Overall, this case had many stellar releases, and as good as they are, there was one that overshadowed them all. I, for one, feel it's the star of this case. And no, I'm not talking about the Super Treasure Hunt. What I'm talking about is the new McLaren F1. Finally! There are a few different cars I came to love when I was young, and it's all thanks to me being introduced to diecast cars as well as racing games. Now, for those of you that didn't know, the Dodge Viper is my all time favorite car, but the McLaren F1 is my second favorite vehicle.
I think it's great how they've decided to give us some of the older super cars. The newer cars from these manufacturers are truly remarkable, but they wouldn't exist if these older ones weren't so successful in their day. So I'm glad to see the spotlight being placed on them.
As for this first release, I'm satisfied with the design choices made for it. Silver is a color that's great for any vehicle, and the F1 definitely looks great finished in the color. Now despite being happy with it, I do have a wish list of colors I'd like to see used for plain releases. And the first color on that list is orange. I'll never forget the day I saw an orange McLaren F1 at an exotic car dealership. Since then, orange has been my preferred color for this car, so I hope a nice shade of it is used for a future release.
Although it's great to see this version, I do hope they continue to use the racing version. It's still a great casting, and I feel they could do a few more things with it.
The '99 Ford F-150 SVT Lightning is the next release I got. Last year, Hot Wheels gave their fans a Fast and Furious premium assortment called Motor City Muscle. Sadly, I wasn't able to get my hands on all five of the releases, but I did manage to get four of them. The F-150 SVT Lightning is the one I could never find, and I searched as hard as I could. This is proof that persistence doesn't always pay. Anyway, I didn't care because Hot Wheels decided to create a different version for their mainline. And despite being slightly different, I feel it's a great alternative to the premium one.
I know the premium one was a replica, but it's exterior color is one of the reasons why I wanted it. In my opinion, this truck looks nice finished in red. So I was a little disappointed when I wasn't able to get that release. Fortunately, Hot Wheels chose to use the color again for this year's mainline version. Now that I have this one, there's no reason to get the Fast and Furious one. Personally, the door decals aren't enough to make me spend secondary market prices.
I should also mention that I like how they didn't create a design for this release. I'm sure it'll look nice with a stripe design, and I'll most likely have good things to say about it. But for now, I'm loving these plain releases of it.
This year's muscle mania mainline series has been absolutely stellar. I think it's great how they've decided to put more of a focus on the classic muscle cars. In previous years, this series has featured some of today's muscle cars. And while there's nothing wrong with that, I often found myself wondering if they were going to eventually focus solely on those. I know there were still classic muscle cars, but there wren't as many as there are in this year's series. And from what I'm seeing, all of this year's Muscle Mania releases are going to be the classics.
By solely focusing on the classic muscle cars, we get castings that aren't used that much in the mainline. One of those castings is the '68 Plymouth Barracuda Formula S, and it's the next release I was able to check off of my want list.
I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this release, and this doesn't happen very often, but this is one of those times where I like all of the design choices made. I feel they picked a great combination of colors, and I love how simple the design is. I also like the additional decals.
I don't know about you, but I'm delighted with their decision to use the Retro Slot wheels for this release. These wheels are perfect for classic muscle cars, and I love how this Barracuda looks with them.
The HW J-Imports is a mainline series that was started this year, and it's given JDM fans some of the hottest imports from Japan. And I think we all have our finger crossed that they'll continue this series for many years to come. Anyway, the '98 Honda Prelude is one of the models in this series, and it's second recolor is the next one I got. As you all know, the first recolor was a Dollar General exclusive, and I had no interest trying to find it. Searching for Hot Wheels at Dollar General in California is like trying to find a needle in a 40 story haystack. In other words, it's not worth it.
I do like the red that was picked for this release, and it's nice how they chose to use different wheels. I just don't like how they decided to make them white like the yellow release's wheels. Due to my preferences, I would have made the wheels black. I feel that would have been a much better color for this red Prelude with a black hood. It also would have made this release completely stand out from the yellow one. That's the only real issue I have with this release. Other than that, this is an okay release.
Earlier in the year, Hot Wheels gave us some cool releases in the Then and Now mainline series. Not too long ago, the "Now" versions of the Camaro and Bronco got recolors. And I feel they picked nice colors for them. I especially liked the orange that was picked for the Bronco. So that made me want to see the "Then" versions finished in those colors too. Well, case P gave me exactly what I wanted, and I'm very pleased with them both.
The exterior color isn't the only thing I like about this particular Camaro. The other two things I like about this release, are it's interior color and wheels. As you can see, the design team chose to give it a blue interior. And for the wheels, they chose to give it black MC5s with a chrome rim. Both of these design choices helped to make this one stand out from the orange one, which is why I felt the need to point them out.
This year's HW Race Team mainline series has had some nice releases. And so far, the Gt Scorcher is my favorite. Anyway, this case's Super Treasure Hunt '64 Nova Gasser Wagon, and it's in this mainline series. And while I didn't get that version, I did get the regular.
Sometimes, I won't like the next release of a casting due to the design choices made for it. This year's '96 Impala is an example of that. Fortunately, that has yet to happen with this Nova. I know I said I wanted to add more of the Race Team liveries to my collection, but I would have gotten this release anyway. I think this casting looks fantastic with this year's Race Team livery.
I do kind of wish it featured a tire decal though. The Dodge D100 and Charger Stock Car had one, and since this is a licensed casting like those two, I feel a tire decal would have made this release even better. But that's just me. Ultimately, this is a release every Hot Wheels collector should have.
Okay, I'm going to stop this first part here. The rest of the releases I got will be featured in tomorrow's post. So be sure to come back to see what I have to say about those.
Alright, so how do you feel about these releases? Go ahead and let me know down in the comments section. Well, that's all for this first part. Until tomorrow, thanks for reading, and happy collecting. And remember, these are just toys.
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