My Hot Wheels Mustang Collection, by Jason Duncan...

We love seeing our reader's collections, and we love it even more when they take photos and write a little about it.  Today Jason Duncan, who keeps a blog dedicated solely to Hot Wheels Mustangs (find it (aptly named HWStangs, and definitely worth bookmarking) has decided to share a little about his collection.

Enjoy Jason's article, and feel free to let us know if you would like to share a similar article about your collection.

(Thanks Jason.)

Part 1: My Favorite Hot Wheels Mustang Castings

Let me start off by saying Hot Wheels has been putting out some very nice diecast models since 1968. Kids and collectors alike have took notice and made the cars very popular. But there is just one car that makes its appearance in almost every case of Hot Wheels. That car would be the Ford Mustang. The Mustang has been a huge part of Hot Wheels success. From the custom Mustang in 1968 to the 2005 Mustang that debuted in the mainlines in 2005, Hot Wheels has paid a lot of respect to such an iconic car.

I have been collecting Hot Wheels Mustangs for about four years now. My collection has grown to over 525 different ponies. It doesn't matter if the car looks the way I think it should or if the casting just doesn't agree with me; if it is a Mustang, I have got to add it to the collection . Of course the redline Mustangs from the redline era (1968 thru 1972) will always be some of the most adored cars. The spectraflame paint they sport will always be some of the best paint jobs on diecast cars.

Thinking about some of my favorite castings and variations, I realize picking just one can be a tough decision to make. I'm only going to discuss my top three out of all the Mustang castings. One casting that does stand out in my head as one of my favorites is the 1970 Mustang Mach 1. Since 1998, Hot Wheels has put out a huge number of castings. From the 1998 First Editions to the 2007 Holiday Rods, this Mach 1 is one that every Mustang collector alike should have at the top of their list of Mustang castings. One nice variation that stands out to me as one of my favorites of the casting is the yellow FE with five dot wheels. This variation is one that really looks amazing. As time goes on, this variation is getting hard to find as new collectors are scooping it up.

Another mustang casting that really looks good and is also another one collectors like is the 1992 Mustang. This casting debuted in 2007 in the Modern Classics series. Since then Hot Wheels has put out some nice castings of this Mustang. This Mustang is also highly sought after by collectors. My favorite casting of this car would be a close one, if not a tie. I really do like the spectraflame antifreeze colored 1992 Mustang from the Modern Classics. The paint job on it looks really good and really stands out. This color variation was one that you couldn't find very easily. The other 1992 Mustang casting I like is from the Redline Club. It debuted earlier in 2013 with the Real Rider Series and sported the new RLC exclusive paint process. The bright red color they went with on this car looks stunning! It is for sure one of my favorite Mustangs out of my entire collection.

The third and final casting that I like and think looks good is the 1971 Mustang Mach 1. You may seem to think I am a bit partial to Mach 1's, but the 1971 really looks great . The '71 Mach 1 debuted in 2010 in the Larry's Garage series. This is one Mustang casting that is probably one of the most sought after. The casting has also been used several times under the name 1971 Mustang Boss 351. My favorite casting of the Mustang really would have to be the black Larry's Garage set exclusive. The car was signed by Larry Wood himself and not very many were produced.

Now that I have listed my top three castings out of all the Hot Wheels Mustangs, it is time for me to name some of my favorite variations. As stated above, the 5DOT wheel variation Mustang is one of my favorites. Not only is that one of them, but I have several Mustang variations that I really think look good. Another variation that stands out to me is the red 1968 Shelby GT-500 with all black OH5 wheels. This wheel variation is hard to find and is currently being found in three packs. The regular mainline version is red and has chrome MC5's. Another nice variation that I think deserves mention is the silver 1965 Mustang Fastback with silver MC5's. That wheel variation was found in multipacks and some Target exclusive two packs. The regular mainline version is part of the 2010 Hot Wheels and has gold MC5's on it.

Part 2: My Collection

I am going to post some pictures of my collection so I can share them with the rest of the world. I am going to start off by showing the non mainline Mustangs. This means these cars are a bit more valuable than normal.

Pictured above are some variations, set exclusives, and some of the Mustangs that are more collectible.

The above cars are located in my first of two carney cases. These Mustangs include multi-pack Mustangs, mystery Mustangs, and promotional type Mustangs. These Mustangs really look nice inside that case! The Mustangs below the case are from the Cool Classics series. They have the new spectrafrost paint exclusive to that series.

