Welcome back to the boulevard racers! It's once again time to take a look at another set of diecast cars, that have been checked off my want list. This time, it's the newest Matchbox basic assortment. Overall, this case definitely had something for everyone. Among the vehicles that I wanted, there were three that I just had to have. And those are the three that I'm going to go over first. So with that said, let's get this review started.
The first vehicle that I wanted, is the 1956 Aston Martin DBR1, which made it's debut in the Top Gun five pack. Among all the various vehicles that I like, classic sports cars like this one will always be at the top of my must get list. This is solely due to the exterior shape of them, which in my opinion, makes them timeless. Of course that's not to say that current sports cars won't end up being timeless classics as well.
Now that you how I feel, I think you can imagine how excited I was when I first saw pictures of this casting over on Matchbox's Instagram page. In my opinion, this first release was done nicely. I really like the choice to use finish this model's exterior in dark green. Based on the pictures I'm seeing of the real car, this green is not the exact green that was used. However, it's still a great looking shade for this model nonetheless.
When it comes to tampo details, this model was given a few details on it's front, side, and rear. To be honest though, I'm a little disappointed with the headlight details. The headlight section on this model was given a simple silver tampo coating. Personally, this model might've looked better if it was designed in a similar fashion to the Hot Wheels Ferrari 250. That casting's headlights were apart of the windshield piece. Diecast models designed like that, have very realistic looking headlights.
For this release's wheels, the Matchbox design team decided to use five spoke wheels. Let's be honest here, there's no way five spoke wheels are period correct on this car. As such, I wish Matchbox would've used their old lace wheels.
The second car that I had to have, is the '33 Ford Coupe. Like classic sports cars, hot rods are up there on my list as well. With this release, this model has now had four great looking releases. The first two releases, were in multi-packs. The debuting one was in the Dirty Mudders five pack, and the second one was in the nine packs. Since I don't typically get multi-packs, I didn't end up getting those. This casting thankfully got put into the mainline, which has now led to this second one being in my collection.
With this release, I like how the Matchbox designers went in a different direction with it's looks. The first mainline release, had the looks of being used and worn down. This one on the other hand, has the looks of being freshly built. Now don't get me wrong, I still very much like the first one, but it nice to have a version of this casting that's not used looking. Remember, the debuting one also had a used look with it's mud splatter details.
Now then, since the overall theme of this release is Mooneyes, this model's exterior was given a wonderful shade of yellow. Once again, a scallop design was utilized for this casting. Both mainline releases having a scallop design isn't a problem for me, since I like how they look on hot rods. Plus, the design on this second one looks very different from the first one's design. The red outline featured on this one's design, was also a nice touch. The only design aspect that's basically the same as the first one, is the section around the side windows. Though similar, this one is better since it has the Mooneyes logo placed over it.
Like the first three releases of this casting, this too is sporting the same wheel combination. So that's the Ringed Disk wheels in the front, and the Ringed Gear wheels in the back. I don't know how you feel about this wheel combination, but I kind of like it. I also like the the choice to make them red.
No details were given to the front and rear of this release, which is fine since this isn't a premium. It would be nice to eventually get one that at least has grill details though.
The 1970 Plymouth Cuda, is the last of the three cars that I had to have. I still very much love this Matchbox Cuda casting. This casting's stock looking ride height, continues to be one of the main things that I like about it. Of course that's not the only thing that made me want this fantastic release. For me, it all came down to it's yellow exterior color. What I like, is how it appears to be based on lemon twist, which was one of the colors that was available for the real car.
Most of this release's tampo details are featured along it's sides. Along it's quarter panel, is a realistic Hemi hockey stick stripe. Although I would've made it black, I can't deny how cool silver looks over this shade of yellow. The additional tampo details include this car's gill rocker molding, side marker lights, and a silver tampo coating over the door handle.
Only the front of this release received tampo details. Since I really like this casting, this isn't a issue for me. The headlight section on this release received a simple white tampo coating. The last front end detail is a thin silver tampo that was applied around the entire front end.
The wheels given to this release, are the Matchbox Cut Tri Spoke. This isn't a bad wheel choice for this casting. They are also much better than the five spoke wheels featured on the one that I have from 2018.
The debuting LEVC TX Taxi is the next vehicle that I got from this mix. Between Mattel's two diecast car brands, I feel Matchbox is the best when it comes to service vehicles like this. There are a few reasons for this opinion. Service castings from Matchbox, have no exterior customizations and no over the top designs.
I really like how this casting's body was designed. The front half of the roof, features the lifted section that says "Taxi" on the real vehicle. The thing that I appreciate about this casting's feature, is how the word "Taxi" was incorporated into the body. This makes it so they didn't need to apply tampo letters. Although... based on the picture I'm looking at of the real taxi, this model would've looked even better if orange was applied around the words. I also like how this casting was designed with side rear view mirrors.
