Auto World - Dramatic Decrease in Quality for "Deluxe" ($2.99) cars. Run - Don't Walk - Away from these cars... Put that blisterpack BACK ON THE PEGS!

Earlier this summer I purchased my first "Auto World" model.  Auto World seems to be another contender in the Johnny Lightning/Green Light camp, making yet even more high quality (heavy die-cast body and base, rubber tires, opening hood, etc.) models of 1960s and 1970s American iron. 

On one hand, I'm always encouraged by new castings and more competition.  On the other hand, don't we all have enough of these muscle car castings already...?  Can't we get a model of a car that hasn't already been modeled 100 times?

But out of the cars on the pegs, one particular model did appeal to me - 1 1976 Cadillac Coupe DeVille.   A model that WASN'T modeled before.  A model of a car that I didn't have in my 6000+ model collection. 

Plus, the primary advertising element of Auto World was that it was "True Scale".  If there is anything that I hate, it is a huge car modeled far too small, or a small car modeled much too large.  So I'm a big fan of the idea of "true scale".  And indeed, true to actual scale, this Caddy is BIG.  (It was actually the only car in Auto World series 1 in a separate "Land Yacht" line - a very appropriate name!).  (Interestingly, on the bottom of the car it is labeled as a '67 rather than a '76...). 

Once I got it home and opened it up, I felt OK with the purchase.  There were some pluses and minuses of it - the unique model, the true scale and the quality feel of it being offset by a hood that didn't open very well (and I would have preferred opening doors vs. the opening hood), a boring color, etc.   Overall, I was OK with the model, but it didn't knock my socks off. 

Fast forward a few months to this morning, when I found the series 2 models of Auto World on the pegs.  What I didn't realize was that I was looking at the "deluxe" vs. "premium" line.  The price was lower - $2.99 vs. $4.99 - but the models looked similar.   They were the usual line of American iron, but at least there were again slightly unique versions.  The one that stuck out most was the mid 80s' Fox body Mustang SVO (Special Vehicle Operations), a 4 cylinder turbo-charged Mustang that was supposed to be a more refined (European?) option to the V8 Mustang that offered similar performance.  I was a kid back in '84 when the SVO came out - I was hooked by the different front headlights (made even better in '86 when they went aero) and 2 level rear wing.  Back then I lusted after the SVO - I wanted it badly! 

I have 1 or 2 SVOs in my collection already - I think I've got one from Hot Wheels - but I'm not crazy about any of them.  So this beautiful candy-apple red Auto World SVO went into my cart, along with a late '60s Chevy El Camino, a Buick GS, and a left-over series 1 Dart (unknowingly - from the "premium" line).   I questioned whether I should by the last 3, given my earlier complaint about how muscle cars are endlessly modeled.  But at least all 3 are from comparatively less modeled models (i.e. not '67 Camaros....), so I bought them, brought them home, and eagerly ripped into the packaging of the SVO...

INSTANT DISAPPOINTMENT!  CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP!

These "deluxe" $2.99 cars have a very cheap plastic base, and even cheaper feeling plastic wheels.  These aren't the higher quality plastic bases and wheels you get in a $.99 Matchbox - these are the cheapy plastic base and wheels you get in a no-name multi-pack of unidentifiable cars at a dollar store. 

What a disappointment! 

They look nice - but don't feel nice AT ALL.

Amazed, I compared the packaging of the $2.99 cars vs. the $4.99 cars.  The packaging looked almost identical - with no mention of the "deluxe" vs. "premium" branding that is on the auto world website.  For the more expensive car, they bragged about the metal base and the rubber wheels.  For the $2.99 car, they go silent on the base (only saying "die-case body") and brag about the "silky smooth" rolling wheels (which is an outright lie...  With no spring suspension - the SVO rolls worse than a regular wheels Matchbox - any one who thinks its "silky smooth" has never touched silk.  There is NOTHING silky about it).

So dear readers, please steer clear of these awful Auto World disappointments.  Even at $2.99, they aren't worth it.   I will be returning my un-opened GS and El Camino to WalMart.  Perhaps I will even return my SVO, claiming that I'm unhappy with the quality.  Maybe at least that way WalMart can let Auto World know that consumers are unhappy...

And for you executives in charge of these "deluxe" cars - well - your cars suck....  They are NOT deluxe.  And I hope that you never claim to be car buffs - because you don't deserve to wear that label...   

