Project Premiere/World Class, Day 18: European Exclusives

Today's feature focuses not on one particular casting, model, or manufacturer, but a sub-series of the Premiere Collection. We all know Matchbox's history of catering to the European market. You may have heard about ROW (Rest Of World) Matchbox if you've been collecting for a while now. The Superfast series that I posted about the other day has its own set of European-exclusive models. Well, the Premiere series does too. Exactly how many, I have no clue, but more is always better.

If you look closely at the boxes, you'll notice there's something different about them, and that's the label on the upper right corner, printed in German, telling you that these models are limited to a 12,000 production run. "Normal" Premieres have a production number of 25,000. While neither of those numbers signify rarity, the European models don't appear very often. I'm very happy to have acquired four of them, and I present them to you here.

The green Mercedes-Benz 600SEL has been near the top of my wish list. I've shown the other colorways here on the blog, and it's one of my favorites of the Premiere line. Now, I have a fourth in the collection, with one more (dark blue) to go. This really is one of the must-haves, even if you don't like the Premiere styling with the fat wheels. For good measure, I have gathered the four of them for a little group photo session.

The other three castings here haven't been featured yet, but they will soon. I won't spoil the others for now, but I will say this: the European models have some of the best colorways for their respective castings, the Avus in particular.

Project Premiere/World Class, Day 6: Big Body Benzes

Yesterday, you saw the 2-door. Today, you will see the 4-door. One generation apart, but still the same good ol' German engineering. This is the Mercedes-Benz 600 SEL.

Today, still one of the most handsome and stately flagship luxury sedans out there, with its clean lines and classy, yet era-appropriate, two-tone trim. The SEL designation on this model means it's the long wheelbase variant. Aggressively off-set wheels and tires on a wealthy businessman's car? Sure, why not!

This also happens to be the first Matchbox Premiere release I've shown that features opening parts: in this case, opening doors! Being a luxury car, of course you would want the doors to open, such that you can access its lavish interior. Ironically, the big Benz has the least amount of interior detail of all the Premieres you've seen thus far. It's not bad, but it certainly doesn't scream flagship. A little touch of brown to mimic wood grain would've been nice.

I've got three different colorways here. The black and the white are standard Premiere releases. The blue one, I believe, is from the second set of JCPenny exclusives. It's a rare set that only pops up on the 'Bay every once in a while. And when it does, it's bound to be quite costly relative to other Premieres. I was lucky enough to obtain it in a large lot of loose Matchbox Premieres, at a great price no less.

I'm glad I did, because it's my favorite of the three. While I prefer the multi-spoke wheels of the others, the color is what sets the blue example apart. I almost always prefer metallics over gloss paints. You'll also notice that it sports a unique license plate. Matchbox loves throwing Easter Eggs on its cars in the form of clever plate slogans, and this one is no different.

So, what's left? There's one in a darker shade of blue, with the multi-spoke wheels and "600SEL" license plate. And I hear there's a European exclusive in green which will probably cost an arm and a leg. Much like the Benz itself.