bunglebus

I bought the lot! Having looked on eBay I think that was the correct decision 

My most recent purchase. I had this in junior school - I swapped it - but I had never seen one offered with the old style box.

Just the three I think
 

So I found a better one




Looks like it has bent axles but that seems to be by design - they align with the angles on the base

Here are the promo models, fresh from a trip around the sink - they had a serious layer of dust inside! A few have defects, the worst being missing seats in the Falcon convertible. Conti has no tail lights, Thunderbird convertible missing a sunvisor, Torino has no engine, all have a bit of sun fading.Having said that, they are absolutely lovely things to behold 





























Oh and the Thunderbird has a friction motor - on the front axle!

Interesting, those Matchbox are from a case Tesco neglected to get.
I'm on the hunt for Majorettes as I want the VW ones, nothing in Asda but I'll try TK Maxx later

Did some further puttering round the shops over the weekend, just to see what's what...
Tesco's selection of Matchbox looking a bit depleted:

Interesting that all the Cycle Runner trailers that pair with the Nissan Hardbody have gone, while the ones from the previous case selection (the sheriff impound ones) are still there.
Hot Wheels also still selling well; with any luck a new case will be getting tipped in soonish.

Lots of those cartoonish Batmobiles left, though.
Hot Wheels five-packs still on their 2-for-£14 Clubcard Price offer; sadly the same courtesy isn't extended to Matchbox.

I really do like that metallic brown W123.
Sainsburys had nothing new, just the dregs of the late 2022 Hot Wheels case still kicking around, their packaging now looking a bit bent and torn.
Lidl had nothing left at all from their unexpected 2023 Hot Wheels case extravaganza from the other week.
The smallish local Poundland had a single peg of recent-ish Hot Wheels mainlines, though mostly comedy/ fantasy castings so not really my bag.
Poundstretcher, once upon a time a happy hunting ground for Hongwell Cararama and Maisto, had nothing of interest either - no Matchbox, no Hot Wheels, no nuthin'.
Going a bit further afield did take me into the Asda Home store in North Belfast - where they had loads of Majorette, to my surprise.

But not cheap. £16 for a premium five-pack.

I'm not honestly all that enamoured with newer Majorette, by and large - although decent enough models, well detailed and all, I just can't quite warm to them. Likewise modern Siku offerings - I can appreciate them, but I don't really want to own them all that much. And their relatively high prices also help to cool my cheap-ass ardour.

Pricier than Mattel's standard five-packs, anyway.
They also stocked articulated trucks in the vein of Matchbox Convoys, buses and twin-packs with a trailer. Nice enough, but not massively appealing.

Confusing pricing seems to indicate the Hot Wheels mainlines are £1.90, while the 'character range' (seemingly tie-ins from that Disney Pixar 'Lightyear' film) are £3, but thrown into the same dump bin, for maximum chaos. Nothing exciting in there, anyway.
Toys are dear enough these days.

A quick turn over to a different branch of B&M elicited nothing; no more Hot Wheels Flying Customs anyway. They seem to have pretty much sold through, in this neck of the woods anyway.
Another big Home Bargains store in the Cityside mall failed to come up with much, other than more of those Matchbox Action City garage sets still on the shelves.
TK Maxx had finally got some Majorette in, though a little pricier than mainland stores - didn't someone say the individual models were £2 in their local store?

£2.99 here for individual models.

I was a bit tempted by some of the vans and stuff, it's true.

Likewise the trailer sets - better value than Asda too.

Not sure I'd class a tractor and logging truck as 'Street Cars ', but ok.

Premiums with their separate box were kinda nice, it has to be said. A lot of detail on these.

Lastly, I scuttled over to a fairly large Poundland store, and was surprised to find not only a fair amount of Hot Wheels but multiple pegs full of long card Matchbox stuff, at only £1.50 a throw.
There were lots of those annoying little skid dumper things and the speed detector trailers, but also some better stuff.
Now I did take some photos of their selection but curiously none of them came out properly - are Poundland employing some sort of anti-tat surveillance technology?

Best I could retrieve from my phone. Very odd.
I restrained myself, and only came away with these two beauties.

