Matchbox and Alfa Romeo have a famously troubled past, filled with limited recolors and underutilized castings. Yet, in recent years we’ve seen plenty of interesting recolors of both the new Giulia and the old Guilia Sprint GTA, so it seems the two companies must have resolved their differences. With this newfound cooperation, we now get Matchbox’s take on the Alfa Romeo Stelvio complete with opening doors. As is tradition, it debuts in red.
This casting doesn’t display well in its packaging, as you are presented with its rather flat red paint and slightly too scrunched front-end. Even as an Alfa fan, I wasn’t sure I was going to like this model when I first saw it in stores. That’s a shame, because once the Stelvio is freed from its packaging it’s clear that this is actually quite a cool model! It has some of the best door fitment we’ve seen on any Moving Parts model, and the sloping roofline with a little lip spoiler gives this model a sporty look.
Unfortunately, this is a base Stelvio rather than the cooler Quadrifoglio version, which I think is part of what makes this front end look just a bit off to me. The Quadrifoglio has a more aggressive bumper and grille design, which makes this base model look a bit squished in comparison. That problem is made worse by the lack of casting detail or printed detailing in the lower grilles, as it’s impossible to differentiate the section that should be black plastic from the section that should be black honeycomb – it’s all just one big black section. Luckily, the headlights are spectacularly detailed, as is the Alfa Romeo logo at the top of the grille. This whole front end looks to be inkjet printed (like a Hot Wheels premium) rather than the tampo printing that is more common on Matchbox models.
The base Stelvio has an interesting design element where the black plastic cladding around the wheel wells extends into the bottom part of the front bumper, and the Matchbox team has done a great job of replicating it on this model. The red diecast section of the body and black plastic base section fit so perfectly here that it looks like it could just be one piece!
The back of the Stelvio is easily the star of the show, with none of the front end’s shortcomings. The surprisingly metallic Q4 and Stelvio badges look wonderfully crisp, as is the Alfa Romeo logo. The brake lights are clearly defined even against this red paint, with the clear section appropriately detailed. I especially like how defined these exhaust tips are, and the color break provided by the light gray base section makes this model look so much more lifelike. The rear bumper section might just be my favorite part of this whole model…it’s a shame it’s hidden by the packaging when you see it in stores.
I’m still not crazy about the opening doors on Moving Parts models, but I do appreciate the amount of effort Matchbox put into replicating the car’s door card designs.
While I certainly wish this was the more exciting Stelvio Quadrifoglio, this is still a pretty good model of a cool car, making it easily worthy of a spot in my collection. Even though it’s a rare color, I would love to see the first recolor of this casting be Verde Visconti (green) rather than the inevitable white. Surely we can break the tradition, just this once…
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