Retail Shop-lifting/Fraud of Hot Wheels models!!!

We all know diecast collectors aren’t all perfect, but we still hope that they are at least pretty “ok”.  So I was disappointed to find such an obvious piece of evidence of the depravity of my fellow collectors in this swapped and returned blister pack ... 

Yep, you see it correctly.  Both blisters are labeled “1980 Dodge Macho Power Wagon”, but only 1 of the blisters actually contain that premium $6 model.

The bottom one instead contains a 50 cent cheapo Maisto model, which has apparently been inserted into the premium Hot Wheels blisterpack and carefully resealed, in order to return the packaging to WalMart and get a refund. 

So someone actually thought that going through the effort to pay the $6 to buy the real one, bring it home, carefully cut open the packaging, take out the nice truck, insert the 50 cent cheapo truck, then drive back to Wal-Mart and fraudulently present it for a refund, effectively "buying" the premium toy for a $5.50 discount , is somehow less dishonourable, and thus a better use of time, than simply outright stealing the toy...?!?   Really?!?

(Or perhaps, it's simply a less risky way to steal, since he isn't actually "shoplifting" by walking out of the store with the unpaid toy in his pocket?).

P.S. I'm pretty sure that this model is the first time the adjective "Macho" was ever applied to a Matchbox/Hot Wheels car...

Unusual Playart Lotus Elite

So there I was in my last post, complaining about Matchbox making a new (and worse) casting of a Lotus Europa, a car that they'd already modeled in much better and higher quality detail 40 years earlier, and I literally said something along the lines of "why couldn't they just have modeled a DIFFERENT Lotus, like for example, a Lotus Elite?!?".  And then my EBay search of  vintage PlayArt models turned up this very model of a Lotus Elite - and at a very attractive price!  And 3 days later the package arrived at my house, and I tore it open, and...  

...and I was met with perhaps the nicest PlayArt model that I've ever encountered!

What a cooincidence!

Frankly, the pictures don't do it justice.  Perhaps its due to the paint, which is kind of bland, a flat white and medium green, with tampos that don't look overly well applied.  But its the other stuff that makes it.

The casting is solid.  The doors don't open, but the cutouts are so deep as to be convincing - such that I actually pulled on the doors for a while until I was satisfied that they weren't just tightly stuck - but that they were in fact cast shut.  The car weighs nicely.  It's sized nicely.  The wheels are good.  The suspension is good.  The detail is excellent.

On the downside, the paint is...   ...OK.  And the size is typical Matchbox size, which means that for a tiny car like an Elite it is scaled too large, the same size as a full size late '60s Mercury wagon (shown in one of the above wagons). 

But all of this pales - since - who actually has another 1/64 Lotus Elite?!?  This is another example of PlayArt coming through to bring us cars that none of the major players modeled (Fiat Dino anyone?  BMW 2002?).  

All in all, a great model and a proud addition to my collection!