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.

Happy 4th of July!

Here's a very patriotic Hot Wheels Plymouth Satellite, from the Stars and Stripes series (released questionably early this year), for the occasion!

Scuderia Sunday: A Pair of Ferrari's from Maisto Design

Maisto's 1/64 line has been a surprising hit among collectors ever since they've rebranded themselves as "Maisto Design" and distributed their product to select Target stores in the U.S. From what I've seen both on social media and in person, the models have been generally well received and stock is consistently low. Although Maisto has been doing these "1/64" cars (scaled very liberally) for years, they've been hard to acquire anywhere besides on the internet. As a result, the brand has remained very low-key and often dismissed by collectors.

Just recently, Targets have received new batches of cars, this time with a more diverse selection that includes exotics, sure to excite many including myself. The other day, I spotted a Porsche 911 GT2 in cop car guise, a couple of Lamborghini's, and these two beauties out of Maranello. And you know I can't leave a Ferrari behind.

We as collectors have been Ferrari-starved for too long. Being the only diecast company with official Ferrari licensing, can Maisto do them right?

So what we have here are a LaFerrari and a 599 GTO. Again, these are nowhere close to 1/64 scale; they're significantly larger than comparable castings from Hot Wheels. To many, that's an instant turn-off. I wanted to give them a second chance, if for no other reason besides the fact that they are Ferrari's.

At a price point of $4, the detail is there and certainly does not disappoint. Wherever there should be tampo treatment, there is tampo treatment. The castings are well-proportioned and crisp. Other than scale, the one that bothers me are the wheels. The wheel designs are true to their real forms, but the axles are not wide enough. This means the wheels are not flush with the fenders and the models look less "sporty" than they should be (for the record, I pulled them out as far as I could for these photos). These are supercars!

The LaFerrari is clearly not Maisto's strongest effort. The ride height is totally wrong and it has a growth on its chin. OK, it's actually a place for the front screw, but there has to be a better way to get the job done.

Either way, I'm sold, and I hope Maisto puts its exclusive licensing to good use. One can never have enough Ferrari's.

Acquiring a Grail, But It's Not Diecast!

Some of you may know that LEGO is my second passion next to diecast. As a child, I alternated between the both of them. I played with toy cars for the first few years of my life before I eventually transitioned into building with bricks. Then, during my teenage years, I moved back to cars and kind of forgot about LEGO. Nowadays, I collect both. I've been on a mission to acquire some of the sets I weren't able to have when I was a kid. Many of the sets on my list are cars, like this one. This is the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, in a whopping 1/10 scale.

I consider this a grail because it fetches exorbitant money on the secondary market. While it's hard to consider any LEGO set as "rare", these don't just randomly show up every day at reasonable prices. I've been consistently stalking eBay for this set the past few months, waiting for the right price to show up. Last week, I had a chance to get this one at an amount I was willing to shell out.

Which I did.

No regrets here, because it was a fantastic build and the model, though it might look raw and unfinished to those not familiar with the Technic system of LEGO, is stunning. The 599 has always been one of my favorite Ferrari models since it came out a decade ago. It's elegant but without any of the flashiness that typically comes with supercar nature.

This LEGO model replicates it fairly well considering the medium with which it's built. Front the front half, there's no mistaking what this is, if you know your cars. The specialized wheels, made for this set, match those on the life-sized version. The hood, doors, and trunk all open. The mid-engined V12 has working pistons that come to life as you roll the car around. A few stickers here and there add the necessary details to finish it off.

Worth it?

Yes. Definitely.

Matchbox Mania #1: Ferrari 360 Spider

A large portion of my diecast hunting now focuses on Matchbox - more specifically, older Matchbox. While they continue to take baby steps towards becoming the collector-focused brand they once was, there still isn't enough desirable product out there. I can't remember the last time I actually purchased a new Matchbox from the pegs. They have been few and far between, and let's not get started about the lack of distribution. There used to be a time when I could walk out of a store with a handful of Matchbox cars; that has become a distant memory. Bottom line: I'll believe it when I see it.

However, it's important to not forget how good they once were. Which is why I've turned to acquiring their past models, from Premieres and World Classes, to Superfast, to "Golden Age", to pre-"Golden Age", and so on.

Thanks to a few guys over on LaLD, I've had the opportunity to add a number of these treasures to my collection, and I would love to share them here on this blog. Because they deserve it. I know I already have a blog series for the Premiere and World Class series, and a Superfast series in the works, but allow me to add a third, which I'll simply call "Matchbox Mania". It will focus on Matchbox models from the past which, arguably, are the most desirable to collectors today.

This right here is the Ferrari 360 Spider, which I didn't know even existed. The casting, that is. The 360 being one of my favorite V8 Ferrari's, I jumped at it immediately. It's easily become one of my favorite Matchbox castings in the collection. While the body may be a tad too tall, everything else is executed flawlessly; in my eyes, it is undoubtedly superior to the Hot Wheels casting of the 360 Modena. The fact that is has full detailing on the back makes it that much better. After all, who doesn't love those signature double-circle Ferrari taillights?