Late '70s Firebirds... Smoky and the Bandit... Firechickens... If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

I've been complaining about this subject for so long, that everyone is sick of hearing me on my soapbox...  About how we all have so many models of "cool" cars (Corvettes, '69 Camaros, etc.) and so few models of ordinary cars (Hyundai Elantras, Nissan Altimas, etc.).  But at least with all these different castings of the same cool car, this gives me an excellent chance to have a comparison test, in this case, of the late '70s Firebird (or "Firechickens" as my friends in high school called them...).  (If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!).

I grew up in the early '80s, so this car is the quintessential Firebird to me.  Made famous by the movie "Smoky and the Bandit", available with a huge (but emission-choked) V8...  10 times cooler than the similar Camaro...

I've got the car in at least 8 distinct castings, though depending how you count unique castings you can argue that I've got it in as many as 11 distinct castings, and more than 20 color variations (I found 20, but know that I've got a few more Firebirds in other colors stashed in various places).

The first casting I'll consider is the Lesney "Pontiac" casting,  I had the olive green one shown as a kid, and eventually also acquired the same casting in white (though I couldn't find it for the photoshoot).  As an adult I got the tan/bronze example.  The silver and red cars are the same casting but with T-Tops cut into their roof (does this make it count as a unique casting...?), I'm missing the black T-Top version.  This casting has been roundly critized by Firebird aficionados for having the incorrect non-wrap-around rear window of the earlier Firebird, because Matchbox was too cheap to create a new casting and instead simply slapped a new nose and hood onto the older No. 4 "Pontiac Firebird" blue casting...  The positives of this casting is that it has a nice heft to it, and it includes detail such as silver headlights from the baseplate (an excellent trait that several of these castings share).  However its got a bunch of negatives, including the big negative mentioned above, the fact that its a little big for its scale, and the boring metal baseplate with no detail on it.  But the biggest negative is that I just don't like it very much...   Ever since I was a kid, it never really felt like it adequately represented a late '70s Firebird to me...   This Lesney Matchbox may be a well known casting, but it's not going to compare well to its competition...

The other well-known Firebird casting from my childhood, and one that I was always a bit jealous about since I didn't have it, is of course the entry from Hot Wheels, the "Hot Bird"...  This again was best known as being available in black, but was also sold in other colors.  This gold example is a beautiful car, though I actually prefer the gold wheels on the black car over the standard wheels on the gold car.  The casting has T-Tops, which aren't deep enough, and its' rear light detail is a bit lame, but it's front lights are beautiful, silver in color and with amazing detail, another example of headlights created by having silver metal from the baseplates poking through the headlight holes.  There is no real suspension to speak of, but the car still rolls well, and most importantly - it really looks like the real Firebird.  This Hot Bird is a better casting than the Matchbox and so will be in contention for the best Firebird award....

Playing Mantis Johnny Lightning supplies the modern retro version.  I liked this one so much I have it in 2 casting variations - the '78 in black, yellow, bronze and red, and the '79 (more attractive nose) in maroon, blue and silver.  All are nice with beautiful paint colors, glassed in T-Tops, opening hoods (but that barely open...), and I have 6 different types of alloy wheels across my 7 colors.  3 have plastic tires, 4 (maroon, red, yellow and black) have rubber tires.  The phoenix (firechicken?) hood decal is beautiful...  My favorite of them all is the blue and then the silver, though none are losers.  I should note however that the front headlights themselves are a bit of a let down relative to the silver metal baseplate driven detailed ones on the Hot Wheels and some of the other castings.  Overall, it's a really nice casting - and a definite contender for best casting...

The 4 remaining castings are rarer...

I recently showed the Yatming casting in a "Top 30 Yatmings of all time" posting...  The Yatming is in my collection in red, blue and yellow, all with opening doors and cast t-tops, a metal base, a soft suspension, and again metal headlights showing through from the baseplate (but that aren't as nicely detailed as those on the Hot Wheels).  Again, a definite contender...

2 different black ERTLs make a showing.  The left most car is the higher quality model, with opening doors and a metal baseplate, but like the blue Matchbox it is the earlier version of the Firebird with the alternate nose and non-wrap-around rear window.  It's a bit large in scale, with oversize wheels.  While it has opening doors and a metal baseplate, those factors aren't enough to put it into contention for the best casting award, instead it'll be close to the back of the pack... 

The right most model is the "Smoky and the Bandit" casting - but although its more of a correct model for this particular comparison, its just not as nice of a model.  It feels like a cheap toy, with a plastic base and no opening features.  I didn't find it until after I'd done most of the multi-car photos - so its not included in those photos.   Again, it'll be close to the back of the pack... 

Kidco makes an appearance (leftmost car in the below photo of 3 black cars) with another black Firebird with an opening hood and T-tops.  The size is nice and small, but the baseplate is plastic, the standard Kidco wheels are cheaply, the headlights have NO detail, etc.  Overall, this car is quickly determined to be the last place finisher, giving Matchbox and the 2 ERTLs the chance to battle it for 2nd to last...  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that I've got this casting, it just doesn't stand a chance of being the best...