This picture (located above) shows all of the Mustang $uper hunts. They all have real rider tires and spectraflame paint. These cars are limited when they come out and not found in every case of Hot Wheels.

The above Hot Wheels are the regular treasure hunt Mustangs. These are limited also and are commonly found in every case of Hot Wheels. These usually have the letters "TH" somewhere on the car to show that they are treasure hunts.

Once a year Hot Wheels sponsors an event in an elected city called Hot Wheels Nationals. During that event they will sell cars you can only get there. They usually sell around 4 cars a year there and these cars can be any casting they choose. These cars are usually limited to around 3000 or less and some are serially numbered. The picture above shows all the Mustangs that's been available at Nationals.

The Garage series Hot Wheels debuted in 2010 and included some very nice castings. All were very nicely detailed and sported real rider rubber tires. These were sold at any retail store. In 2011, Wal-Mart sold the boxed set which has exclusives in it that were only available with the box set purchase. The picture above shows the Mustangs from that series.

Collectors every year are offered cars sold online on HWC (http://www.hotwheelscollectors.com). These cars come from the site's exclusive RLC (Redline Club) and can only be bought if you join with a membership. These cars are limited and only a handful get produced. They can sport spectraflame paint, real rider rubber tires, or classic wheels that are only available to the club. These are all the Mustangs that the club has produced since it came out. (Photo above)

In the picture above, up top you have the RLC exclusive 1/24 scale Mustang Boss Hoss. Only 2000 of those were produced. Below that, you have the Cop Rod, Military Rod, and the Fire Rod '69 Mustang. The Military Rod was the hardest to find of the three and is highly sought after by collectors. Below those you have the 4 Larry's Garage exclusive CHASE '69 Mustangs. (On each side of the Mustang sign) Each one has been signed on the bottom of the car by Larry himself.

These Mustangs pictured above are just some nice set exclusives and some wheel variations. The very top left one is the 1998 FE '70 Mustang Mach 1 with the 5DOT wheels. That one has been mentioned and been reviewed in one of my prior articles.

These Mustangs above are some really nicely detailed Mustangs that came out in 2009 and were exclusively available only at AutoZone. There are 12 Mustangs in the set, which is called Mustang Mania. This includes some of the nicest Mustangs ever made.

These Mustangs were only available at Wal-Mart and include some very nice castings. Some of these were hard to find because every Wal-Mart didn't get these in their store. (Above photo)

The Mustangs up top are from the Modern Classics series which came out in 2007 and include some very nice castings. Some of these were hard to find once they hit store shelves. This set includes the '92 Mustang with the spectraflame antifreeze paint which I reviewed in one of my earlier articles. The Mustangs below those are from the Boulevard series which came out in 2012. This set replaced the Garage series.

This is my second carney case and includes some older Mustangs which came out in the '80's called the Mustang Turbos. It also has some wheel variations in it that were only found in multi-packs.

This is my display cabinet and all the Mustang box sets are in it. It also includes some code 3 cars, which are custom made and were only available at certain events at a Nationals event. Also included in the display are 2 Mustang 5 packs that Hot Wheels have put out over the years. Another nice set worth mentioning inside the display is the RLC exclusive Mustang Mania 10 car boxed set. They only produced 5,000 of the set which included some very detailed Mustangs.

These Mustangs are again, some variations and some set exclusive Mustangs. They include the 3 colors of the '12 Mustang Boss 302. (All 3 have the '10 Mustang GT body) That variation was hard to find.

These nice Mustangs are from the Classics series. Each one of them have spectraflame paint and are nicely detailed. I am still trying to work on obtaining all of them which come in 7 different colors.

The Hot Ones series originally came out back in the 1980's, but in 2012 Hot Wheels decided to bring the series back. When they brought the series back, they brought along with it some nice Mustangs. They are shown in the picture above.

Back in the earlier 90's Hot Wheels did a series called the Vintage series. This series paid tribute to the original 16 Hot Wheels that came out in '68. These made Hot Wheels very popular. These are the Mustangs that came out of that series pictured above. The packaging even mocked the packaging from '68.

These Mustangs pictured left are from the 2007 Holiday Rods series. This series features real rider rubber tires and each car had 3 different colors. The two cars to the right are two of the very first 2014 Mustang Hot Wheels. Hot Wheels is commemorating the Mustangs 50th anniversary by doing a 50th set.

