Lamley News: Announcing the 2013 Lamley Award Winners... (3 months late, but who cares?)

Do you remember all the general rules about the Lamley Group?  If not, a refresher:

- We will be generally biased towards JDM

- We will be Matchbox apologists

- We will talk too much

- We will always reserve the right to procrastinate whenever we'd like

Bet you forgot about that last one.  We procrastinated and just added it in, but it has always been there in spirit.

So with that last rule in mind, we are proud to announce that we seriously procrastinated in announcing the 2013 Lamley Award winners.  We are, in fact, well into the fourth month of 2014, so that makes it a perfect time to release the list we should have announced in December.

We thought we would dedicate a separate Lamley post to each winner, but frankly we never had the time.  News and New Models just keep coming, leaving us with little time for other things, so we thought we would announce them all together, starting with 2013 Model of the Year.

There are two winners in each category.  One selected by our readers by way of votes, and the other selected by the expansive Lamley Group staff.  We have included the two runners-up as well.

It is easy for us to explain why we chose a certain model, and we have below each category, but we can't always speak for you, so feel free to mention why you voted the way you did the comments section below.  Do you agree?  Disagree?

The winners:

2013 Model of the Year

Readers:

1. Hot Wheels Mainline '55 Chevy Bel-Air Gasser
2. Hot Wheels Mainline '70 Toyota Celica
3. HW Boulevard Porsche 993 GT2

Lamley:

1. Datsun 510 Wagon & the rest of the New Castings from Hot Wheels Boulevard
2. Hot Wheels Toyota 2000GT Super Treasure Hunt
3. (tie) Matchbox BMW 1M/Hot Wheels Mainline Kool Kombi

Yes, we might have gotten a little creative with our winners, but we will explain them in the next post, coming soon.  Plus, it is our blog, so if we want a tie, we can have a tie.

BEST Hot Wheels 2013 New Model

Readers:

1. '70 Toyota Celica
2. Volkswagen Kool Kombi
3. '55 Chevy Bel-Air Gasser

Lamley:

1. '67 Chevy C10 Pickup
2. '70 Toyota Celica
3. '70 Chevy Chevelle SS

Even with our JDM bias, nothing could top the '67 Chevy C10 Pickup.  It is a perfectly executed casting, with just enough Hot Wheels flare.  But not too much flare, with that understated pinstriping and all.  The Celica was an easy second choice for Best New Model, but the Chevelle surprised us.  It looks so modern with the racing bolt-ons and low stance, and in the end beat out the Kool Kombi.  But don't fret, as the Kool Kombi got some love in the category above this one.

BEST Hot Wheels Super Treasure Hunt

Readers: 

1. Toyota 2000GT 
2. '62 Corvette
3. '10 Toyota Tundra

Lamley: 

1. Toyota 2000GT
2. '62 Corvette
3. '07 Ford Mustang

This was the easiest of the categories to predict.  No reason to go into all the reasons this won in a landslide, but the fact that the Toyota debuted as a Super was already a great reason to vote for it.  But add to that it is the grandfather of Japanese nostalgics, and it looks gorgeous, and you have an easy winner.  

We also agreed on the '62 Vette, which we chose purely because it is one of the best-looking Supers we have ever seen.  We disagreed on the last.  The '07 Mustang surprised us at the end of the year as one of the best-looking Supers of the year.

WORST Hot Wheels Super Treasure Hunt

Readers:

1. Bone Shaker
2. '71 Dodge Demon
3. '10 Toyota Tundra

Lamley:

1. '10 Ford Shelby GT-500 Super Snake
2. '71 Dodge Demon
3. Bone Shaker

Bone Shaker because it isn't licensed.  The Super Snake because it was so damn ugly.

BEST Hot Wheels Regular Treasure Hunt

Readers:

1. Mazda RX-7
2. Dodge Challenger Drift Car
3. '10 Camaro SS Police

Lamley:

1. Mazda RX-7
2. Fast Fish
3. '10 Camaro SS Police

No explanation needed.

WORST Hot Wheels Regular Treasure Hunt

Readers:

1. Bad to the Blade
2. Sting Rod II
3. Carbonator

Lamley:

1. Sting Rod II
2. Carbonator
3. Custom '77 Dodge Van

So bad we don't have pics of either winner.

BEST Matchbox 2013 New Model

Readers:

1. 1966 Dodge A100 Pickup
2. BMW 1M
3. Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Type 34

Lamley:

1. BMW 1M
2. Dodge A100 Pickup
3. Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Type 34

This one was very easy for us.  The BMW, A100, and Ghia were far and away the best new Matchbox models this year, even with the Lamborghini Police released.  And among those three, the 1M was our favorite.  The casting was a bit of an off-center choice, and we love when Matchbox does that.  Plus they made us a bit happier by doing the 1M instead of the standard 1 Series, which historically is what they would have done.  Then they went and made it BMW orange, gave it a nice set of rims, and set it out for the pegs, which it didn't last long.