Project Premiere/World Class, Day 21: Trestarossa

I just received the red Testarossa in the mail the other day and felt compelled to post about it. So here it is!

Three Ferrari Testarossa's. Two from the Premiere series, one from the World Class series. A classic design that somehow manages to be very difficult to photograph at the same time. I'm still not happy with the way these photos turned out, but it is what it is.

While I have no qualms about the casting, there is one main issue, and that's the width of the front wheels. They stick out like a sore thumb and is a problem that reoccurs throughout these series. The castings were meant to handle mainline-type, thin-styled wheels, not the fatter ones with rubber tires that these cars have. You take the good with the bad.

Project Premiere/World Class, Day 20: Ferrari F50

Back at it with the features again.

Today's is a pair of Ferrari F50's from the Matchbox Premiere series. We're moving on to the Ferrari's now, folks. Though I'm by and large a tuner fan nowadays, these Italian stallions will always have a special place in my heart. I grew up dreaming about them. The car that started my diecast obsession was a Ferrari. I always try to grab every 1/64 Ferrari I see and will continue to do so until I die.

The F50 needs no explanation, really. As a kid, I had (and still have) a yellow 1/24 scale model by Maisto. It was my favorite larger-sized diecast model, which explains why I still have it today and why it's still in pretty good condition considering its age. The yellow one shown here, which is from a Toys"R"Us-exclusive gift set, is like a twin to that one, except smaller. Having gone through a few unsatisfactory Hot Wheels models of the F50 throughout the years, I now remember why I loved this car so much.

That line running across the body. That big wing. And, my god, that rear end.

It's fairly common knowledge that the rear is the best feature of the F50. You will be seeing plenty of it in the photos below. I've always felt the front end was a little too soft, but regardless, Matchbox nailed this casting down to every curve. Both of these sport the red interior with detailed engines. Both have the Hot Head license plates. I don't know how that's relevant to the car, but it's a pretty accurate description of me nonetheless.

Silver is like the beige of supercars, but it works on this one.

It's a shame there are so many little nicks and scratches on the yellow model. I received it brand-new-in-box too, which means it's been trapped in its cage for about as long as I've been alive. And that's why you open your cars, guys.

Project Premiere/World Class, Day 19: Tres Quattros

 

In the last feature, I briefly hinted that I had a few more examples of the castings shown there. Well, here's one of them. I'm not much of a fan of concept cars per se, and I don't collect many of them, but this is one that has grown on me quite a bit. This is the Audi Avus Quattro, and I have it here in three different colorways. While the gold one from the previous post still takes the cake, the chrome is a sight to behold.

Curiously, this is the only Audi in either the Premiere or the World Class series. Just as I'm not a fan of concept cars, Audi's don't tickle my fancy either, but I feel they should've been more well-represented. In any case, we get this concept car instead of a "real" car. Naturally, Matchbox had to replicate it in its signature chrome color. Hot Wheels also has a casting for this car, but it's nowhere close to the real thing. Forget that one and get this one. Attentive readers may notice something off with the chrome example shown here...

Yes, that is an error. The model should come with five-spokes all around. I'm not sure whether to be excited by this or not. On the one hand, I don't collect errors, and a mismatched-wheel error is certainly not the most desirable. It only means I have to go through the process of obtaining a "correct" example. On the other hand, it's a unique piece to add to my growing Premiere collection. When you try to collect all the models of a particular series, it's always nice to have all of the variants out there.

Meanwhile, the red one is a bit of a snooze. It's part of the Select Class sub-series of the Premiere Collection. That means it's a retailer exclusive, in this case, a Walmart exclusive. To complete the collection, there is also a white one that shouldn't be hard to find at all. No rush though; I think I have the two best colorways already.

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.