhere around me.
This is a 1987 IROC like the display case exclusive. Both versions A (Brown) and B (Yellow) are limited to only 1256 pieces each. That is an extremely low production number by most standards. At the typical 3% of total production that Ultra Reds are, the chase is limited to only 75 units. I would call anything produced in quantities under 100 as pretty darn limited. The chase shown here was the last one I needed to complete my 2017 Deluxe Series 1 collection and I did not add it until July of 2019.
The final (at least as of now) releases of this tooling were hobby exclusive releases in 2017. These were back to the 1984 model year that we saw in the first Deluxe release. Both versions A and B are very limited with only 1248 of each produced. I split these up to be photographed with each of their Ultra Red counterparts as this is one of the few instances where the chase actually differs depending on if it is found on a version A or B card. These each have their own chase which is limited to only 37 pieces.
The version A car is a stark gloss white with a red stripe along the side. The Ultra Red is basically what you would expect to see but also has an Ultra Red painted base. Both the version A car and its chase have a black interior… actually all of the releases so far have had black interiors.
And last is version B. It’s gloss black and has the same red stripe as the white version A car. Where it really stands out is its red interior. The Ultra Red also carries this trait making the interior the only difference between the version A/B Ultra Reds. It also has the Ultra Red painted base.
Here are some pictures of the chases together for good measure.
That is all of them… well at least mostly all of them. I’m not insane (or rich) enough to go after the Ultra Raws (limited to 10 pieces for each release.. yikes!), and I still need to get the Nuremberg Toy Fair Model, but for now, I’m content with this nice collection of Camaros.
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Ah cool! Had a real ’92. Miss that car. Terrible quality but lotsa fun! Neat Article, thanks for sharing!
One of my favorite diecast cars. I think I did manage to get a red and a blue one but I do not know what release they were. I would have gotten as many versions as showed up, so only those 2 showed around here. Previous to the newer hw release I only had some JL’s as premium examples. They were okay but proportioned a little off when compared to the newer hw and autoworld casts. Everytime I see autoworld examples like these, I wonder why I buy any premium or rlc hw.
That all black 1992 Z28 is probably the best 3rd gen Camaro in 1:64 that I’ve ever seen.
Great article and pictures! It is tempting me to get into Auto Worlds (but that is a blackhole that I’m not sure I want to enter).