Hot Wheels Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk7 Custom

WOW it's been a while since I posted here (or have done any customs for that matter). Work has been keeping me sooooo busy. But I've got a lot of stuff in the queue to be finished and posted!! Starting with this Hot Wheels Mk7 Golf GTI that I made to give to a buddy of mine as a copy of his car.

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 1962 VW Beetle Custom

I think this one might be my favorite custom that I've done so far...

Ever since I was a little kid, I've been a fan of air-cooled VWs. Not a fanatic by any means, but I have always held that a true car enthusiast will always smile a bit when they see an old Bug drive by, and I definitely fall into that category!

But I absolutely love how this one turned out, the Matchbox 62 Beetle is my favorite VW casting anyway, and this one is just about perfect in my eyes. Exactly how I'd have a real one. Black over white interior with white walls. I tried a new technique with the wheels that I'm pretty happy with! A simple white paint pen on the regular Matchbox disc wheels. Not perfect, but it makes for a nice effect.

Hot Wheels VW Golf GTI Mk2 Custom

Another simple wheel swap/repaint for today. This started out life as a VW Golf GTI from some recent HW special series. I bought an extra when they were on shelves, and gave it a nice respray and some new shoes! 

Matchbox VW Transporter 50th Anniversary Wheel Swap

Hey everybody. This isn't quite a proper custom, just a little wheel swap. I bought a lot of premium series HW and MBXs a year or so ago that were mint, but just missing wheels. I've been slowly adding wheels as I obtain appropriate ones. This morning I did a nice VW Transporter.

Lesney #34c-VW Camper Van Restoration

The original VW Microbus is one of those vehicles that you just smile when you see it. I don't care what kind of cars you're into, if you're even into cars at all. They are just cool and there's no getting around that! I have been wanting to do a custom of this casting for a long time, and I finally got one in a big ebay lot. Complete with doors too! Rough, but everything was there.

Selecting a color was tough with this one, because of those orange/yellow windows. I can change a lot of things on a model car, but window color isn't really one of them. Maybe someday I'll figure out how to make my own clear windows.. (any suggestions..?)

So I went with this nice blue, which I've used plenty of times before. In fact, the can is almost empty! I also continued my tradition of leaving the baseplate alone. 

The "family shots" will continue once I get my collection unpacked haha

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.