Not really going to go into full detail on these because you will be seeing some being reviewed in my future articles. All of these Mustangs are mainline Mustangs from various years. Mainline means they were released with the basic Hot Wheels that you can buy at stores for a dollar. I did custom make the displays for them. They are double sided and one side can hold 54 cars.

These Mustangs are from various sets and include some nice Mustangs. Some are Ford exclusives and some are from the set called Ultra Hots.

This concludes this posting and I hope you had fun looking at my collection. Collecting Mustangs is a passion for me as it helps me relive the history behind such an iconic car. Hot Wheels has put out some very nice castings of the Mustang and I hope they only continue to get better in years to come.

As I conclude this article, I want to say that Mustangs and Hot Wheels have a very long history with each other. Hot Wheels have put out some awesome Mustang castings and some really are hard to list below my top three. With the Mustang turning 50 next year the future looks bright for Mustang collectors and car enthusiast alike. Let's hope Ford can keep the Mustang around for another 50 years!

Matchbox Monday: Rarest Models of the Mattel Era, Part 8: 2005 "ROW" Superfast Ford GT...

This is Part 8 in our series on rare Matchbox models produced by Mattel.  If you haven't read the other 7, I suggest you do...

Sometimes the word "rare" gets thrown around a little too much in the diecast hobby.  Of course the term is relative.  Just think about how many "rare" Super Treasure Hunts are produced.  The more accurate term may be "desired".  There have been plenty of variations that have only been reported found one or two times, but if no one cares, they are long forgotten.  So technically yes, the model is rare, but is it desired?

The "ROW" Superfast Ford GT would definitely fall more in the desired catogory than rare category.  But it makes sense to put in this series because it was definitely much harder to find than most Matchbox models. 

The silver GT was part of what has become a disappointingly common story with some of our favorite Mattel lines.  It was part of a late batch of a particular series that was produced in small numbers compared to the others, mainly because the series as constituted was getting shut down or changed (see Hot Ones, Speed Machines, Lesney Edition, HW Racing, etc). 

The 2005 Superfast range was a very interesting one.  There were two ranges produced - one for the US market, and another for the ROW (Rest-of-World) market.  Both ranges consisted of 75 cars, and the lineups were exactly the same.  Only the colors and some liveries were different.  So if you were in the United States, you could get all 75 models at your local big box, but you had to make friends overseas to get the ROW 75 if you wanted one or all of those models.  I didn't want them all, but there were definitely some I did want, and I made a lot of friends while making trades and buying from fellow collectors overseas.

Where I got lucky was with ROW Superfast Batch F.  There were several models in that batch that collectors were excited about, including a yellow Hummer H3, a Beetle Taxi, a Mustang Concept, and the Ford GT, a casting that had recently been released to much fanfare.  The US versions were released, and were fairly easy to get, but for some reason the ROW models were produced in far less numbers, and appeared in only a few ROW markets.

Looking back, Matchbox probably bit off a little more than they could chew by doing two separate lines for two markets.  As a collector I loved pursuing those models that I wanted, but I can see how it did not make a ton of sense from a marketing standpoint, especially considering the only difference between the ranges were colors.  The next year Matchbox produced a worldwide 75-count Superfast range, and the year after that changed it to a 20-count range.

So whether it was retail demand, or Matchbox production, the ROW Batch F was much harder to find.  And from that batch, the Ford GT appeared to be the one most desired.  It is easy to see why.  The Matchbox Ford GT (not the GT40) is one of Matchbox's best, and it looks so darn good in silver with the black center stripe.  Some people take issue with the wheels, but the model overall is beautiful.  And when you pair it with the US release in black, you have yourself a drop-dead duo.  If someone asked me to pick one model as my favorite Matchbox, I would probably pick the silver GT.

So is it as rare as the other rare Mattel models we have featured?  No.  Can you go anywhere and just get one?  Not really.  They do pop up occasionally, and I even saw one go for $10 on ebay not too long ago.  But there are a lot of collectors I know who have spent years looking for this one to no avail.  I am just glad my good friend JonathanC in Australia was nice enough to hook me up with one seven years ago...

Want to find a Superfast Ford GT?  Keep checking the listings on ebay...

Matchbox Ford GT (2005 "ROW" Superfast):

And it's alter ego, the equally gorgeous "US" Superfast Ford GT in black with silver stripes:

As always, Matchbox Monday comes to you by way of our partner MVE Collectibles. Be sure to check out their store to get the latest Matchbox (including the 60th Anniversary series), M2, Greenlight, and more...

