Best Motorcycle 2014: A Scion FR-S Party! The new Zamac plus a Variation Alert...

We do enjoy bringing our readers pics of the latest models as early as possible, but when it comes to the Zamacs, we are completely at the mercy of Mattel's distribution and our local Walmarts. So we knew we would be a little late to the game when J case dump bins starting hitting the eastern US, without a trickle of sign that were in the West.

Sure enough, they didn't hit the West until late last week, 2-3 weeks after the East and Midwest (and at the same time K case bins are hitting there as well. Um, grrrrr.) But at least they did hit. The last batch of Zamacs, with the pretty AE86, Silverado, and Camaro was scarce at best around here. I did manage to find them at one rural Walmart, but I never saw them in the Salt Lake City area. That is a little concerning, as the upcoming Chevelle Wagon, Hakosuka Skyline, and '70 Chevelle SS Zamacs are high on the want-list, and I hope I can find them.

But distribution talk is boring, so let's move on.

We have the Scion! In 2012/2013 the Toyota 86/Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ dominated the auto world, so maybe 2014 is a year where we come down a bit. (And get ready for the Nissan IDX buzz to start getting VERY LOUD. We will be contributing.) So Hot Wheels' version of the Scion may have come a tad late, and it has had a surprisingly run of bland colors and deco.

So the Hot Wheels Scion hasn't gotten the attention of many non-JDM collectors, but it might once we see one in a sharp primary color. Bright red? Satin blue? For now, we have the Zamac, and it does look great. But all Zamacs do. We have said it before, we will say it now, and we will say it again: Zamacs are f*#king fun to photograph. They always look good.

Then & Now with the Zamac AE86

There is another bit of HW Scion FR-S news, and we decided to include it with our post on the Zamac. It just took a bit longer to get that Zamac Scion than we expected.

If you are a wheel variation collector, check your local Hot Wheels 9-packs. If you are lucky, you might find the first color of the 2014 Scion with chrome-lipped J5 wheels, as opposed to the standard PR5.

We weren't lucky enough to find one, but thankfully we had an extra OH5 RX-7 to trade to HWC variation nut 1.eyed.jack for one that he found, and it arrived a few days ago.

As far as we know, this variation is exclusive to 9-packs, and has not been found in high numbers. But both Target and Walmart have housed them. So keep your eyes peeled.