First Look: Hot Wheels Custom '71 El Camino Treasure Hunt...

Regular Treasure Hunts are for kids.

We say that a lot here, and while the El Camino is the first Regular TH in awhile that is not a Hot Wheels original, and a muscle car to boot, don't mistake it for a collector-aimed model.

We have long argued that Supers are for the collector, and Regulars are meant to be left by collectors for kids.  And as soon as a kid opens the model and sees the special message hidden behind the model on the card, they will want another.  Alas, a budding collector is born.

So we don't give much merit to collector's complaints about the Regular TH's.  After all, collectors are not supposed to like them.  And the plan is working, as I have seen more and more Regs left behind by collectors.  And we always laugh at the guy who posts his pic of the 10 Rescue Duty TH's he bought, and we wonder what he is going to do with them.  Better to get one and leave the rest behind.

Back to the El Camino.  The '71 El Camino is a classic car, and a collector fave.  But this one has a rocket sitting on the back.  There is another '71 El Camino casting without the rocket, and (surprise!) it was a Super last year.

Mattel is releasing a Hot Wheels movie soon, and this Team Hot Wheels El Camino might be part of it.  Actually, I have no idea, because I don't care.  The movie is for kids, and I will probably never see it.  Someone who does can let me know.

So, yes, the El Camino is a nice change from the non-licensed models we have seen lately, but if you find a few, take a couple and leave the rest.  Regular Hunts are for kids...

(Better yet, leave all the Regs on the pegs, and pick one up at Wheel Collectors along with your Lamley Deals order...)


Hot Wheels Custom '71 El Camino (2014 Regular Treasure Hunt):

The two TH's in batch L:

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.

Just Unveiled: The licensed, but still kid-aimed, Hot Wheels Custom El Camino Treasure Hunt...

We teased this tidbit yesterday, and most of you were able to figure out what it was.  And it appears a lot of you are excited to see it as well.  We agree, this is a good-looking model.

Hot Wheels appears to be taking a small break from fantasy Regular Treasure Hunts with the upcoming Custom El Camino, but are they?  Yes, it is licensed, and yes, it is a classic, but how often do you see an El Camino puttering down the street with a rocket engine in its bed?

The Custom El Camino is a great casting, and it was done in this style as part of Mattel's "Team Hot Wheels" branding, which is clearly aimed at kids.  We have said a lot lately that the regular TH's are there to create more young collectors, and this may be the best example of that.  

So yes, we will pick one up if we see it on the pegs, but we will leave anymore we come across.  What will you do?

My first ever Hot Wheels Midnight Run: Surprising P case finds at Walmart...

Well, we normally like to save the Hot Wheels finds posts to HWC, Youtube videos, and our Facebook page.  But occasionally there is cool story to tell.

I have spent the last few days visiting family in Arizona.  First Tucson, and now Scottsdale.  I had a little bit of time last night so I decided to call my collecting friend Jeff Koch to see if he wanted to get together for a chat.  Instead of the normal pow wow at Starbucks, we decided to do a little late night hunting.

My schedule is such that midnight visits to Walmarts for a little pallet-raiding is not a possibility.  But since I had nowhere to go in the morning, and since we were already together, we decided to give it a run.  Jeff lives in Phoenix, so he took the lead, and decided we needed to drive halfway to LA to start.  We ended up hitting three Walmarts in West Phoenix.  By the time we were done it was after 1 AM and I thought sleep was a decent idea.

Plus, we had already done pretty damn good.

After striking out at the first Walmart, the next two stores each had untouched Hot Wheels Dump Bins waiting for us.  I have never encountered a bin unopened before, so to come across two made for a crazy night.  But even that wasn't the shocker.

The real shocker: they were P case dump bins.  We were mainly hunting to see if we could find any Walmart N cases, which include the next three Zamac Exclusives, namely the Datsun 240Z and Ferrari F12.  Instead of N cases, however, we found P cases.  A very strange find considering hobby dealers have not gotten the P cases yet, and the domestic N cases are just barely hitting stores.