"My Favorite Models", by Jeff Koch, writer/photographer at Hemmings Motor News...

Another series that has taken a bit of a hiatus from the blog is the "My Favorite Models" series.  We have only had four, but it has come from a prestigious group, from the Design Manager at Matchbox, to two former Matchbox Ambassadors, to one of the brains behind Japanese Nostalgic Car.

One article we have had waiting in the wings is by car nerd Jeff Koch.  Jeff makes his living writing from Hemming's Motor News, and is also well known for being one of the most popular sellers at JCCS, Toyotafest, the Matchbox Gathering, and the Hot Wheels convention.  He is a vat of knowledge on all things vehicular, as well as diecast, having spent some time over at Johnny Lightning.

I have picked his brain a lot.  He is nice enough to answer my dumb questions that make me look like I know what I am talking about on the blog.  His connections in Japan have helped me acquire many of the Tomica and Aoshima models I have featured here on the blog.  He gets mad at me when he goes to visit his parents in Mesquite, Nevada, and finds that all the nearby Walmarts are devoid of Hot Wheels Celicas because I was there first.  He introduced me to the best sweet and sour soup I have ever had.  He is a good friend and a great supporter of the Lamley Blog.  He has helped a ton.

So I asked him to dig into that nerdy brain of his and tell us about his favorite models.  He even let me photograph them when we were in Albuquerque at the Matchbox Gathering.  Enjoy the read.

(Thanks Jeff.)


My Favorite Models, by Jeff Koch

Bio:

Born and raised in New Jersey.

Career in writing/photography started in 1993, hired by CSK Publishing in New Jersey, home to High Performance Mopar, High Performance Pontiac, Vette, Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords, Musclecars, and others.

Left NJ in 1996, and by 1997 was living in LA and was hired at HOT ROD. (In between, was editor of CAR TOYS magazine in LA for two issues.) At HOT ROD I was instrumental in a couple of diecast special sections, done largely in conjunction with Mattel, and got to design the contest giveaway cars. My first taste of speccing out cars. Lovely.

Left HOT ROD in 2001, moved to South Bend Indiana and became Johnny Lightning's brand manager for 2 years. Responsible for massive hits as well as crushing failures there.

Left JL at the end of '03, and have worked for Hemmings now for almost nine years. A recent chronicle of my photo achievements at the link below...

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/09/03/jeff-kochs-10-most-memorable-hemmings-cover-shots/

As for collecting ... I played with diecast as a kid, and eventually set 'em aside. But when I was 14-15, I found a flea market that sold the Euro-only MB versions, castings that were hard to find here, like the UK taxi and the Skoda rally. They differed from the usual peghangers at the corner store, and I bought what I could. The diecast faded again in my college years, when I had become a serious 1/24 plastic builder. I did use my model skills to customize small diecast, which culminated in a piece in Scale Auto Enthusiast magazine in 1996 or thereabouts. But around that time, I fell out of love with the larger scale, and moved to diecast. Customizing--really, paint, detailing and wheels--fell off the radar, and now I've settled on collecting 3-inch. I greatly appreciate the work that goes into many of the customs shown on the Lamley blog, and am jealous of the patience and time they have to devote to these customs.

Far removed from my days of wanting one of everything, in every scale, I've downsized (and regrown) my collection several times, settling on 1/64 (aka 3-inch) as a common denominator. Used to be I'd have multiples of the same casting if they were a different color AND wheel to everything else, but what happened was, 12 variations of a modern casting would end up drowning out a genuine vintage '60s or '70s piece; by limiting the massive array of new things coming in, the older, more interesting stuff would naturally achieve greater prominence in my collection. Scales are up to 1:55, and as little as 1:76. Anything in between, I'm game.

Now, my collecting goal is simply this: I want one casting of every 3-inch model ever made commercially available. It has to be a real (or factory concept) car or light truck--no construction equipment, fire engines, big-rigs, fork lifts, airplanes, tanks, etc. And it has to say something other than MADE IN CHINA on the bottom--I don't care where it's made, but it at least needs a car name, a company name/logo, or a casting/collector number. Any one of the three, and I'll collect it. I'm up to 8700 pieces now with little duplication of castings. And my want-list is down to just 19 pages, and is filled with hyper-obscure brands that rarely show their heads on American shores.

My favorites, in chronological order of how they impacted my life ... 