Tomicas - China Trip #5

I've written a lot about my China/Beijing trip...  I really hoped that I'd find some cool diecast cars - and that was certainly the case.  I hoped specifically that I'd find a lot of Tomica - and that was less so the case... 

In the end, after visiting endless street markets, walking through many department stores, and even visiting the "toy market" flea market, I only found Tomicas sold in one store. 

The display was not as deep as I'd hoped for - with maybe 25 models - a bunch of which I already had - and none of the special edition models I was hoping for.  So in the end, figuring that it was my only choice to buy some of these, I bought almost every model that I didn't have. 

This meant that I didn't discriminate much in the models bought - and so bought a bunch of models that I wasn't terribly crazy about.  In the photos, I ranked them by how much I liked them, with the least liked models in the back right, and the most liked in the front left. 

The WRX STi and Lexus IS F are relegated to the back based mostly on their scale.  They are in 1:67 scale - and look small.  I have other Tomica WRXs that I like a lot more (particularly the first gen. blue one) - but not this one... 

The Renault Megane just looks blah - it reminds me of the boring Tomica RX8 model.

The 2 Lamborghinis are both very nice models - its interesting but I haven't hit a Tomica Lamborghini that I haven't liked. 

The Toyota Wish is another in a long line of very successful minivan's/station wagons - so hard to find from ANY other toy manufacturer - but a mainstay of Tomica's line.  The Z06 is nice and has opening doors.  The Z4 has a very cool removable roof.

Overall, not the best set of Tomicas I've ever gotten - but any set of Tomicas are worth having!

Check out my previous post (and upcoming next post) for more details on sets of Tomicas! 

TOMICAs!!!

I love Tomicas... 

They make nice models - and they do models of cars that are infrequently modeled by other toy makers.  They also update their models when the automakers bring out a new generation of the car. 

The combination makes for a toy maker that is an invaluable part of any diecast collector's collection. 

They aren't perfect - the quality has decreased in the last 5-10 years - and they no longer do many opening doors (it used to be that practically every Tomica had an opening part).   But I still get more excited about Tomicas than about any other toy line. 

The problem is how hard they are to find in the US.  For a while I had a local Japanese toy store that stocked Tomicas and sold them to me at 2 for $5 - a great price and a fun destination.  But he closed down. 

Then I bought them through some dedicated internet sites - toyeast and others - that allowed me to buy many models and pay 1 shipping rate.  But again, they seem to have stopped stocking these cars. 

This time I found a vendor on Amazon, and yesterday I got my package of 10 cars. 

I love them! 

I've pictured the cars in order of how much I like them - going from least favorite in the top right to favorite in the front row. 

I love that Tomica makes ordinary sedans.  And while this time my least favorite is the pink Toyota Crown Athlete, I have other Toyota Crowns that are among my favorite Tomica models.  But this one is an ugly salmon pink, and it looks much too narrow and a bit small.  Just an uninspiring model - particularly when I love so many of the other Crowns. 

While the Crown is the easy choice for my least favorite of this purchase - the other cars are all much closer in preference.  This set included 3 (three!) Lotus', including 2 different castings of an Exige...  The Scion FR-S (Toyota 86) is a great casting, as are the 2 mini SUVs of the Subaru Forester and the Toyota X-Trail (both with opening hatches). 

The Mercedes SLS AMG deserves mention for its opening gullwing doors.  The Porsche 997 911 is OK - but somehow left me a little bit let-down...

Overall - a great purchase!

China Post #4: Not quite as great Hy-Truck models

This is my 4th post about the models collected on my recent trip to Beijing, and I still have more models after these yet to write about....   All in all, a pretty successful trip from a toy car perspective...!

 

My last 2 posts were about the fabulous KDW models that I found.  But before I found those models, I found these "Hy-Truck" brand models for about the same price. 

 

Unfortunately, while they look nice and have a nice and heavy heft to them, the actual quality is not where I'd like it to be.  For instance, I have to press very hard to get the treads on the one vehicle to just barely turn - a child would not be able to get them to turn.  What good is a vehicle that doesn't move?  They'd have been better off to make it a wheeled vehicle rather than one with treads. 

While that issue isn't a problem with the other (wheeled) vehicle - and while it has an impressive telescoping arm and working stabilizers, I was underwhelmed by the fact that the bucket can't actually be lowered all the way to the ground... 