But Jeff and I did not complain.  Yeah, we want those Zamacs, but considering the Treasure Hunt in the P cases is the Mazda RX-7, these two JDM nuts were more than happy to settle for P case dump bins.  We preferred it actually.  He and I don't have a lot of luck with Hunts, so being able to get a few of the Hunt we really wanted was fantastic.

Between the two bins, we found about 15 RX-7's, three '07 Mustang Super Treasure Hunts, and a slew of other highly anticipated models, including the brand new (and supercool) Lamborghini Aventador J.

I personally ended up with eight RX-7's and two '07 Mustangs.  The strange thing?  All three Supers were found in the second dump bin, but there were no basic '07 Mustangs at all.  I did find two basic '07 Mustangs in the first, sitting on top of the sealed cases.  It made for a very strange assortment.  The Mustang's "Then and Now" counterpart, the '92 Mustang, was plentiful.  But it was odd to find more Super than regular Mustangs.

Nonetheless, when I return home tomorrow, we will start a run of P case First Looks, including the extra Super Mustang that will be freed from its blister prison.  It should be fun...

My finds:

First Dump Bin:

Second Dump Bin:

All the Hunts:

The Mazda RX-7 (Best reg TH this year - surprised?):

The only two basic '07 Mustangs we found, along with the two Supers:

The Then and Now Mustangs (funny that the 92 Mustang shares the same complete deco as the Super, and not the basic '07):

Just Unveiled: Hot Wheels Mazda RX-7 Treasure Hunt...

JDM fans rejoice!

Or don't, because it appears that Hot Wheels is releasing another JDM classic that will not be the easiest to find.

Our regular perusal of Facebook and other social media sources has yielded another new Hot Wheels treasure, the latest version of the Mazda RX-7.  We would have assumed this was a basic version, if it wasn't for that darn circle-halved-by-a-flame logo on the side.  This is clearly a Treasure Hunt, which is one per case, and it might mean hobnobbing with the crazy collectors to get one.

And that TH logo isn't the only interesting accessory on this model.  Those appear to be the Japanese Nostalgic Car and JCCS logos on the side.  The same logos that donned the hood of this year's Toyota AE86 Corolla.  Those lucky dogs at JNC have now seen their logo on four JDM models, including last year's RX-7.  My guess is they have known about this one for awhile and kept it close to the vest.  I would think they will have their own photos of this one to show soon...

We now easily have our choice for best Treasure Hunt of 2013.  We cannot wait to get our hands on this one and give it the full Lamley treatment.

She's a beauty:

First Look: Hot Wheels Toyota 2000GT Super Treasure Hunt...

Well, I think you would have to be living under the proverbial rock to now know about this one.  The word got out around the New Year that this model was on its way, and excitement ensued.  Us JDM geeks have had a great run the last few years, with Skylines and Datsuns and such.  

But the carmaker of 2013 is most certainly Toyota.  It started happening last year with the AE86 in the Decades line and the '87 Toyota Truck and Supra debuting in Hot Ones.  But 2013 has already seen the best version of the AE86 yet and the brand new '70 Celica.  Later in the year the Toyota Truck shows up in the basic range, and the '82 Supra in the Flying Customs.  And currently, here with Batch J, we get another new Supra, and this gem, the Toyota 2000GT.

Japanese car nuts will forever argue what car takes the title of signature nostalgic car, whether it be the Haksuka or Kenmeri Skylines, or the Datsun 240Z, among many others.  But any argument starts with the 2000GT, with sexy E-Type lines and stellar supercar performance back in the day.  Plus it is the most collectible of the classic Japanese cars currently, and was also a favorite of some guy in Vegas named Shelby.

So here is Hot Wheels version, and it is stupendous.  So yes, we have seen it before, and the fact that it has been fairly easy to acquire for some time now is a topic for another day, and one that Mattel is dealing with at the moment.  But let's put our "joy of collecting" caps back on, and enjoy what will surely a strong candidate for Model of the Year later in 2013...

Hot Wheels Toyota 2000GT (2013 Super Treasure Hunt):