That leaves the last casting, by my favorite toymaker, Tomica (middle of the above 3 car photo, rightmost of the 7 car photo to the right)...  ....And this is a REALLY nice Tomica.  It's an F series, made for America, with a silky suspension, classic black color, opening doors, highly detailed headlights that are silver metal from the baseplate, etc.  Definitely a contender for best Firebird...

So which one wins?

Well, the Tomica, the Yatming, the Johnny Lightning and the Hot Wheels are all in contention for 1st place...   Of the 4, the Johnny Lightning gets eliminated first.  I love the casting and its colors, but there is just something special about vintage castings, that make them feel more authentic.  Or maybe, its just that I remember the vintage ones from my childhood...?  In addition, the lack of a suspension hurts the car.  It ends up in a strong 4th place, feeling more like a display piece than a toy.

The next to go is the Yatming.  It's a nice casting, and feels Tomica-like in its execution, until it is compared to the real Tomica, when it suddenly feels like a copy vs. the authentic...  It's a bit big, and just doesn't feel as jewel-like perfect as the Tomica.  It's opening doors are a nice touch, and it has a metal base with mechanical detail, but headlights just aren't as nice as those of the Tomica and Hot Wheels...   It goes home with its head held high in 3rd place.

After that, the choice becomes easy. I can't believe that the simple and common Hot WHeels, without any opening pieces, and with a half done t-top, is even able to make it to 2nd place against such strong competition, but it does.  The car is beautiful in either black or gold, and rolls great.  And it's headlights are gorgeous! In short, a great toy, and a well-deserved 2nd place finish. 

And leaves the Tomica in 1st place, an easy win in the end, a beautiful casting and well deserving of the best Firebird title.  It IS a bit ironic that a Japanese brand beat out all of the American brands for one of the most iconic American cars ever... 

Regardless, Burt Reynolds would be proud....!

P.S.  I realize that I didn't announce 5th - 7th place - the winner of the 2 ERTL / Matchbox fight...  Obviously the newer (and cheaper) ERTL will take 7th - but what about 5th and 6th?   I'm having a tough time picking, so I'm declaring it a tie! 

1968 Dodge Chargers in 1/64 scale comparo...: New vs. Old?

One of my favorite (real/1:1 scale) muscle cars is the '68/'69 Dodge Charger, and there are a number of very nice 1/64th scale castings of the Charger.  Of course, the baby boomer's nostalgic interest in '60s muscle car helps, with many of the castings being recently made castings of these 45 year old cars, including newer castings by Hot Wheels, Playing Mantis' Johnny Lightning and Greenlight. 

After searching through my collection I found 20 unique examples of late '60s Chargers.  Many of them are color variations or very minor trim variations - including Hot Wheels "new" casting of the '69 Charger 500 which is obviously just the '68 Charger's castings with different headlights.  But I was delighted to find that I came up with 8 truly unique castings, including 1 from Matchbox, 2 from Hot Wheels, 2 from Johnny Lightning, 1 from Greenlight, 1 from Ertl, and 1 from Zylmex. 

The easiest to find casting is the one that is still widely available WalMarts, Targets and other Big Box retailers, the Hot Wheels Charger.  This actually a very nice model, which is one reason why I have it in 8 different color or trim variations (including the aforementioned Charger 500 model (2 models still in blister pack, in back row)), and the '68 model with the blown engine (2nd row on right, in purple).  Being a large car in real life it is appropriate that it is larger than most other 1/64 scale cars.  The nicest example that I have is the purple model on the front left, with rubber tires, deep alloy wheels, and a metal base.  However while the purple adult collectible car is a great model, it cost several times more than the basic $.99 casting and probably represents only a small fraction of all of the versions of this casting, so it feels a little unfair to use it as the example for the comparison test.  Therefore for the comparison test I'll also include a cheaper car. 


Staying within the Hot Wheels brand, next up is the oldest of the models, the most expensive of the models ($30-$1000+ on EBay, depending on condition and color), and probably the most well known of the models, the original Sweet 16 Hot Wheels Redline "Custom Charger".  This is my favorite Redline, and while it is closely replicated by the newer Hot Wheels casting, it is actually a unique casting.  I have it in 3 colors (dedicated redline collectors have it in many more of the spectraflame colors - I can already imagine their snorts of derision at my only having it in 3 colors...).  If you are reading this blog you are probably already familiar with the early Hot Wheels Redlines - they are the most popular toys in die-cast collecting. 