 

In addition to the above complaints, the level of detailing is subpar.  Overall, I'd recommend avoiding these "Hy-Truck" models and focus on KDW models instead!

China Post #3: High Quality KDW Trucks

If you read my last post, you'll see that I bought a KDW truck crane (scale = 1:50?), and was very impressed at it details and long long LONG working boom... 

 

Well, at the same time as I bought that truck crane, I also bought these 2 KDW tractor trailers - and if anything - I actually like these more than the crane...

 

The blue container truck has 2 removable containers.  Unlike the containers of the Matchbox Super Kings model from the late '70s, these containers are made of heavy weight metal. 

 

The trailer bed has a telescoping feature, which collapses when you don't need to carry both containers.  And they are a number of indentations to hold the container at 10 + different positions. 

 

The green tractor from the flatbed set is interchangeable with the blue container set (in fact - they are the same tractor casting).  The flatbed includes a nicely detailed excavator, which is probably sold as a unique model (and would be well worth buying on its own). 

 

Overall the units have a very high quality feel - at least as good as a SIKU or Corgi casting.  But the value was tremendous...  I paid $15-$20 for each set - when the excavator alone would be worth that cost. 

 

As mentioned in the crane post, I bought them in a little store in Beijing.  You can buy them on EBAY, for roughly 2X what I bought them for.  In fact, I'd advise you to make that purchase.  At $30 per piece - I don't think you'll be disappointed!

China Post #2... KDW Crane with 3+ foot long working boom!

In order to keep my huge diecast toy collection from becoming too expensive or too overwhelming, early on I decided to establish some limits to it...  Back in '96/'97, I decided that I would only collect 1:64 scale Matchbox-type cars, like the ones sold in their 1-75 series. 

The problem, as discussed in earlier blog entries, is that the 1-75 2.75 inch cars and trucks really were not true 1:64 scale, particularly when it comes to heavy trucks.  In order to get 1:64-ish scale trucks, I needed to buy vehicles that Matchbox sold in their King Size/Super King ranges...  So I've gradually allowed my hard and fast rule to be broken, collecting larger toys as long as they fit roughly into 1:64 scale...  Hence toys like this one...

This is the 2nd blog entry from my China trip.  In this case, a wonderful mobile crane, modeled by a company known as KDW... 

And what a high quality toy it is...  Look at the length of that boom extension!!!   The end of the boom (the top yellow part in the first photo - actually pivots 180 degrees to double back on itself during transport - its held in place by a removable pin - and the company provides a spare pin for us. 

My *only* complaint is the out-rigger stabilizers.  While they come out nicely, they aren't actually effective at stabilizing the crane.  With so much weight in the boom arm, the crane tips EASILY, even without any load, any time the boom goes out to either side. 

This piece is available on Ebay, just type in "KDW".  I paid only about $12-$14 for it, in a comics store off of Dashilan Street, in the QianMen area.  But if you don't feel like paying for a $1,800 plane ticket to Beijing, then $30 plus shipping on Ebay will sound like a good deal, particularly for such a high quality and incredibly functional and realistic model... 

Look out for more KDW toys.  They are as good or better as the larger Corgis and Sikus. 

China Trip! (1st Post). Drugstore-ish cars found in Beijing Night Market

Dear Readers,

Sorry for the delay in getting updates to Matchbox Frenzy...  I just got back from a trip to Beijing, which included a lot of car thought (real cars - based on the mushrooming native Chinese car industry - and model cars - with the *hope* that I'd find stuff that I don't find in the USA).  I tried to update my blog while I was there, but the Google/China rift meant that the blog was blocked to me while I was in China...  So here I am, a few weeks late. 

As I said, given how many diecast toys are actually produced in China, I really hoped that I'd find some cool - and hopefully inexpensive - stuff, particularly Tomica. 

Unfortunately, though I searched through all of the bazaars and flea markets and toy stores that I could find (including the toy market located behind the pearl market), I found very little Tomica...  1 store only - and their selection was not as great as I had hoped.  You'll see my Tomica finds on a later post. 


And as for pricing - well - there are many things that are super inexpensive in Beijing...  Street food, subway fares, taxi rides, etc., but that list does not include diecast cars.  The Tomica and Siku that I found were on the order of $5 US per car (incidently - the Matchbox/Hot Wheels that I found were not much cheaper).  So they weren't expensive - just not as cheap as I'd hoped. 

