Seeing Green: Scoring a Greenlight Green Machine Dodge Charger Pursuit

The diecast gods have blessed me with another chase car.

That's two in a week, and suddenly I'm feeling very good about myself.

It's nice to get a reminder of how fun the hunt can be and how essential it is to this hobby. I used to rely solely on my weekly expeditions to the local store to get my diecast fix. Lately, I've resorted to obtaining most of my diecast from the world wide web, as a lot of what I want isn't available around here. But this past week has solidified my long-standing belief that, yes, the hunt is 90% of the fun in collecting diecast. It can be downright frustrating when stores are going through their dry spells, but damn right rewarding when they're overflowing.

So here we have the Green Machine versus the regular release of the 2015 Dodge Charger Pursuit, from the Greenlight Hot Pursuit, Series 19. I found the regular version a week ago, so it's already been liberated. I hate to say this, but I think the Green Machine will stay in its package. It's just way too rare. Too valuable. Like, you know, I could sell this down the line for a fortune and be a rich man.

I hope you realized that was sarcasm, because you know me: I open all of them. No "if"s, "and"s, or "but"s.

I vividly remember the first time I found a Green Machine. I was on the way back home from K-Day, many years ago, and I figured I would stop by Toys"R"Us for a quick peek. And there it was, the Green Machine Chrysler 300C from the Motor World series. It was pastel baby blue, and a casting I would normally have picked up. But I left the store empty-handed.

I can remember this particular event because I had never booked it so quickly to the restroom before, Seeing those vomit-inducing green wheels really gets your stomach turning. I'm glad Greenlight has started doing these Green Machines with the metallic green paint scheme in lieu of those horrendous wheels. It's like what Auto World does with its Ultra Reds, and it looks Greenlight has started figuring things out. Hopefully M2 is next in line, because those chases are just plain awful.

This one was hiding at the end of the rack, covered in shadows. I could barely make out that green paint color, but it was enough for me to instantly realize that something wasn't right. Yanked it off the pegs to confirm my suspicions. It's the first one I have in my collection, and it makes a great pair with the regular release.

Here's hoping for more.