One Fantastic Weekend: My First $uper and Hot Wheels 2017 Batch A...

As weekends go, this is one I'm not likely to forget!

Yesterday afternoon I got the bus into town to go on a mega hunt of all the shops there for new Hot Wheels and Matchbox. Minutes after getting off, I went into Poundland, and made my way to the pegs. This was sitting right at the front:

I had to catch my breath and do a double take! The Corvette Stingray is in my opinion one of the best Super Treasure Hunts of 2016, and they're even harder to find in the UK so I'm thrilled to have it, and really am not bothered by the dodgy blister. 

Here it is with it's mainline counterpart:

 I didn't find anything else worth picking up until Morrison's, when I was lucky enough to find these two Matchbox and a Majorette that caught my eye:

After that, I didn't think my diecast weekend could get much better. But I'd been hearing from collector friends around the country over Instagram that Hot Wheels 2017 was in the country!
Once I saw the Lamley Group's post about it, a sort of collecting call to arms, I was adamant that I'd go to ASDA this morning, and sure enough:

I was able to grab six great new cars from 2017 Batch A, including 3 New Models and a Mainline Debut! More on these coming soon...

 In addition to those, I picked up 2 out of the 3 last cars I wanted from 2016!

Oh, and I found this too: The Matchbox Porsche 911 Turbo...

Whilst at the Motor Madness UK event where I found the two Matchbox Ferrari Testarossas, I also came across this, the 2006 Mainline version of MB's awesome Porsche 911 Turbo casting. To think that this came out in 2002 is astonishing, as it's perfectly executed and one of the best sports car castings Matchbox has ever done. Sure, it would be nice to see a new one, but this looks just as good ten years on. Plus, from what I can see MB is recovering fairly well after a dark past few years - I look forward to the rest of 2016 and 2017, but distribution has to be sorted out as the only place I can find any these days is Morrisons and occasionally WHSmith's (the latter at vastly exaggerated prices).

This example only cost me £1 as it's used, but besides the headlight tampos there aren't any major paint chips to speak of or any other damage, so it was well worth that. It's a beautiful silvery blue colour with front and back tampos, what's not to love? And of course it's one of the last models to sport the love them/hate them 'flower' wheels, as it was around 2006 that they were being phased out for more realistic wheels such as the current 10spokes - this version of the 911 Turbo had three wheel variations because of it! All in all then this is a great version of a great model; one that is so great it continues to be produced (it's in this year's Exotics 5 Pack!) and symbolic of what Matchbox should want to return to - stunning realism.

Beaters of a Bygone Age: The Matchbox Ferrari Testarossa...

Mattel have been separated from Ferrari for over a year and a half now, and I'm surprisingly not having much of a problem with it. Despite having 40+ Ferraris in my collection, it would seem to me that the lack of Ferrari has opened Hot Wheels up to the return of the likes of Jaguar and McLaren, and the continuation of its blossoming relationships with Porsche, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, BMW and many more. Even a return for Mercedes could be on the cards, but who knows!

So in a nutshell, it was sad to see Ferrari part ways with Mattel, but it hasn't had a hugely bad effect on Hot Wheels (quite the opposite I think). But that's not, as you can probably guess, what this post is about. Ferrari's new exclusive licensing agreement with Maisto/Bburago also prevents any new/returning Matchbox models too. Another shame, as Matchbox and Ferrari have a rich heritage, which I stumbled across two pieces of the other day...

I was at a Motor Madness UK event and one of the stalls was selling all sorts of old diecast from a couple of boxes for 50p each, so me being me I decided to have a good rummage. Then I found myself walking away with two classic Matchbox Ferrari Testarossas, which of course have seen better days but are in great condition all things considered. They'll probably never be made again so I couldn't pass up the opportunity, as these cars are (quite a lot) older than me and have their own sense of history. After doing some intense googling, I found that I'd picked up the First Edition!

The car above is 30 years old, MB75 of the 75 cars released in the 1986 Matchbox Mainline and has less paint chips than the other Testarossa, which has to be younger. Incredibly cheap slices of history these are, and I'm very glad to have them.