Model of the Day: Kyosho Aston Martin V8 Vantage...

Scroll down to the post we put up before this one.  You will see a group of supercars made by Hot Wheels.  Some good, some not so good.

But it put us in the mood to see something in the supercar variety that is really good.  Enter the Aston Martin V8 Vantage by Kyosho.  And it is not the current V8 Vantage you would see zipping around Top Gear.  It is the fantastic 70's version, released in 1977.

Current Astons are gorgeous, classic Astons are beautiful, 70's Astons have a bit of that Goodfellas growl.  And that is why we added one to the Lamley collection, in British Racing Green no less.

We thought we would go into the weekend with green machine instead of the wimpier green model we showed in the previous post.  It makes us feel better about things...

(Oh, and there are still a few of these left at Daboxtoys.)


Kyosho Aston Martin V8 Vantage:

With the Kyosho Aston Martin Vanquish:

Model of the Day: Matchbox Morgan Aeromax...

Well, it isn't Matchbox Monday, but we can pretend it is.

During this year while I serve as Matchbox Ambassador, the plan has been to dedicate Mondays to Matchbox, starting with the Ambassador Update in the morning, followed by a Matchbox-focused post in the afternoon.  My time as Ambassador will end in July, and at that point we might do something different, but we won't change things until then.

One of the elements we have liked best about our Matchbox Mondays has been our partnership with MVE Collectibles.  Tim and MVE are one of the most Matchbox-oriented stores around, and we continue to enjoy working with them.  If you haven't checked out their store, you most certainly should.   You can even find this post's feature model there.

Because of a very hectic schedule, this post was slated for Matchbox Monday, but is delayed until now.  But we had to make sure it made it to the blog, because this is one of the coolest models Matchbox has released in the last few years.  Yes, I said "coolest".  

"Cool" is a word people throw around a lot, and really doesn't mean much, unless we use it the way it is supposed to be used.  A cool car makes you look.  It is unique.  It makes you jealous of the guy driving it.  People form strong opinions about it, good or bad.  Cool is the Morgan Aeromax.

The Coupe version of the Aero 8, Morgan first new design since 1948, the car shows modern and very classic lines.  It looks like nothing else on the road, unless of course you are at a classic car show.  There are only 100 Aeromax's made, but luckily Matchbox made a few more mini versions.  And what a job they did.  The Aeromax is really Matchbox at the peak of their design powers.  If you have one in hand look at all the details.  Then look at a few photos of the real thing.  It is almost dead on.

The car is a gem.  Now check out the mini Morgan:

2008 Basic

2009 Best of British

2009 Superfast

2009 Basic

2010 Basic

2011 Basic

The family:

A Tale of Two: Hot Wheels Toyota 2000GT & Matchbox '61 Jaguar E-Type...

Are we the first ever to compare the Toyota 2000GT to the Jaguar E-Type?

Not...in...the...least.

Pretty much anybody with even a remedial knowledge of autos has compared the two, at least if they are familiar with the Toyota.   The E-Type instantly comes to mind when you see the Toyota, and if you read the history of the 2000GT you learn that it is no coincidence.  The E-Type is obviously the more well-known of the two, and one of the most iconic cars ever, not to mention one of the prettiest.  But the Toyota is an icon in its own right, being the first Japanese supercar, and the first indication of Toyota's forthcoming world dominance.  And among JDM fans, there is a certain reverence.  Japanese car events might be filled with 510's and Skylines, but if even one 2000GT is there, car geeks approach it like an Italian grandmother approaches the Pope.

So here we have two cars that demand equal respect, so any comparisons are not done to crown a winner.  That appears to be Motor Trend's approach as well when they put them to the test.

Well we wanted to do it too.  And now that Hot Wheels has done the Toyota, we can.  We will let Motor Trend educate you on the two cars in the article linked above, while we show Mattel's contribution to the legacy that these two long-distance siblings share.

The Matchbox E-Type casting that we are using is the Mattel Matchbox version released in 2006.  There is a Lesney casting as well, but for comparison's sake it makes sense to use the newer casting.  The particular red version in the photos is actually the very first version released back in 2006.  Since then it has been a very popular model, with Matchbox producing at least 20 different versions, in red, white, black, green, zamac, red again, light blue, dark blue, light blue again, orange, and on and on.  Hopefully the HW 2000GT sees that kind of production as well, including the Shelby Racing version that we were supposed to see last year in the Hot Wheels Racing line (seeing that this was the original purpose for the casting really stings):

(Find the HW Toyota 2000GT and Matchbox Jaguar E-Type for sale...)


Matchbox Jaguar E-Type & Hot Wheels Toyota 2000GT:

Didn't think we would forget the Super, did you?  Matchbox has the equivalent for that one as well: