First Look: Hot Wheels Retro Entertainment KITT Super Pursuit Mode...

Yeah I watched Knight Rider.  I dug the near impossibility of KITT entering a moving semi.  I dug the Hoff.  I totally dug KITT.

I hated the Super Pursuit Mode.

Maybe I was getting older and moving on, but modifying a Firebird to look kind of like a Transformer and then just speeding up the film to make it look like a Benny Hill/Knight Rider cross was just not cool for me.

So that is all I am going to say about that.  I will let you guys comment on the model, like it for not.  Based on the response so far, I think a lot of you do like it.

Enjoy it, and get it at Wheel Collectors if you are so inclined...


Hot Wheels KITT Super Pursuit Mode (2014 Retro Entertainment):

All three from Retro Entertainment:

Will the latest batch of Hot Wheels Mystery Bag Cars make it to the US? Maybe not...

Mystery cars have now become a common part of the Hot Wheels basic lineup.  It started with mainline cars hidden behind blacked out blisters, then it moved to foil baggies.

The foil bag cars are no longer official mainline cars, but rather recolors of previous models and decos, similar to what you will see in 9- and 10-packs.  Some models have been tremendous (the Kroger-only Super Speeders line comes to mind), while others sit and sit and sit.

That shelf-warming tendency of the latest batch has led to a lot of boxes of mystery models hanging around each and every Walmart, which has the exclusive rights to carry them.  Plus the models included in that batch have not garnered a ton of excitement.

Even with that, our interest was sparked when a collector out of Germany reported finding new mystery cars in a local store.  Like the Walmart batch, it included 12 models:

We were especially interested when one of the mystery models was a Lamley favorite, the Aston Martin DBS, in jet black.  So even with the last Walmart batch of mysteries clogging the shelves, we figured the next batch would show in time.  So we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

But then, during a routine weekend check-in with the Team of 3 at Diecast TV Channel on youtube, we saw that they too had found the mystery cars, including the Aston.  That could mean they were close to hitting the US.  So we continued to wait.

And continued.

And continued.

And continued.

Until we gave in.  We are fans of Diecast TV Channel (And you should be too.  Their videos clear, concise, and maybe the best produced of all youtube diecast channels.  It is like a quick weekly diecast newscast.  HIGHLY recommended.), and have chatted with the Team of 3 before, and after a few emails back and forth, worked out a trade to get three of the new Mystery models over to Lamley.

So we are happy to have three, and they are below, but the question remains: Will we see these in the US?  The answer could very well be no.

These could very well be international exclusives, made to be the equivalent of the current batch of mysteries at Walmart, only for non-US markets.  The follow the same pattern as other mystery cars, sharing the same deco as mainline versions of the same casting, only in different colors.

Or these could be slated for US release, but delayed because of the slow-moving batch ahead of it.  That could very well mean Walmart won't want the next batch, which could leave those models in limbo, and unofficially make them international-only models.

Only time will tell, but in the meantime we are happy to have secured these three - the aforementioned Aston Martin, a Pontiac GTO, and Lamborghini Reventon.  The Aston especially is fantastic in black.  Grey rims would have made it even better, but we are not complaining.  We are happy to have the HW DBS collection complete.  A hearty thank you to the Team of 3 for their help.  They have some good stuff coming their way in return...

So what do you think?  International only?  Coming to the US?  Do you even care?


Hot Wheels Aston Martin DBS, '70 Pontiac GTO, and Lamborghini Reventon (2014 Mystery Models):

Lamborghini Reventon

'70 Pontiac GTO

A Tale of Two: Hot Wheels '71 Nissan Skyline & '69 Pontiac GTO...

Black with gold/copper wheels is such a sharp look.  Yes black cars don't bring out the details in our favorite vehicles, mini or real, but who honestly gives a shit when they look so sexy and sleek in black?

Once you have your sexy black car, what to do with the wheels?  You can go all black, making your car growlingly menacing, or you can go chrome, making it shine.  Or maybe gunmetal gray, putting you right in the middle.  And there is copper or gold.  That is where minis might separate from the real thing.  It may not work on the road every time, but it certainly does in a display case.

So when Hot Wheels released the Nissan Skyline H/T 2000GT-X in black with copper rims, we were on board.  And when we got it in hand, we were instantly reminded of another black on copper beauty, the 2005 Hot Wheels '69 Pontiac GTO Judge with Faster Than Ever wheels.  So we thought we would put them together.

These are actually easy to compare, outside of the color of the body and wheels.  The real cars come from the same era, albeit on different continents.  They are both signature cars in their respective countries, and it only takes one word to reference each car.  "Hakosuka" for the Skyline and "Judge" for the GTO.

As far as the minis go, both were designed by epic Mattel designers.  The GTO by Phil Riehlman and the GT-X by Jun Imai.  And they both look really good.

So here is our ode to muscle and j-tin, in the form of sleek sexy black.

Since we have probably discussed the Hakosuka to death here on Lamley, how about a few thoughts on the GTO:

The casting debuted in 2005, first in black, then orange, then as a Kmart exclusive in red.  The black normally sported 5-spoke wheels, but was part of the huge FTE line in 2005/2006.  Hot Wheels actually released all-FTE cases instead of making a sub-line in the basic range, like they did later.  The FTE GTO was one of the hardest models to find, as many cases didn't even carry it.

Nonetheless, the FTE completely upstaged the 5-spoke version, and in our opinion is one of the best-looking Hot Wheels models ever made.  Period.

And damn, it looks good next to the Hako...