Datsuncog

If you're in/ near Mancland later this summer, and have the guts of thirty quid burning a hole in your pocket...

An immersive Hot Wheels experience is coming to Manchester - the first of its kind in Europe

The Hot Wheels City Experience will make its European debut at the BEC Arena in Trafford Park this summer, featuring interactive exhibitions, a gamer zone and the Hot Wheels Lab.

Perfect for fans of all ages, the experience will bring the legendary toy cars to life, offering visitors an exclusive glimpse into the best of Hot Wheels’ expansive collection of cars.

The nostalgic trip will feature a total of 10 interactive stations, including the design centre, where fans can use the latest technology to build their own virtual car, and photo opportunities with exciting backdrops.

Elsewhere, the Hot Wheels Lab will allow visitors to play with the most popular Hot Wheels toys on a pre-built racecourse in the Hot Wheels Challenge Accepted Championships, with the chance to win epic prizes.

There’s also the chance to take home your very own Hot Wheels driving licence – complete with an official lanyard, photo and your name.

Previously set up in São Paulo, this event marks the first time the exhibition has come to Europe. The Hot Wheels City Experience will take place for a month, from 13 August to 12 September 2024.

Tickets go on presale at 10am on 24 April, and on general sale at 10am on 26 April, starting from £27.50 for adults and £22.50 for children

https://www.manchestersfinest.com/featured/immersive-hot-wheels-experience-coming-to-manchester/

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

There was also this contraption, auctioned in 2020 for £2100, which was a little over its top estimate of £60...

Whoever designed Catatonia's singles sleeves in the late 1990s must have known about that one, somehow.

40 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Remember Corgi 859 Mr. McHenry's Trike

Yup, there was one of them in with a load of lethally sharp broken Dinkys and Lesney King Size in my primary school classroom - it vaguely annoyed me, though I couldn't be sure why.

Never seen the Tom & Jerry prototype before - possibly it made sense as they already had the casting and there were already a couple of licenced character vehicles featuring the cat 'n' mouse in the Juniors range.

I had this earlier version of 'Jerry's Banger', for a short while anyway.

I also had this half-assed 'Wacky Races' effort when I was a kid - apparently it's not all that common, though probably not really valuable.

52 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

There is this idea though

Sold at auction for £3000. 

Save £2900 by doing it yourself.

That's awesome; looks like it would have done well going up against the 'Wild Honey' Austin or 'Glo-Worm' Capri on the hall carpet quarter-mile strip.

A good way to wring another couple of years' sales out of an older casting, I guess; though I dunno if the pearl-clutching Mary Whitehouse brigade would have approved of Corgi selling toys with 'Stripteaser' written down the side...

2 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

too much of a licencing headache?

Actually, that's a possibility too - I hadn't realised that 'Magic Top' was a real-life thing, rather than just a mildly daft name.

It's possible that in better times, Corgi might have chanced its release - but with hard times knocking, Corgi top brass might have seen it as too much of a risk to pull the lever on full production. Especially if it was going to be a good whack more expensive than the rest of the range, and also looked a bit shit.

Kids ain't that stupid.

5 minutes ago, djoptix said:

What do I win?

You win the Justy back.

As it is today.

3 hours ago, sierraman said:

In the 1985 Corgi catalogue there’s a 1/36 Mercedes Magic Top 500SEC, never seen one, was it actually made? 

As far as I know, the C257 Mercedes never made it into production. Like so many others shown in the 1985 catalogue, it appears to be a resin prototype.

I'd love to know whether its non-appearance was down to technical reasons (was the 'magic top' mechanism too easy to break? Unable to comply with new toy safety regs?) or financial reasons - the management buy-out of the Corgi factory from Mettoy's bankruptcy only the year before had left them fairly squeezed, so was it just a step too far to bring in another new casting, especially one which would require extra time and parts to manufacture?

The Toyota Supra and the Mercedes 207D panel van were both new for '85 castings, as were the Turbos range. The Supra didn't last long in the range, and the Turbos were brought in specifically to be cheap, simple volume sellers with good profit margin that could bridge the gap between the Juniors range and the bigger, more expensive 1/36 line-up.