* MB BMC 1100 Pininfarina

My first Matchbox car, a shut-up toy my parents got me at the age of two while wheeling me through a New Jersey discount department store. The entire story was told in Hot Rod magazine in 1998, IIRC, and I can't tell it better here:

* Tomica Honda Civic

Growing up, my favorite aunt was Japanese; my uncle was in the Air Force and was stationed in Japan in the early '50s, and they got married there. And she was my favorite aunt--she was always interested in what I was up to, always wanted to play, always was more interested in what I was up to than what the other adults were blabbing about. On one of her trips back to Japan, she found a toy car for her car-crazy American nephew--she brought back this Civic. (Well, one like it; I played with mine until the back bumper fell off and it was lost in a neighbor's garden somewhere.) Cancer took her late in my high school years, so she never got to see what I'd do with my life, or meet my son (now 6). This model reminds me of her, and how much I miss her--now more than ever.  

* Motormax 1976 Chevy Caprice and Chevy Impala

My first car was a hand-me-down from my grandfather, a '76 Impala Custom Coupe. That was my high school and college car. As a car, it was largely pointless--4500 pounds and a 145hp two-barrel 350 under the hood--but as a means to an end--ie, getting out of wherever it was I needed to get out of--it was brilliant. When MotorMax launched the Caprice in their American Graffiti series (a car that was scaled down from the reissued MPC plastic model kit), I knew that an Impala would have to be forthcoming. But there were enough differences between the Motormax and my own car that it seemed impossible. Differences include: round headlights in the Impala vs square, wraparound taillights in the Caprice vs the Impala's which did not wrap, no rear wheel skirts, and a lack of body side rub strip down the side of the car on my Impala. 

Fast-forward half a dozen years. One of my top trading partners is Sini Pismestrovic of Austria, a true renaissance man and, without qualification, an artist. He designs websites, he draws political cartoons for a number of German-language daily newspapers, he speaks at least three languages (and English so fluently that I frequently forget that English is not his first language), and he does custom diecast--mostly restorations of beat-up models or modifications of existing cars. Sometimes he does cars from scratch--he once did a Citroen entirely of mustard tubing. And he was kind enough to make the needed mods on the MotorMax Caprice to my specs. And so, this car has two meanings--not just as a symbol of my impetuous youth and my first car, but also as a symbol of a friendship that stretches nearly halfway around the world.

* Johnny Lightning CG2 r19 1970 Mercury Montego

Another car I owned ... but this time I got it officially produced! I worked for Johnny Lightning for two years, in 2002 and 2003, and this was one of the first things I got to do. Something in Classic Gold had fallen through for licensing reasons, there was a hole to fill, what do we do? The notion of doing my own car so soon after my arrival wasn't something I wanted to push--slightly tacky, I thought--but I had good art for the packaging, the casting existed, and it was, after all, a former Hot Rod Magazine project car. (Never mind that the Hot Rod name didn't appear on the packaging.) The real car was stolen in 2006, out of my garage in Southern California, but I still have the model(s) of it, and though it's small consolation, it's still something.

* Johnny Lightning Herbie the Love Bug

Lots of things at JL were a team effort, but the initial ideas (good and bad--and God knows I had lots of bad ones) were often down to one person or another on the team. Not that anyone ever got credit. So I want to take the opportunity now to say this: doing Herbie was my idea. Mine mine mine all mine. It came about because Playing Mantis' figure division was making some Disney-related figures at the time; adding Herbie to the contract was a clerical matter at the lawyers' office. Suddenly Hollywood on Wheels was a hot series again, 'cause Herbie was in it. We did another HOW series, with Herbie Goes Bananas cars in it. Again, sell-out. Try finding one today on eBay. 

Remember the Herbie diorama with the car, two or three figures and the SFPD Ford cop car? Remember the variation--with and without stripes? There was an argument over that one in the office: the scene took place before Herbie had stripes. One of my bosses wanted to know why we're paying Disney a license to do a car that doesn't look like Herbie? And so we split it: in each case of 4, three had the Herbie stripes, since that's how people knew him, and one was plain, which was correct for the movie and a now-impossible-to-find chase variant. It was after my time, but remember the WalMart endcaps of JL Herbie 5-packs in conjunction with the Lindsay Lohan travesty-of-a-film, the summer the film came out? Maybe not. That's how fast they sold. I'm sure JL signed a new license for Herbie in between, but the notion that such a thing was even possible had its roots back in my efforts in 2002.

If I can point to any single thing in my career at JL and say "that was a success" it would be Herbie.