Next up is one of my favorite Johnny Lightning castings, originally introduced in their second Muscle Cars series ("Muscle Cars 2") in '96, back when I first took up collecting again as an adult (the green model on the left of the photo might have been my first Johnny Lightning car ever).  The Charger and the Roadrunner are my favorites out of that Muscle Car 2 series.  It is a long and large model (appropriate for the scale), and is heavy with its metal base.  For the comparison test I chose the silver model. 

Interestingly, Johnny Lightning chose to again model the '68 Charger with a new casting in the early/mid 2000s.  However this casting was much smaller than the terrific late '90s casting.  While a nice casting in its own right, I was always disappointed in it relative to the earlier casting, and I only ever bothered to buy 1 example of it, in red with a black roof, on the far right in the photo to the right.

Next up is the only model that I was familiar with as a kid...  In fact, such a ubiquitous model that all kids of the '80s would have been familiar with it - Ertl's model of the General Lee...  However while it is very common, it is still a nice model, and one that I always desired as a kid (I didn't have one, but many of my friends did).  It doesn't have any opening parts or opening doors (remember that the General Lee's doors were welded shut - causing Bo and Luke to always climb in through the windows!).  The example here has an odd extra bit of metal on the passenger side A pillar - I assume this is a freak occurrence so I'm not holding it against the casting.  The chrome wheels look nice, but there is no suspension on the car.   

Matchbox didn't have a model of the street version of the Charger, but they  had a funny car version of it, introduced in the mid '70s as a Superfast car (the pink rat rod).  It came and went from the line-up for many years, including as the "Orange Peel" (my friend Andy Bradshaw had this in his collection - I've got this model someplace but couldn't immediately locate it for the photo shoot), and then later in the late '90s in purple with flames.  While the castings are the same, they feel pretty different and have different wheels, so I included both the pink and purple versions in the comparison. 

The rarest and my most prized casting is the Zylmex casting from the 70s. I'm always amazed at how nice some of these early Zylmex can be, and am surprised that collector interest and their values aren't higher.  In an apparent attempt to steal some General Lee sales without paying royalties, the car has a confederate flag on the hood.  The wheels are sharp and surprisingly large for Zylmex, the suspension has a soft feel, and base is metal.  This really is a treasured piece for me!

Finally, Greenlight modeled it recently.  Typical of Greenlight models, the casting is heavy and feels high quality, with an opening hood, a hunkered down look, rubber wheels and glossy 2-tone nice paint. 

Now that we've introduced the models, let's get to the actual comparison of 10 models (8 unique castings) as shown in the photo on the right.  As in earlier comparisons, I'll rate the models on 12 different categories, and then add together the points to arrive at an overall winner...  Let the comparison begin! 

	Modern Hot Wheels - Expensive	Modern Hot Wheels - $.99	Vintage Hot Wheels Redline	Johnny Lightning - '90s	Johnny Lightning - '00s	Ertl General Lee	Matchbox - '90s	Matchbox '70s Rat Rod	Zylmex	GreenLight
Scale	8	8	9	8	6	9	8	8	6	9
Wheel Design	9	7	6	7	8	6	7	7	8	8
Rolling Ability/Suspension	7	6	8	6	6	6	6	6	8	7
Paint	9	7	10	8	7	5	6	6	5	8
Grill/Bumpers	8	7	9	8	7	5	6	6	7	9
Exterior Lights	7	5	7	7	7	5	5	5	5	7
Weight	8	6	8	8	8	6	8	8	8	8
Top Detailing	8	8	8	8	7	8	7	7	8	8
Base Detailing	8	7	8	7	7	7	6	6	7	7
Interior	8	8	7	7	7	7	8	8	7	8
Play Value	8	8	8	8	8	6	9	9	6	8
Overall Desirability	8	6	9	9	6	5	6	7	9	7
Total	96	83	97	91	84	75	82	83	84	94

At the end of the comparison, the RedLine comes out the winner in a close 4-way race for first place.  How Wheels also grabbed 2nd place with their premium version of the '00s casting.  While I love the newer '00s casting, I really didn't expect it to beat out Johnny Lightning (4th) or Greenlight (3rd).  All 4 models are quality models, though I find the Greenlight to be less of a personal favorite than the 4th place Johnny Lightning - possibly due to the maroon paint color and/or the Johnny Lightning having been a favorite of mine for 2 decades...  I feel a little lame for picking the most expensive and collectible model as the winner - I didn't intend to be so predictable! 

After the first four there is a gap in points until the next group of cars, with my personal favorite the Zylmex taking 5th overall and leading the 2nd pack.  While I love the Zylmex and its metal base, the fact is that the handsome base has no mechanical detail, and the tampos hurt the paint comparison, putting it out of contention for the lead pack.   The other castings distribute lower, with the Ertl General Lee taking an honorable last place finish. 

While the standings show a large points spread, ALL of the models/castings are desirable in my book.  If you don't have any of them, I'd recommend that you pick them up.  You won't regret it! 

Congrats to all manufactures for an excellent comparison...  and Special Congrats to Mattel for their inspired late '60s Redline!