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.

Jumping Onto the Bandwagon in the Superfast Lane: The Ford GT

I haven't even finished collecting the Premieres and World Classes yet and I'm already getting into another classic Matchbox series. Look, the bottom line is that any older Matchbox is worth collecting. I chose to start with the Premiere and World Class series because I appreciated their high levels of detail and loved those controversial wheels. Now I've begun collecting the Superfast series which, arguably, is more popular and well-known in the diecast-collecting world. Lord knows what I'll get into next, but for now let's concentrate on what these have to offer.

I'll get right to it: I have about ten of these Superfast models now, with more on the way, and while I like them very much, they're not in the same league as the Premieres or Premiere-related models (completely unbiased opinion here). The detail nowhere as obsessive. The wheels can often look cheap. That being said, are they still worth getting? Of course. That's a question that needs not be asked. They use newer castings which are more accurate, more well-proportioned, and sharper. But given a choice between the two, I'm siding with Premieres all day. The bar just happens to be very, very high.

Anyways, today's subject is the Ford GT in the traditional white-with-blue-stripes colorway. It sports the thick five-spoke wheels, one of several Superfast wheel designs. They're not bad, but I think they could've been done better. There's a slight hint of cheapness to them, as I alluded to earlier. even if they're really not. It looks more like something Maisto or Motormax would put out. Like they say, wheels are often the deal-maker or deal-breaker when it comes to diecast models, so the decision is up to you. I can accept these because the castings are Matchbox, plain and simple, and we all know how good they are.

The one flaw of this model is that the front wheels aren't wide enough. That's about all I have to complain about. Enjoy this one, folks.

Frozen. Black. Pearl. By M2 Machines.

Recently, I've had a falling out of love with M2 Machines. I discovered them about a year ago and quickly amassed a sizable collection of their models. Every Walmart trip involved taking a good look through their M2 stock and walking out with one, two, maybe five models. But the more I kept them in my collection, the more I lost interest. They no longer caught my eye like they once did. I've discovered other brands that did the same models, but better. And by better, I mean better quality.

That's really what ultimately led me to sell off a chunk of my M2 Machines collection. Too often, I would look at them and catch an eyesore. On some, it's the messily-molded wheels and tires with the flat spots. On others, it's the hood or doors not fully closing. On nearly all of them, it's the discrepancy of ride height on all four corners. Quality is where M2 is really falling behind, and the most frustrating part is their complete indifference to it. I peek every now and then at their Facebook page to see their upcoming product, and I always see the same tired complaints about quality, without a hint of recognition from the folks running the page. What a complete waste of great designs and great cars.

In a rare turn of events, I actually picked up three of them the other day. If you've been living under a rock (or in the middle of nowhere) and didn't get the memo, certain Target stores have now started carrying premium diecast product, M2 included. That's where I found these, and they looked way too good to be left behind. This is the Auto-Drivers Frozen Black Pearl series, which is essentially a recolor of one of the previous Auto-Drivers series. Every model is the same, but the color has been changed to, you guessed it, Frozen Black Pearl, also known more commonly as matte black. I'm not exactly sure where the "Pearl" is, but it doesn't matter, as these are flat-out stunning. While these are not devoid of quality issues, black certainly helps hide a lot defects.

You could say this is M2's counter to Greenlight's Black Bandit series. While these are flat black to Greenlight's gloss black, they've certainly been given the same kind of treatment. The wheels look spectacular in black, to go along with the white lettering on the tires. We've got Chevy vs. Ford vs. Dodge. The Big Three of the U.S.A. Which one do you got?

For me, it's the Mopar or no car. I love the '66 Charger. The Torino comes in second. The Camaro? Well, I used to be a Camaro fan. Not to say they're bad, but they don't wow me as much as they once did. Whichever one you pick, you're a winner either way because these are keepers. Oh, just make sure you take a good look first before purchasing in case there are, you know, quality issues.