Hot Wheels Mazda REPU Custom

Another Japanese pickup for today! I love the JDM kick that HW is on lately, some really top notch models coming out. I'm trying to slowly stray away from mainlines, but some of these new castings are just too good to pass up in any form, the Mazda REPU included.

Hot Wheels Datsun 620 Pickup Custom

I can't believe it's taken me until now to get an example of this casting up on the workbench! It's one of my favorites, I have every version released so far in my collection.

Nothing too crazy with this custom, just a repaint and a wheel swap. I think it came out pretty well!

Matchbox Lesney Morris J2 Pickup Restoration

I'm back working on the cars I enjoy the most today! Bringing back old British bangers from the scrapyard. Today's project is a #60 Morris J2 Pickup. I'd love to see one of these in real life, it's such an interesting little truck.

Anyways onto my little Lesney one. Before:

And after:

Matchbox Volkswagen Saviero Cross Pickup

VW has a habit of making all sorts of interesting vehicles, and then selling them pretty much everywhere except the US. The Saviero Cross is a perfect example of that. Basically a cut down version of the 2 door "Gol" (which itself is a reworked Polo), it has proved to be an incredibly popular vehicle in Brazil. It is priced right around the $20k mark, which I find to be quite reasonable. Who knows, with the popularity of small pickups taking off again here in the States, VW might be able to shift a fair few of these here!

The Matchbox version made its debut in the 2011 mainline, part of the "modern golden age" that Matchbox collectors like to talk about these days. It hasn't been used a lot really, just a handful of times in the mainline and in a few multipacks. This is one of those castings that is quite nice and realistic, but always seems to come to the pegs completely overdone with crazy graphics and colors that cover up the nice model underneath.

So as usual, I decided to take one of those "loud" models, and quiet it down a bit. I think it pulls off the maroon with white wheels well! Drop a line in the comments and let me know what you think.

Matchbox Lesney #50a - Commer Pickup Truck Restoration

I'm back on the vintage Lesney train again, this time with a very cool old Commer pickup. I've been after one of these for a while, and received two into the collection recently! A bi RAOK on one of the diecast forums included one, and now this fresh restoration project.

I thought it was the silver plastic wheel version, but no its actually metal wheels that were painted over!

I tried my best to match the original tan this one came in, knowing that there were several variations on the shade. Not having a real one to compare to, I have no idea how close this tan is. But I like it regardless!

Hot Wheels Nissan Titan Pickup Truck Custom

Well readers, it's getting to be winter time around here, and that means not too many more days for painting outside.. I don't have the facilities to paint indoors, so my customs will be going into "winter mode" soon, aka wheel swaps, minor detailing, etc etc. I've got a bunch of cars disassembled and stripped just in case I get a warm day, but for now... this is about it haha.

This Nissan has been rummaging around in my parts box for years and years. To give you an idea, this version was the 2006 First Editions release, and I bought it on the shelf.. It's been in my parts box for that long haha.

So being that it's cold outside, and I actually like the paint job it has, all I did was a simple wheel swap and some detailing. What do you think?

Matchbox Dodge Dakota Pickup Truck Restoration

Hello folks. Here's a Dodge Dakota I finished recently. It is one of the cars I have a lot of memories with as a child, but I decided to freshen it up a bit. Here's what it used to look like.

And here it is now. Nothing too crazy, just got rid of the remainder of the light bar in the bed, swapped the wheels for a more modern set, and rechromed the bumpers and chassis. I stuck with the original shade of red and detailed it a bit. I think the final product looks most excellent!

Matchbox Toyota Tacoma Custom

How about this one?? I was glad to finally find an extra one of these to open up and play with! Very disappointed that the surfboards can't really be removed from the car without some serious body mods, which are far above my skill level. So they'll have to stay till now.
I've always admired that lovely green that Toyota sells these days, Spruce Mica. It's a stunning color if you've never seen one in person. This was as close as I could get...

Treasure Hunt Find 6/7 - 1983 Chevy Silverado SUPER

This was a very interesting find today! At Target of all places, and with about half empty pegs... I found the Silverado super hunt! It's been a good couple of days, with my great finds yesterday. It's not something I collect, but I couldn't leave it behind. Gotta love finding rare stuff in the wild!

Project: Chevy Silverado and Car Trailer

This was just a quick little custom. Well, "custom" is a big word for this car, as I didn't do much to it at all. I got this car trailer off the internet not long ago, and and obviously, it needs to be pulled by something! It's hard to find trailer hitches on new models, but I dug this Silverado out of my collection and thought it would do the job quite well. It started life as a simple 1999 Chevy Silverado, in the form of a dairy delivery truck. I've had this one since I was a kid.

All I did to "customize" it was to remove the dairy tampos and add in a little detail painting. There are a few little nicks and scrapes, but I left them, I think it suits the character of the model. An old work truck should have some scrapes. I left the dirt tampos on as well. 

Here it is hard at work, bringing home a new project car!