I'd like to have seen the previewed Toyota Corolla TE71 in the Turbos range, rather than the AE86 which eventually appeared.

When we met back in 2008, MrsDC was driving a three-year-old Yaris that she'd owned from new.

Sixteen years on... still driving the same Yaris.

Looking a bit frilly underneath these days, and with plenty of battle scars, but still plodding on.

She's announced her intention to drive it until it's only fit for scrap, so we'll see if it makes it to its twentieth birthday next year.

I would scoff, but this thing has outlived fourteen of my cars over the same timeframe - so I'll just appreciate its cockroach-like tenacity...

1 hour ago, quicksilver said:

@Datsuncog remember this market find? A little bit of work and it's gone into the fleet with plenty of other Bill Day scratchbuilds for company.

Blimey, looks much smarter now than it did this time last year!

Great going - and very nice that this one is home safe with some of Bill's other creations, after its perilous market stall escapades...

Remember this one, originally from the market but latterly my sales thread?

Yeah, I decided to just keep it for myself after all.

So of course, it needed to come out of the packaging.

Although then Cat seemed to become very interested in the canoe, for some reason.

Oh, okay.

Can you... just not?

Ok, I'll keep the Ford and you can keep the canoe, yeah?

On 17/04/2024 at 16:46, eddyramrod said:

Can I lay claim to the VW flatbed please?  I have a use for one of those...

On 17/04/2024 at 17:43, Datsuncog said:

I'll keep an eye out for any VW flatbeds I may encounter - might be back in that branch of Sainsbury's on Friday

If you're still needing one...

Seems my tendency to hide things of interest right at the back, just in case I need to come back for them later, has worked out ok!

17 hours ago, morrisoxide said:

Here's one I de-gassered earlier.

I'll be back with better pictures soon.

That looks awesome. Nice work!

21 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Yes, yes you are

 

 

I think I have the Volvo P1800S in red, still unopened... but the Chevy Nova wagons are certainly ones I'll be looking out for!

Matchbox Moving Parts Kaiser isn't one I've seen in the wild, but it's very appealing too...

Well well well, looks like Majorette's dropping a Mk2 Escort into the range soon.

Be interesting to compare it with the recent Hot Wheels release (assuming someone here can find one!)

I did however come away with these two from last night's shopping trip:

1982 Nissan Skyline R30 Turbo, and 2001 Honda Civic Si, in relatively restrained 'scene' get-ups.

I kinda prefer solid colour versions like the Honda, as they tend to get detailed tampo prints on the front and rear, which looks a smidge more realistic than lairy graphics on the roof and sides. Mattel's policy on mainlines seems to generally put decoration on no more than three surfaces.

The R30 does have graphics on the side, which means it doesn't get so much detail on the front - though does have printed rear lights and a licence plate, which makes up for it a bit.

Having said that, the printing machine seems to have slipped on the offside unfortunately, so the stripe sort of runs downhill and the writing at the bottom of the door has been snipped off.

OMG ERROR CAR $$$$$

I didn't realise until I'd opened the pack, and looking back at the pics from the supermarket, I put the one that'd be properly printed back... well, duh.

But! 

I'm pleased to see some newish Hot Wheels releases are finally making it across the water.

Just have to find some of the Matchbox mainlines for 2024, now...

41 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Can I lay claim to the VW flatbed please?  I have a use for one of those...

Well now, I didn't buy all of them - I just had a rummage in the supermarket aisle (earning myself some odd looks) and snapped a quick pic of some dump bin items which may have interested those of us on here!

But I'll keep an eye out for any VW flatbeds I may encounter - might be back in that branch of Sainsbury's on Friday so will check again and see if it's still there for you.

Speaking of Hot Wheels... one I found in Asda over the weekend just past.

A 2023 release of a 1965 Mercury Comet Cyclone gasser.