I know, I already have the Civic in yellow and in red - but I do so like this casting.
The SII Land Rover was one I had in red as part of the 'Best of the UK' range from 2021, but I got rid of both (!!) my examples without ever even opening them.
Silver linings and all that - I much prefer the colour and wheels on this version.
And I've opened it, too.

Life's too short for sealed packs, kids.

Black 87 D reg 2.0 Laser Capri, immaculate, was early 90s at the time and I  nearly went for it but would have needed finance. Got approved for funds but bottled it, thinking Dad wouldn’t approve. Not long after, walking with Dad and a Capri went past, “love those” , he said 🤦‍♂️

Ex Ford press demo Capri 2.8i. VVW8W. I passed over the chance to buy it for a grand back in 1992 so a mate could buy it. He dithered and it was sold to someone else.

I do wonder about charity shop pricing - are they just whimsical or do they do some research? I appreciate they can't check everything but to ask £75 they must believe those cars were actually from the 1920's-30's rather than the 80's-90's
I did chuckle at the £5 Sports Car Collection models earlier after seeing several boxes full literally in the next road

Fantastic finds, those AMTs - well bought!
Let's just pause for a minute to remember that all seven of those came in at less than what a local charity shop wanted for this load of wank in a wooden display cabinet:

£75.
For that.
I'm living in the wrong town...

Just the three I think
 

Just the three I think
 

Here are the promo models, fresh from a trip around the sink - they had a serious layer of dust inside! A few have defects, the worst being missing seats in the Falcon convertible. Conti has no tail lights, Thunderbird convertible missing a sunvisor, Torino has no engine, all have a bit of sun fading.Having said that, they are absolutely lovely things to behold 





























Oh and the Thunderbird has a friction motor - on the front axle!

Just the three I think
 

Yes I think they're 1:25 going by the ones I've found online. 
They do have some oddities I suppose, not sure if there should be an engine under the hood, and they all somehow make single-colour plastic look way more detailed than should be possible. 
What I want to know is how they ended up in a charity shop in Chelmsford, but that will probably remain a mystery

Just the three I think
 

Yes I think they're 1:25 going by the ones I've found online. 
They do have some oddities I suppose, not sure if there should be an engine under the hood, and they all somehow make single-colour plastic look way more detailed than should be possible. 
What I want to know is how they ended up in a charity shop in Chelmsford, but that will probably remain a mystery

Or a bit of box section scaffolding hanging off the tow bar.

Nice work on those Minis!  
The AMT promos will be 1/24 or 1/25, won't they?  I didn't know such things existed until about 40 years ago, well into my kit-building years during which I assembled quite a lovely collection of American cars in that scale.  I think Jo-Han had a good line in promos too IIRC.  None would have come with an engine, in fact I'm amazed you found one with an opening bonnet!

Did a spot of gardening over the Easter week.

Repurposed an old sink into an alpine garden.

Then put a bit of grit down to stop the substrate washing away.

Which, conveniently enough...

Ah.

Yes.

I appear to have accidentally* created an ideal minishite 4x4 off-roading centre.
Whoops.

Then I spotted these in another charity shop, they appear to be dealer promotional cars, all plastic. 

This is the only one with anything on the base

Anyone recognise then?

Here are the promo models, fresh from a trip around the sink - they had a serious layer of dust inside! A few have defects, the worst being missing seats in the Falcon convertible. Conti has no tail lights, Thunderbird convertible missing a sunvisor, Torino has no engine, all have a bit of sun fading.Having said that, they are absolutely lovely things to behold 





























Oh and the Thunderbird has a friction motor - on the front axle!

Here are the promo models, fresh from a trip around the sink - they had a serious layer of dust inside! A few have defects, the worst being missing seats in the Falcon convertible. Conti has no tail lights, Thunderbird convertible missing a sunvisor, Torino has no engine, all have a bit of sun fading.Having said that, they are absolutely lovely things to behold 





























Oh and the Thunderbird has a friction motor - on the front axle!

I bought the lot! Having looked on eBay I think that was the correct decision