A Titanium Trio: Three Models From M2 Machines' Latest Titanium Series

This just might be M2's best series to date.

It's the Walmart-exclusive Titanium series, and it's exactly what it sounds like - a showcase of some of their strongest and best castings, in the cool metallic color that we all love, finished off with earthy brown interiors. If there's been a better release by M2, I surely haven't seen it in the year-plus that I've been collecting them. Shown here are the '71 Dodge Charger R/T, '70 Ford F-100 Custom, and '58 Chevrolet Apache. Not shown here are the '68 Shelby GT500KR 'vert, '70 Olds 442, and '49 Custom Merc. All six models are well worthy of occupying your dwindling shelf space; these three are the ones that stood out to me the most.

I'd like to thank The Bell King over at LaLD for helping me scoop up a couple of these models, the Charger and the F-series. He is quite the lucky dude, always managing to find the latest releases before the rest of us do. These never saw the light of day in my neck of the woods, and based on the buzz that this series generated, they likely sold out before I could get to them. I did manage to snatch the Apache later on while I was out of town, but that's a different story.

The Charger is obviously my favorite of the group, because Mopar or no car. The '71 also happens to be the best-looking generation, in my opinion, with its sleek body lines compared to the boxier generations of prior (the '69 and '70 are shockingly absent from M2's casting lineup).

A neat little touch that M2 has added to these models is the "Titanium" logo on the front fenders and rear windows of each car. And if you look more closely, you'll see the "22" superscript, denoting the material's atomic number. The geek in me approves.

Two Eerily Similar M2 Machines HEMI 'Cudas

M2 collectors know about the Target-exclusive models that released early in the year when Target began to sell collector-focused diecast products in select stores. Those models were a moderate success; most of them have sold out by now, but there are still some hanging around, particularly the ones from the Auto-Wheels series. One of them is the silver HEMI 'Cuda shown here. It comes with a pre-installed set of wheels and tires but also includes three other sets of shoes and axles and a handy screwdriver for you to customize to your liking.

Never one to pass on a 'Cuda, I got it with the intention of swapping the original wheels with the redline Torque Thrusts (shown in this post here) included in the package. The truth is I never actually got around to doing so because these kits can be a pain to work on, and I wasn't in the mood for ripping apart my hands.

And just the other day, I ran into a strangely familiar 'Cuda. I liked the Spectrafrost-esque lime green paint. I loved the blacked-out Torque Thrusts wheels with the Redline tires. It called out to me as I stood there for a minute, debating on whether or not to take it. Then I remembered I had that Target-exclusive, with the exact same livery, stashed in the closet. Of course I had to get it and do a comparison. And that was all the motivation I needed to finally get down and get that silver one done.

So, the shiny one is not from the same series and is not a Target exclusive. As shown on the packaging, it's from the Auto Drivers series, which is M2's entry-level line. That means it has a plastic base, printed (instead of plastic) lights, no opening parts, and no extra sets of wheels. But ultimately, none of that matters because then you don't have all the quality issues that come with all the extra parts. Lower price for a better overall product? That's a win-win.

These two make a fine duo. I can't say enough about the wheels on this model. Just look at the deep dishes on the back. While M2 gets an F- for its lack of creativity in copying the design from a previous release, it aces the test with its execution. I'll take five more, please.