I'm normally a bit put off gasser-style racers; they're not really my thing, but this one looked so nicely decorated with all-over tampos that it pushed me into handing over £1.90. I really like it.

It'd be nice to have a slightly more standard rendering of a '65 Comet, but I guess this is more what Hot Wheels is about.

I hadn't noticed the separate tailpipes exiting through the front arches until I took this pic, so that's a nice touch.

I'm probably gonna need more gassers now...

In Sainsbury's, and they seem to have a load of late 2023 and early 2024 Hot Wheels cases mixed in together across two dump bins...

Anyone mad keen on any of these?

Civic and Skyline are especially nice. I've grabbed one each for myself.

Annoyingly, Sainsbury's prices are quite high at £2.30 a throw - so I'm not gonna be buying any more speculatively tonight, but will be here for the next 30 mins or so!

If you want any, do shout...

More rubbishy diecast disposals coming up in three, two, one...

Forgot to flag this up when it arrived last week.

The rather delayed March 2024 release from Corgi Model Club - the #236 Austin A60 Cambridge Driving School Car.

I've been looking forward to this one.

A chod-tastic choice of subject matter, and really well executed.

Also a fine reminder of the days when a prospective driver was let loose in one of these vast understeering boats with huge overhangs fore and aft, rather than a nice compact Micra with power steering.

The steerable wheels are, of course, the main feature - but it's also a lovely rendering of some prime BMC grey porridge.

Hard to know whether the design impetus was to model a driving school car, or whether it was to create a miniature Cambridge, but the steering was added at a later stage of design for fear it'd be too dull for kiddy tastes otherwise.

The L plates front and back are highly visible, anyway - and the casting was never modified or used for any other Corgi release. 

The student and instructor figures inside add a further dash of realism.

While, inside the box, are replicas of some educational matter:

There y'go - a highly abridged 'Junior Highway Code', plus some handy European language vocab.

Still, pretty exciting stuff. It's kinda nice that Corgi continued this theme through the '70s with the Corgi Driving School VW Beetle (including cones), and into the 1980s with the 1/36 scale Triumph Acclaim/ Honda Ballade proclaiming the same.

Box looks enticing, too.

And the usual facts and figures info card.

At least these cards are easy enough to store, rather than the floppy A4 sized leaflets masquerading as a magazine which accompanied similar partworks sold through newsagents.

But stay!

I happen to have a moderately knackered original here too.

In terms of colour and detail, it's a good match.

Just the underside colouration is a bit different.

Marvellous. Love it.

On 13/04/2024 at 15:39, Split_Pin said:

Some Action Drivers sets, I thought @Datsuncog may like to see these.

Cheers for that - very good to see!

Those are Action Drivers Epic Construction Yard sets - 2023 range releases, and will set you back at least £60 over here, if you can find any in the shops (I've only seen them online).

Surprised that Macy's stocked no basic Hot Wheels - unless there's just not enough margin on them, to justify the necessary shelf space in a big city store?

FAO Schwarz is meant to be pretty good as an experience, though I believe the Selfridge's store on Oxford Street in London has one of their concessions these days. No idea what they might stock to tickle our collective fancies...

Hope you're having a good time stateside, at any rate!

I'll not argue with that... 😆

On 13/04/2024 at 16:20, bunglebus said:

I wish they'd make things as accurate as possible, like the replacement of the "Ain't no Saint" name on the Volvo P1800 Gasser. They had full permission to recreate the real car so why change things?

May have been some sort of pesky licencing issue workaround - if the licenceholders of The Saint name and imagery wanted royalties off Mattel to reproduce the exact wording and logo on the  gasser, then I can imagine the toy designers deciding to change it to look similar but generic.

Intellectual Property law is frustrating - there's nothing stopping me from painting ELVIS in big red letters on the bonnet of the Corolla and driving around town, but if Mattel then decided to make a model of it to sell, then the Estate Of Elvis Aron Presley would likely become very interested very quickly...

15 hours ago, FakeConcern said:

So I got this for £10 (he wanted £12)

Blimey, I paid less for my real one!

(In 1997, granted)