New Diecast Finds April 3rd, 2015

Found some great stuff over the last couple of days, finally. This has been a real slow spell for me, absolutely nothing new in stores for what seems like ages now. The first set of pics was found at Walmart yesterday.

And these next pictures were ebay finds that arrived today. First is a cool vintage Lesney Matchbox puzzle.. Not sure of the history behind it, but it was too cool to pass up! And the rest of the cars were bought in one big lot, and came in at less than $1 each shipped. 

Hot Wheels "So Fine" Buick Custom

Well... This one didn't come out quite as well as I was hoping, butI still love it!! I really need to work on my two-tone painting technique. Buick is one of my favorite US brands, and the So Fine, one of the best HW castings ever. I have a lot of extras saved up for customs, and I decided to tackle one of them.

I ended up going with a nice light tan, and dark metallic green roof. I don't know if this color combo was originally offered on Buicks of this era (I bet someone around here could provide some insight to that), but I think it works well on the car!

Mailbox Find - 1949 Buick Riviera by Racing Champions

Today's awesome mailbox find comes from the somewhat forgotten brand of Racing Champions. It is no secret that I'm a big fan of the Buick brand, particularly their 1940s and 1950s models. They just have a style and presence that few other brands could match, even Cadillac. 

I was not aware of this model's existence until someone posted a few photos of it on one of the forums I belong to. I fell in love with it, and immediately went to ebay to see about procuring one. I found this lovely green and tan version for a reasonable price. I shot the seller a "best offer" price, and got the car for an even more reasonable price! You can't beat that. 

Maisto 1956 Buick Century "Un-Customized"

Good evening folks. As a bit of a Buick enthusiast, I couldn't pass up this new Maisto model when I saw it on the shelves the other day. For only $2.50, it's a very high quality model, and I like it a lot! But "resto-mods" really don't do much for me on classic American iron generally. I much prefer the stock original, un-molested look. This old Century was just begging to be brought back to stock.

All I really did was remove the wheels and grind some holes in the base so the new wheels would fit and give it the proper ride height. Oh, and added a couple coats of gloss clear to take away the "satin" look of the paint. It sits with a bit of a lean to one side, but overall I'm very pleased with how it turned out. 

Hot Wheels So Fine - Classic Buick Custom

Good evening folks! I just wanted to share some pics of the custom I just finished. This is one of my all time favorite Hot Wheels castings. I'm a sucker for vintage Buicks, there's just something about them. They have so much style, arguably moreso than many of the Cadillacs of the time. 

I did a feature on this car a while back, but up until now, have not gotten one on the workbench. No before pics this time, it was just a standard black First Edition model. Nothing too crazy here, just a repaint in a nice pewter color that I thought looked something like how it might've come when new. 

Consulting my library, it looks a bit like Culumus Gray, which was used only in 1949 as far as I can tell, though my records for Buick colors only go back to 1949. 

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New Hot Wheels L Case Finds!

I happened to pop by Walmart at the right time today! Came across a brand new L case dump bin. Another collector was already there, but he was friendly and we sorted through it. Found a few El Caminos but no Supers. I've been suspicious for a while that there is a "collector" employee at that store that goes through everything before it gets to the floor. Either that or the guy that got there before me found it and lied to me haha. Who knows.

But that's ok. I'm not a big fan of the blue side of the aisle and tend to stay away from it. However, the blue guys have been putting out some excellent product, and there were a few cars that I just couldn't pass up.

Matte white Porsche 993 GT2

Old-School Nissan Skyline

This color works really well on the 458. Could do without the silly stripes though. 

Zamac 64 Continental, one of my favorite castings.

1970 Buick GSX. In my opinion the very best of the muscle car era.

A new Larry Wood casting I rather like, the Screamliner

How about some group pics with older releases?

The 2 releases of the Screamliner so far.

Easily one of the best castings in recent memory. Here's the new white one with the original Boulevard release and this year's red mainline car. The white car with the wheels from the yellow one would be my idea of perfection. Hmm...

The only two releases of this Skyline to my knowledge. I'm sure glad to see it back in the lineup!

Some great American sleds. 

The Matchbox Well is NOT dry after all! New stock found tonight

Hello everyone! I've just had a rather exciting trip to my local Walmart. I've been hearing these rumors for a week or so now that Walmart is clearing out all their Matchbox stock. It's sure been dry around here for ages, and it sounds like a lot of other places is the same story.

So sure enough, there were 5 basics on the pegs, marked down to 50c, and 5 5 packs, marked to $3.50. Sad day. But then I noticed that all sorts of other stuff in the toy aisle has been marked down as well. Loads of stuff in the blue section, M2 Machines, Jada, EVERYTHING. So that gave me a little more hope. I picked up several of those Hot Wheels cars in the little baggies, they were marked to 75c. It's so much fun standing there for 30 minutes peering through the little window in the baggie trying to determine what car is inside haha. I felt like a regular Sherlock Holmes. I grabbed about 10, as well as a couple MBX cars to use as wheel donors and left. Then out of the corner of my eye I caught glimpse of a pallet full of new cases. A closer look showed a box of new MBX 10 packs! Hallelujah!

And not only 10 packs, but new basics as well! I opened it up right there and found a treasure trove of new product. So all hope is not lost folks. It looks the big box stores aren't giving up on us after all.

I'll post some close-up pictures later, but a great haul!

What did I pay for all of this?

Under $14! 10 basic and 10 HW mystery cars. What a great night. 

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A Closer Look: An American Classic that is just... "So Fine"

Hello everyone! For tonight's post, I want to change it up a little bit from the British stuff. We're going to look at a full-blooded American classic. One of my all-time favorite models, the So Fine by Hot Wheels. I'm actually a fan of American cars. Not muscle cars so much, but big luxury cruisers. I always appreciated how the US manufacturers had their own way of doing luxury, and for many years, seemed to pay absolutely no attention to how the rest of the world built cars. You just have to admire that.

Back in the 1930s and 1940s, us Americans knew how to build a luxury car. Duesenberg, Pierce Arrow, Cadillac, LaSalle, Lincoln, and Packard were, among others, on the forefront of luxury in the world. These cars were just as good as competitors from Europe. Incredibly stylish, well built and engineered, those cars are still loved and valued today, just take a look at auction prices for anything with those badges on the front.

Buick is a brand that, I think, often gets overlooked in the crazy, high-dollar collector car scene. It's not uncommon to see some fetching incredible values, but there still seems to be a big price difference between the more base model cars, such as the Special, and cars like the Roadmaster from this era. But I've always loved Buick. Even in GMs darkest days, starting in the 1970s, through the late 2000s, Buicks have been the best products they offer (as relative as that may be). Lower priced than Cadillacs, but offering just about as much luxury and style, the brand has always been a favorite of mine.

This '51 Roadmaster sold at auction for $55,000! A bargain, I think

This casting, I believe is based on a 1948 or 1949 Buick, and I would lean towards the '49, maybe even a bit newer.  The casting made its debut as a First Editions model in 2000, finished in a nice black, red interior, and lace wheels. A great color combo, it's one of my favorite versions that's been done.

Here's a Treasure Hunt version, from 2001

And another personal favorite, from the 2005 Real Riders series

Here's the rest of my collection, I'm sure I'm missing some.

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