Should we just get out of the way how great a casting this is?
Because it is. A fun argument among nerd collectors would be what is Jun Imai's best casting, and while the Kenmeri would be our answer, the Hakosuka is certainly in the conversation.
But duh, we all know how great a casting it is. And if you are even a casual follower of the Lamley Group, you definitely know what our feelings are about the real thing. Our home state of Utah may not be known as a JDM mecca, but with JDM Legends a few miles away, and JCCS only a day's jaunt down I-15 every September, you can get a nice fill of the best of j-tin while living here. And while the Hako could easily be considered the '69 Camaro of Japanese cars, you never tire of seeing one. (Then again, I never tire of seeing a '69 Camaro either.)
So yes, count the Hakosuka as one of our favorite Hot Wheels castings, and we are more than thrilled to have it back in the basic range. And how good does it look in black? I don't know if it can look better, but we are all for Hot Wheels trying. It is part of the "Then & Now" series, matched up beautifully with the R34 Skyline, but we don't know if the Hako will be recolored in blue like the R34. We do know, however, that it will be a Zamac exclusive later this year. There, for you guys that actually read the articles, there is a little treat for you. Keep it quiet and see if anyone else notices.
One other thing about this release. Not surprisingly, the rollcage has been removed from the interior. It appears that Mattel is doing this with a lot of castings, so that is not a shock. It does make the racing interior look somewhat out of place, but it isn't a huge deal.
This casting ushered in what we could call the Hot Wheels JDM golden age, but for hyperbole's sake we won't. We will say it is one of the models that the Lamley Blog cut its teeth on. Our feature on the Boulevard Skyline and Datsun 510 Wagon was in some ways our unofficial introduction to the diecast world. So besides being one helluva model, that represents our favorite corner of the car world, it holds a special place in our heart for helping get the word out on Lamley. All hail the Hako.
(Find the Nissan Skyline and the rest of Hot Wheels Batch K at Wheel Collectors
, as well as the previous versions of the 2000GT-X on ebay
...)Hot Wheels Nissan Skyline H/T 2000GT-X (2014 Basic Range):
It's Then & Now counterpart:
With it's cousin:
The family so far:
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