Mission, Possible: Collecting the Matchbox Premiere/World Class Series

This has been a couple months in the making.

First, a little bit on what’s been going on regarding me and my diecasts. I've recently been busy overhauling my collection. I was in bad need of slimming it down because I've completely run out of space to display all my cars. When you resort to putting your cars on the floor, you know you’ve got a problem. A diecast problem, further exacerbated by excessive DLM’ing. I started getting organized. I bought some Jammer cases to store a portion of my collection. I started trading away those I didn’t want for those on my wish list. I’m in the process of selling off the rest of what I don’t want anymore.

I soon realized this wasn’t getting the job done. I was receiving as many cars as I was dishing out. I’ve started scouring eBay for highly coveted pieces. As of now, I still have cars on the floor and runneth over on my desk.

However, the one important takeaway from this is I’ve been able to “improve” my collection. That means when I look at each and every car I own, I can honestly say “that’s a keeper.” No more indifference or “meh”. Sometimes you get caught up in the moment and purchase models that you might like for a week and never look at again for the rest of your life. The more you collect, the better you get at resisting the urge and the more you learn not to repeat your mistakes. Without a doubt, I’m much happier with my collection right now than ever before.

Which brings me to these. I’ve always kept the mentality of only buying diecast that I’ve found in-person. To me, 90% of the fun in this hobby is the hunt. That being said, I’ve opened up to purchasing cars online because I’ve realized that sometimes the models you really want are the ones you can’t find in stores. Ultimately, the most important part of this hobby is to collect what you really like, and I really like these. I mean, love these.

What are they? They’re models from the Matchbox Premiere and World Class series. Nostalgic stuff. The World Class series came out in the late 80’s and was succeeded by the Premiere series in the early 90’s. These are, in my opinion, the best that Matchbox has ever done. We’re talking full details throughout the whole car. Lights, badges, vents, window trim, door handles, even the interior, for crying out loud. We’re talking rubber tires a la Real Riders. Some of them have metal bases. Some even have opening features. This is top of the line stuff that even the current Best of World series can’t hold a candle to, and to think these were released more than 25 years ago.

I’ve started amassing lots of these. I hope to eventually have every release from both of these series. That’s years away from happening, but it’s important to take things slowly. It’s important not to overpay for a model just because you’re worried about not ever seeing it again. A slow process is sometimes the most enjoyable one. I’ve been able to acquire all of the models here on great prices. Some of them have been absolute steals. All are in excellent condition. Some were still in their packaging when I received them. Needless to say, they’ve been freed as they should, and you will be seeing them here.

So what’s the plan? Well, I’ve got more than 80 models here, spanning more than 50 different castings. How about one casting, (perhaps more?) per day, for a whole month? It’ll be a Matchbox May, and it will start tomorrow!

Stay tuned!

Ride or Die? The 2nd Wave of Jada Toys' Fast & Furious Build N' Collect Series

Ride or Die.

Jada Toys has hit it big with its Fast & Furious lineup. Say what you want about the movies, the plots, or the acting, but they're exciting and fun-to-watch at the very least. That's how Fast & Furious has become one of the biggest Hollywood franchises today. Jada was smart to pull this business move and acquire official licensing to replicate F&F's most iconic vehicles in diecast form. 

They may not be for everyone. Jada Toys usually produces their vehicles in off-scales. Their 1/18 and 1/24-scale models are a tad larger than they claim to be. They also produce models in 1/32 and 1/55 scale, both of which are irregular scales in the diecast world. In a collection, it's hard to fit them in with the rest of the masses. Jada models have an exaggerated style that aren't very realistic even though they're packed with a ton of character. They use bling-y wheels and tacky bodykits on many of their cars. Furthermore, there are car enthusiasts who just don't care about Fast & Furious in general. 

Well, I do. 

I love all the movies, with the exception of the most recent one, which was both incredibly cheesy and ridiculous at the same time. While 1/55 scale is a bit out of my range, I had to grab a set of these, just as I did with the first wave of Build N' Collect releases. 

A little bit on the Build N' Collect series. When the first wave came out, they sold like hotcakes. I rushed to Target every other day to look for them. I even overpaid, as Target initially priced them at $6 rather than $4. The marketing strategy is simple yet genius. Each of the six cars in the set comes with an extra part to build a "bonus" vehicle (not sold individually), hence the "Build N' Collect" moniker. In Wave 1, that was the white Toyota Supra from Furious 7. In this wave, it's the orange Supra from the original movie. Tempting, right?

That forces collectors like me to purchase an entire set, even if we don't like some of the models. I personally would've passed on half of the cars here if it weren't for the Supra. Therefore, the strategy was a success. The important question is "Was it worth it?" 

In short, yes. The Supra is one of the best models of the bunch. However, the throne goes to the bare-metal Dodge Charger Maximus. Take a look for yourself...

Great Hype, Great Expectations: Opening a Set of the Hot Wheels Car Culture Japan Historics

These might be the most anticipated Hot Wheels releases of the year. When you include such castings as the Datsun 510 Wagon, a couple of vintage Skylines, and then throw in a fan favorite like the 2000GT, you're bound to generate a ton of hype. And, OH! By the way, there's a new JDM casting in the mix as well: the Mazda RX-3. Wait, I  also forgot to mention the new four-spoke wheels with stretched tires! With such a stacked lineup, one can only imagine how hard it will be to find these on the pegs. Moreover, imagine how insanely difficult it will be for me to find them on the pegs here in Southern California!