But I did find some cool stuff, starting with the set of cars shown here.  I have no idea what brand they are.  They seem like what you might get in a drugstore - though the heaviness of the cars makes them feel higher quality than say a Maisto.

This packaging of cars - all packaged in groups of 4 - was fairly commonly found in many of the night-market/flea market types of vendors.  Actually, the most interesting things about these night markets was how much repetitive merchandise you found - almost as if there were wholesale suppliers selling merchandise produced expressly to be sold in night markets.  It made the vendors feel less original... 

I probably paid about $9 for this set - not sure if I got ripped off or not (I probably did...).   The cars actually feel pretty nice.  They are slightly large - not quite as big as Sikus, but a tad larger than comparable Matchbox Cayennes.  Given that they are models of large SUVs, that probably means that they are close to correct 1:64 scale. 

The set included 4 luxury SUVs; a Range Rover, a Cayenne, an Audi Q7 and a BMW X6, all reasonably well modeled, all with opening doors.  Unfortunately, they have pull-back friction motors in them - so you can't pull them back without winding up the motors.  The paint scheme is also a little unfortunate - its hard to imagine a construction company giving their engineers Porsche Cayennes to toodle around in.  But a nice set of cars to have found regardless.  Incidentally, this is my first model of a BMW X6... 

Overall a nice set of cars.  If you see them on EBay for not too much money then I'd recommend adding them to your collection.  The only problem - since there is no brand - I don't know how to search for them...  On the other hand, if you go to the Beijing night market off of WangFuJing street - then look for this set. 

 

The scale problem - both in Matchbox size and in real life

Matchbox cars are toy cars. This sounds obvious, but it becomes reality when you realize that most "Matchbox" scale cars are actually 2.5- 2.75 inches long rather than true 1:64 scale, resulting in VW Golfs that are the same size as enormous off-road quarry dump trucks. 

The photo to the right illustrates this...  A "small" Ferrari 308 that is in much larger scale - but almost the same physical size - as an enormous Fire Truck. 

As a kid, the scale issue scarcely bothered me.  As an adult, it irritates me immensely. Most "1:64" scale commercial trucks are much closer to 1:90 scale, and you need to buy trucks from the larger "super-king" ranges in order to get trucks that are really 1:64.  Even within ordinary passenger cars you see the scale issue - with Matchbox' compact early '70s Ford Capri dwarfing the full size late '70s Mercury Cougar Villager Wagon.  Sometimes I try to get around the issue by buying small cars (Honda Fits,etc.) from Tomica, who tends to run slightly smaller than true 1:64 scale, and larger cars and trucks from Siku, who often runs closer to 1:55 scale.

Over the years I've tried to train my mind to see true scale, closely looking at 18 wheelers and cement mixers on the road, and comparing how much larger they are than ordinary cars. So I was amused last week when I saw these 2 1:1 scale red 2 seat convertibles, and thought about how they appeared to be different scales.  The tiny back-end of the Triumph Spitfire is dwarfed by the fat, high rump of the Cadillac Allante.  The Cadillac appears to be 2X wider than the Triump.  And yet, they are both accurately sized 1:1 cars...

Rare Matchbox Transitional Mustang... ...but in the super-rare regular wheels white-color!

Regular readers of my blog know that my favorite die-cast brand is Matchbox, and my favorite Matchbox's are the super-fast transitionals...

On of the rarer and harder to find of the transitionals is the Mustang, and one of the very rare variations of this rare model is to get it in the same white paint as the regular-wheels version. 

I just received this one in the mail, an Ebay find.  It's pretty beat up - the paint is heavily chipped and the trailer hook is gummed up and twisted off, but the wheels and axles are straight (a pet peeve of mine) and the glass is all sound.  It is original and authentic and ready to be played with. 






The price was surprisingly low, even though the shipping costs from England were high.  I expected to be out-bid given how difficult of a model it is to find.   

Overall, I'm thrilled with the purchase and the model.  This is a favorite casting of my mine, and I frankly never expected to find it in white - beat-up or mint. 

Hot Wheels Adult Collectible - White 8000 Shell Tanker and Ford F100 Pickup in Shell Livery

Its been a little while since I last posted - life just got extra busy and I didn't have the chance.  Plus, I wasn't feeling inspired about what to blog about. 

I have some exciting new Ebay finds on their way to me - and a host of existing cool/rare/nice cars in my collection, but somehow none of the posts were coming together. 

This post has been in draft mode for a while, so I thought I'd finish it up and at least give my readers something new to look at. 

