The Corvette is among the most storied of American nameplates, right up there with Mustang and F-150. So, it’s not surprising that both Matchbox and Hot Wheels can be reliably counted upon to produce their own take on the Corvette of each generation, as we’ve seen all the way up to the modern C8. Weirdly,... Continue Reading →
Matchbox News 9/1/2022 – 2023 Matchbox Sneaks & A New 5 Pack
Matchbox has started to release sneaks from the 2023 line, and they aren’t holding back! First up is Matchbox’s highly anticipated take on the Koenigsegg Gemera. Obviously, this is a casting that was already attempted by Hot Wheels, but I found the Hot Wheels version to be too narrow and tall. The result was a... Continue Reading →
The Hot Wheels 992 Porsche GT3 is an Instant Classic
A new Hot Wheels Porsche is always a big event, so the fanfare surrounding this new 992 casting is no surprise. This casting is also the follow-up to one of my all time favorite Hot Wheels Porsches – the 991 GT3 RS, so it has some big shoes to fill. When I first saw pictures... Continue Reading →
Forgotten Gem: The Hot Wheels 2012 Chevy Camaro ZL1
Modern muscle cars are among the most underutilized car segments in the diecast world. While we often see these castings come out, they’re usually short lived or quickly relegated to multipack duty with unrealistic decos. Sadly, that was also the case with this Camaro - it received just a few clean, stock-looking releases before being... Continue Reading →
Highlights From The 2023 Matchbox Line Preview!
As the dust begins to settle on this year’s Matchbox line preview, I’m left with a feeling of optimism for the future of the brand. Despite my mixed feelings about the Moving Parts series, I’m glad to see the line continuing to grow and add new toolings, and there’s some absolute gems in the basics... Continue Reading →
On Collecting: Matchbox Needs to Go Premium
It feels as though Matchbox has been struggling to find its brand identity. It seems to swing wildly from impressively accurate models aimed at more mature collectors to fantasy models aimed squarely at children. Their latest push seeks to redefine Matchbox as a maker of EVs and hybrids (I'll have a whole post about EVs... Continue Reading →
Collector Series Ram Rebel 1500: Matchbox at its Best
The latest batch of collector series Matchbox models has hit stores, and this Ram Rebel 1500 is the highlight for me. It’s very well proportioned, highly detailed, and is perhaps the first model where I find these wheels actually fit the car they were put on. Since Hot Wheels also produced a model of the... Continue Reading →
Matchbox News – 7/11/2022 – Moving Parts Mix 4 & 5, Best of France, and a White Durango
Matchbox sneaks and news have been fairly slow for the last few weeks, but enough information has slowly trickled out to justify another news update. Hopefully, our patience will be rewarded in just a few weeks at The Gathering 2022, when we should get a full preview of what models are coming for the 2023... Continue Reading →
What to Expect from Matchbox Mix 6 (2022)
With the full contents of mix 5 now revealed by Matchbox on Instagram, we can now extrapolate what mix 6 will likely look like by digging back into the 2022 line preview from The Gathering last July, as well as what has already been sneaked in Instagram. None of these are set in stone because... Continue Reading →
The Hot Hatch Car Culture Set Hot Wheels Needs to Make
Car culture is undeniably one of the best lines Hot Wheels has ever made, featuring models of some of the greatest cars ever built. However, the line has a glaring omission – it contains very few of the cars that make up the majority of modern car culture. Go to a car meet and take... Continue Reading →
Matchbox News – 6/1/2022 – GT-R, Blackwing, New Cayenne, and Lots of Cop Cars
I’m a few weeks behind on my coverage of Matchbox sneaks (be sure you follow @matchboxworld on Instagram to see them as soon as they drop) so today’s post will be playing catch up. Matchbox dropped some very exciting sneaks in the last couple weeks, so let’s jump right in. First up is the Cadillac... Continue Reading →
Matchbox News – 5/6/2022 – New 5 Packs, F-150 Lightning, and More!
Matchbox’s new 5-packs have been spotted in the wild, and they look to be some of the best ones of 2022. First up is the “City Drivers” pack, which appears to feature all new decos, making it an obvious buy for Matchbox fans. It features a Chrysler 300C with a clean blue paint job, a... Continue Reading →
The Matchbox Mk2 Golf GTI Finally Gets a Clean Deco
I’m a huge VW fan, and the Mk5 Golf GTI is one of my all-time favorite Matchbox models, so you’d think I would love the Mk2 GTI. However, this model has been plagued by odd decos since its debut release, starting with an orange design featuring the rabbit logo and followed by a Polizei livery... Continue Reading →
The New Matchbox Porsche 918 Spyder is a Missed Opportunity
Despite the hype surrounding this new Matchbox Porsche (and it is a great model), it represents a missed opportunity for the Matchbox brand. In fact, the missed opportunity is two-fold: the model choice and the execution of this debut release. Given that Matchbox only releases 100 models each year – Moving Parts and Collector notwithstanding... Continue Reading →
The Collector Series Finally Gave The Matchbox Jaguar F-Type The Detailing It Deserves
Matchbox and Jaguar seem like companies made for each other. British heritage and elegant designs are hallmarks of both brands, and the old Matchbox Jaguar XK shows just how nice a well-done Matchbox Jaguar model can be. So imagine my excitement a few years back when Matchbox announced they would be making the XK’s spiritual... Continue Reading →
Dodge Charger Hellcat Widebody – Looking Mean in Green
Many a Hot Wheels designer has commented on the challenges of designing a 1/64 scale car. The challenge, they say, is that a car cannot just be scaled down to 1/64 because the proportions will look wrong on such a small car. Instead, they must adapt the features of the car to fit on such... Continue Reading →
Sunday Toy Show Haul – Filling in Some Gaps in the Collection
It’s Sunday, and that means toy shows! While new inventory has been slow coming into retail stores, there’s always something interesting to be found at a diecast collector event. So, while I would have loved to be at the Hot Wheels Collector Nationals in Charlotte, I set off instead for my local toy show. What... Continue Reading →
Hot Wheels News – 3/25/2022 – New Mountain Drifters Premium Set Looks Rad, But Has A Confusing Name
The Hot Wheels Collector Nationals in Charlotte are this week, and perhaps the most exciting news so far is of the upcoming Car Culture mix. The card art was originally posted by Lamley Group, followed shortly by full images posted by 1stopdiecast. This mix is focused on JDM cars and looks to have some absolutely... Continue Reading →
Matchbox News – 3/21/2022 – New BMW Wagon, Lots of Recolors, and the Type R Returns
Last week brought a lot of exciting Matchbox news! While I’m still waiting to see Mix 2 on the pegs, we have started to learn some information about Mix 3 and some assorted mainline/basic models. This week also saw quite a few Moving Parts models, which I will cover shortly! Let’s get right into it! ... Continue Reading →
Why Start a Blog in 2022?
Nearly 10 years after the slow and unceremonious death of mainstream blogging online, I am starting a new blog. This may seem an odd decision, and indeed I’ve questioned my sanity at several points along the way from idea to creation, but I’ve arrived at a simple conclusion: I miss the old internet. As the... Continue Reading →