Which is precisely why I pre-ordered a case of Japan Historics for myself. I've never done a pre-order on diecast before, which more or less tells you how badly I wanted these. I've been breaking a lot of rules lately, haven't I?

Doing so allowed me to secure two sets of the Japan Historics. One set to rip open, which you will be seeing here, and another set to stash away for trades.

Now, I put in my order about a month-and-a-half ago. The shipments from Mattel kept getting delayed. Collectors in other parts of the world were already seeing these on pegs and us folks here in the Land of the Free were left searching for any little information we could about the status of our orders. The more I waited, the less I cared about this set, to be honest. For all the businesses out there: that's why you don't keep people waiting. Set a deadline and deliver on it.

Regardless, these will fly off the pegs. The potential for resale is just too great to leave them behind. The Datsun 510 Wagon? Haven't seen a single iteration of that casting on the pegs, ever. The Skylines are few and far between. I dream of the days when, as a fledgling collector, I could walk into a store and easily find all the JDM goodness that I needed. Looks like I'll have to resort to doing pre-orders like this in the future.

Back to the Historics. Where, oh where, do we start? Let's go bottom to top, worst (if you can even call it that) to best. Here we go!

Oh hey, it's that new RX-3 casting!

Gee, for a model that everyone was looking forward to the most, I sure as hell haven't seen or heard anyone proclaiming this as the best model in the series. I hate to be the glass-half-empty kind of guy, but that's a failure in my book.

My goal as a photographer is to bring out the best of each model. Showcase the good features and hide the bad. Make ordinary cars magically look spectacular. It works most of the time. On this one, it doesn't; this RX-3 looks bad from all angles. I can pinpoint that to a couple of flaws with this casting.

Take a look at the huge gap between the front wheels and the front fenders. Then take a look at how high the body sits relative to the ground. Those are your problems right there. This car looks anything but mean and aggressive, which is what it should be.

I'm usually a fan of any model in purple. Sorry, but this one doesn't do it for me. Or is it simply a case of the competition being better?

Sitting proudly in 4th place...

The Kenmeri Skyline GT-R C110. And there's no shame in being 4th among this group of heavyweights.

The C110 is one of the best JDM castings that Hot Wheels has ever done. They did an amazing job capturing the muscular yet sleek lines of the car and putting details into the front and rear fascias. This one is badly in need of those rear light details that we saw in the First Edition release. However, that's not the reason why it finished 4th. I just don't particularly care for the police livery. On a classic Skyline? No thanks.

The livery is meant to pay homage to the iconic designs of the Japanese police cars. I get that. I have a few cars in my collection (from Tomica) that are in that style. Except Hot Wheels thought it would be cool to put their name on it and essentially make it a "generic" police livery. We saw it with the AE86 and it makes an appearance again here. Sorry, but no copycats allowed.

It looks flat-out silly with "POLICE" slapped on the doors. I'd rather have a genuine one, thank you very much.

Standing tall in 3rd place...

The Toyota 2000GT. What a fabulous color combo.

Prior to receiving these models in person, the 2000GT was my favorite of the bunch. That's a judgment I made solely based on photos from the web. Throwback colors and gold wheels are all you need to make a model shine. The yellow mainline 2000GT was my favorite iteration up to now. So why did this one finish 3rd in the end?

When I held this in my hand and gave it a good look, I then realized how plain it was. Absolutely nothing going on in the rear half of the car. The green two-tone print is a little spotty. This model would've looked nicer with decals stretching from the front all the way to the back. It also would've looked nicer with some printed taillights, which none of these models have. Nonetheless, I ain't complaining about having this one in my collection.

In 2nd place...

As they say, if you're not first, you're last. That's not the case here. This is a very, very good model. There just happens to be one that's better than it.

Look, I'm one of those who think the Datsun 510 Wagon is one of the most overrated castings ever. It's popular because collectors like to jump on the bandwagon the same way sports fan do with teams that win championships. Tell me how many collectors picked up the Datsun 510's back in the day. I don't know about you, but I know I did. Now look at where we are now.

But that shouldn't take away from how great this model is. Black just might be the best color for the 510 wagon. The K-Day exclusive was incredible, and this one-up's it with the premium treatment. The red and black color pairing makes Darth Vader wish he drove one of these back in the 60's instead of flying that TIE Fighter of his.

For the variation collectors: I've also heard there's a mesh grille variation out there. Both of the wagons I received were the smooth-grille kind. Let's just say that more detail is always better.

There can only be one winner.

Props to you if you saw this coming; the lead photo of this post hinted at it. Yes, oh yes. The Nissan Skyline GT-R C10, also known as the Hakosuka, also known as the "box Skyline".

Variation alert once again: You can find this model with or without the rollcage. Both of mine are with the rollcage. Thank goodness for that.

That realistic livery though. Is there another that's more befitting of the C10? Probably not. As tough as the competition is, this one is head and shoulders above the group. The clear standout.