The Hot Wheels "Adult Collectible" series has been an expensive favorite of mine for the last 2 decades.  Unlike the other (and less expensive) premium series of Hot Wheels, which take existing models and layer on nicer paint, trim, wheels and rubber tires, the Adult Collectible series usually are unique castings, sold only as Adult Collectibles.  If you want that casting - you don't get to buy it cheap as a lower trim model.  And that can be difficult, since the Adult Collectibles are not cheap - with an average retail selling point of around $8-10 per car! 

This 2 car set was interesting, in that the tanker was a casting of a typically un-modeled model.  It is more in scale than usual for a toy car (another hallmark of the Adult Collectibles - they eschew the "make everything 2.75 inches long so it fits in a standard Matchbox case - regardless of whether its a 35 foot long Mack cement mixer or a 13 foot long Honda Fit" approach of most diecast  brands) - so beware that it WON'T fit into a normal sized case.  I also liked the yellow and orange Shell paint livery. 

The Ford F100 is a bit more common of a model - but a nice model anyway.  It reminds me of the slightly older Ford F-1 pick-up in Shell livery in the historic gas station re-enactment at the Gilmore car museum in Michigan (a GREAT place to visit if you ever get the chance).   Maybe someday I'll include a blog with some more photos of that great and beautiful car museum (nice cars and nice grounds!), but here's that Shell Ford pickup from my visit 9 years ago (yes, my son and I now look different than we did back then!).   

Hot Wheels 288 GTO Phil's Garage

I've been a fan of the real 1980's Ferrari GTO since I read a Road and Track article around 1985 comparing a GTO with the new Testarossa with a Countach.  Partly I've always been a fan of the Scagliatti Ferrari look of all of the early/mid '80s Ferraris (308, 328, Mondial, BB and GTO).

So when Hot Wheels introduced a model of the 288 GTO, I instantly bought it (shown in yellow).  But then when Hot Wheels introduced the up-market Phil's Garage version of it , with nicer wheels and more detail, well, I was smitten!

This model is beautiful.  Its amazing how slightly nicer trim changes a $.99 model into something that I'm happy to pay $3.99 or more for - but that is certainly the case with this car!

Great car and great casting, both in basic and up-market form. 

Modifiers Escalade - You need one in your collection - worth buying even for today's inflated price points...

One of the cooler die-cast car gimmicks in the last 2 decades were the "Modifier" series, by X-Concepts (who the heck are X-Concepts?!?).  The idea was that they would give you the parts to a car and allow you to build it yourself, finishing with a screw-on baseplate rather than a riveted baseplate. 

In the process, you'd get to choose what components to use - with each package containing 2 sets of wheels, 2 sets of window glass with different window tints, sometimes alternate interiors, etc. 

I have a number of these models, including a Civic, an Integra, an Accord Coupe, and an Eclipse.  These small cars were nice, but their wheels always seemed too small, and while the finished products were nice and it was fun to "customize" them (at least within the prescribed band), they weren't overly compelling. 

But for some reason the trucks were nicer.  I have a white F-150, and these 2 Escalades - in black and green. 

These are the nicest Escalades I have.  Substantially nicer than the forgettable basic Matchbox car (or was it Hot Wheels....  that should tell you how forgettable it was), and even nicer than the white Hot Wheels Adult Collectible Escalade ESV shown in the backgrounds of the photos (a car that was let down by a covered bed, oversize wheels, and a general feeling of somehow just not being right...). 

But these Modifier Escalades are sized just right, and fun with the customized window glass. 

Since I have 2 models in 2 colors - I am able to swap components between the 2 cars.  My only complaints are the black and off-color carbon hoods (OK on an Integra - but really - a carbon hood on an Escalade?!?) (less noticeable on the black painted model), and the slightly large mirrors (the first place where paint chips develop). 

Aside from the nice extra long and realistic Suburban made by Hot Wheels and only sold in their more expensive lines (avoid the overly short Matchbox Suburban that is sized to fit in a normal case - and so is incorrectly the same length as the similar generation Tahoe...), this Escalade is the nicest model I've found of a full size GM SUV.  After buying and opening mine, I liked it so much that I picked up an extra copy to keep Mint-in-Blister!  

This model is worth picking up even if you have to buy it on E-Bay for a substantial premium.  (The only listings I'm seeing right now are starting at $20 before shipping - 5 X the original $3.99-ish price point).