The wheels on this release, contributed to it being a nice replica. For this release, the Matchbox designers gave it the Ringed Disk wheels. Based on the real vehicle's wheels, this was the best possible wheel choice for this model.
The front and rear of this model are where all the tampo details are. The tampo headlights are detailed, which is great. The hood features the LEVC emblem. I also like the additional grill details. One of those details is the "E-City" emblem on the right side of the grill. The rear features detailed tail lights and the LEVC letter emblem. On the license plate section of this model, the letters "TX" were placed over a yellow rectangle.
The next vehicle featured in this post, is the 2019 Jeep Renegade. As most of you already know, this casting is making it's debut this year. The bright green that was chosen for this model's exterior, is one of the things that drew me to it. Now from what I can tell, this exact shade of green isn't a color that was offered on the 2019 Renegade. Some might argue that this is Jeep's hyper green, but I beg to differ. In my eyes, this green is noticeably different than Jeep's color. And personally, I like this color much better.
I really like the front and rear tampo details on this model. The front was given the Jeep letter emblem, detailed headlights, and a nicely done grill. The rear was given detailed tail lights, and this vehicle's trunk emblems. On the license plate section, the word "Jeep" was placed over a black square. Personally, it would've been nice if the Matchbox designers gave it a license plate. It could've even been a fantasy one. Not having one though, is no problem for me since I'm just happy to have another Jeep casting to collect.
For this release's wheels, the Matchbox designers decided to give it this brands five spokes. The wheel color is the only thing I would change. I may be alone with this opinion, but I personally feel this particular colored Jeep, might have looked better with black wheels.
The 1948 Willys Jeepster has finally made it to the Matchbox mainline with this mix. This casting made it's debut last year in the Walmart Jeep set. I feel being in the mainline, gives more collectors a chance at adding one to their collections. I mean... let's be honest here, we all know how hard it is to find any Walmart only set.
I can honestly say that I like the exterior color of this release. For this second release, the Matchbox designers decided to go with a dark color. And I love how they went with dark red. Now I might be wrong, but from what I can tell, this shade of red seems to be very similar to Jeep's deep cherry red. I'm not sure if that's what the designers were trying to go for, but if they were, then I'd say it's mission accomplished.
I have absolutely no issue with the wheel choice. Like the debuting one, this too was given the Matchbox disk wheels. Based on the real vehicle's wheels, I think we can all agree that these wheels, have a period correct look. The one thing that I do like, is how the Matchbox designers decided to make the overall color of them different from the first one's wheels. Unlike the wheels on this casting's first release, these one weren't given a chrome outer ring.
Tampo details were applied to the front and rear of this Jeepster. These details are are basically the same ones present on the first one. The front was given detailed headlights, as well as the chrome center section of the grill. The rear was given tail lights and the same "Willys" logo over a white square placed on the license plate section.
Up next is the Jeep Willys. One of the things that I like about this release, is how it wasn't given an Army theme. Now I'm not saying that Army themed Jeeps aren't cool, but it is nice to finally have one of these in my collection with more of a civilian appearance.
Although it doesn't feature a design, it was given some smaller details. These details are only present along it's sides. "Willys X" was applied in white to the side of the hood. After that, silver was used for various would-be metal sections of this model. One of those sections for example, is the shovel that's featured along the driver side.
Aside from the tampo details, I really love the exterior color. And how could I not, it is blue after all. Now the shade that was used, is on the darker side. But in my opinion, it still turned out to be a great color for this Jeep's exterior.
The wheels given to this release, are the Matchbox Ringed Gears. What I like, is how the Matchbox design team decided to make them white. For me, this helps to liven up this model just a little bit.
Checked off my want list next, is the 1968 Dodge D200. As you all know, this is the second release of this casting. And in my opinion, it's just as good as the first one. The one thing that I like, is how they decided to not give it a two tone color scheme like the first one. That type of paint job is cool and all, but it's nice to see this truck with one main exterior color.
Like the first release, this second release was also given this pickup's side molding. This time they decided to make the center of it red, which looks great combined with black. The additional details along it's sides, are silver for the door handles and this pickups fender emblems. The front and rear were once again left without details. Of course this doesn't detract from how nice this release is.
The Matchbox 2 Ringed 8 Dot wheels were utilized for this release. I really like how this wheel looks on this casting. And I also like how they decided to make them chrome this time. Although grey or black wheels would've looked just as nice as well.
Alright readers, that's everything that I decided to get from this mix. I really don't have a specific favorite among these, as they're all great additions to any collection. The one thing that I will say, is that hope Matchbox gives us many future mainline releases of the Aston Martin DBR1.
So... now that you know my opinion, I want to know yours. If you have a specific favorite, feel free to let me know down in the comments section. Okay that's all for this edition of Looking at. Until next time, happy diecast collecting.
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