sheffcortinacentre

When I work on buses in the 90's the passengers used to treat them like skips god knows what there like now.

Oh je teme.

6 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

That could be on its way to Hawaii  ( as in one of tom cotters "in the barn" books one was found there in the 00's)  as it was deemed to much hassle to bring back to the mainland & was bought by a ford dealer & campaigned for several years.

Yes used to be a T reg one round here in the 80,s

1 hour ago, willswitchengage said:

When did the UK switch from imperial to metric fuel pricing?

During the 80's if I recall.

6 hours ago, Cavcraft said:

1980 Ford Cortina 1.6 L Stunning 5 Year Restoration Absolutely Amazing Condition | eBay

The black on the sills that doesn't extend to the front wings is sending my OCD haywire.

I think that's how they came from factory.

Does that entitle you to park on yellow lines too.

They all shit in the same pot as my mum used to say.

Listen very carefully I shall say this only wence

It's hard to do but for your health fuck it off you'll feel better.

2 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Some Matchbox Action Drivers silliness, then - as promised.

I just so happened to have assembled some of the latest purchases on the day the DanBox arrived, so that's broadly what populated them.

Matchbox have made, licenced and sold assorted little garages and other accessories since their early days so kids can augment their play experiences - sometimes plastic, sometimes cardboard. Sometimes great, sometimes daft.

Most of us here seem to have owned a few over the years, and after I let my much-loved Motorcity sets go sometime in the mid-1990s, I thought I was done with that sort of thing. I mean, detailed diecast cars are one thing, but brightly coloured plastic buildings are a different thing entirely, right? Too big, too simple, too kiddie-oriented. Not collector grade stuff. Not serious.

Turns out I was wrong... last February I encountered the Auto Shop set over in Home Bargains at an attractively low price. 

I saw it, I had a vague thought along the lines of "oh, that's quite a nice little set", and then I went away again. I hadn't noticed any of the Action Drivers range before, had never heard of them, had no intention of finding out any more about them.

But something had been set in motion, deep down inside. Over the next few days, a curiously strong desire for this set started to build. By the time the following weekend rolled around, I was almost sick with worry that they'd all be gone, and I wouldn't get to own one. 

Why? I really dunno. The heart wants what it wants, I guess. And I very badly wanted this.

So I went over on a Saturday morning, early doors, and scythed myself through the weekend shoppers with a sense of rising panic in case all I encountered was an empty shelf.

But it was okay. I found one, and for £6.99 it was mine.

I love putting these things together. Somehow, applying the stickers and slotting it all together is a big part of the appeal.

These are good-quality sets, too. I can recall being a little disappointed at how much cardboard was involved in some of my childhood Matchbox sets from the 1980s, which inevitably bent and tore and split after only a little use. These are all heavy-duty plastic, and the components snap together really firmly.

There's always that sense of a 'point of no return' when the stickers are peeled off the backing paper and stuck on permanently. I tend to keep the backing sheet even after the stickers have been removed; I always have, along with all the rest of the packaging. The packaging feels like part of it.

My rationale was that this model garage would be a nice background when photographing my various toy cars  - better than just a flat table, right? Bit more interesting.

I was very pleased with it. The whole thing with  Action Drivers sets are that they have automatic mechanisms in them, and this adds to the playvalue - in this case, raising the ramp causes a little dude to scoot out rolling a tyre, while pushing a car into the adjacent bay brings a woman pushing a V8 engine block on a stand round to the front.

Of course, I felt a bit self-conscious. Bashful, even. I didn't want MrsDC to see it, in case she found it a bit ridiculous and immature, even by my standards.

I also felt that although she might tolerate me picking up the odd model here and there, acquiring larger sets like this might set her alarm bells off. The unpleasant memory of 2022's Diecastgate - when it emerged that pretty much our entire attic was crammed with my models and other rubbish, at the point we were urgently needing to move house - hovered unpleasantly.

So I kinda kept this acquisition secret. After a few pics taken in the early hours of the morning, I disassembled it, repacked it into the box and hid it away under the bed in the back room.

And then in June last year, I found some more, in a different branch of Home Bargains.

The two Auto Shop sets were quite speedily dispatched to a fellow-shiter, but I kept the Bus Station set for myself. At £4.99, and with a Matchbox model included, it seemed pretty bargain-tastic.

It proved mildly disappointing, however. Although the little passenger moving forward to hail an arriving bus was a nice touch, this set had less going on, since it was about half the size of the Auto Shop and seemed a bit more toy-like, with improbable parking spaces on the roof and a far-too-steep ramp. One of the road pieces supplied was also incorrect and the connector tabs couldn't line up, so it also looked a little incomplete.

It went back in its box and under the bed too.

And that was that.

Until January this year, when...

Aargh. Another one, encountered by chance over at an independent Toymaster branch. This time, the Fuel Station set. Three sets on the shelf, all the same.

This set looked about the same size as the Auto Shop, but was quite a bit more expensive. For £6.99 I could see myself making an impulse purchase, but at £16.99... mmm. Seemed a bit pricey, for what it is. I didn't much fancy the generic 4x4 thing either.

So I didn't.

But a few days later I found it playing on my mind again... so I had a look online, in case someone else might be doing it a bit cheaper.

Nope, if anything it was even more expensive on Amazon and eBay for this set - anything from £24 to £50.

Crumbs.

And of course, since capitalism is a finely tuned instrument these days, it didn't take very long before my YouTube 'recommended videos' feed started featuring people unboxing Action Drivers sets.

And, because I'm easily influenced, of course I started watching them. And desiring them.

Not all of them - some were a bit too juvenile for even my tastes, like the 'Canyon Adventure' set I'd encountered in TK Maxx late last year.

But the ones featuring buildings - fire stations, restaurants, police stations, multistorey car parks, building sites - now those appealed.

I think I held out for just over two weeks before scuttling back over to Holywood one lunchtime.

I needn't have worried - all three sets were still there on the shelf. But I had worried. A lot. I'd tied myself in knots at the thought of missing out on one of these. The FOMO is strong.

And y'know what? It's pretty good. Maybe not really good, but pretty good.

The pumps swing down automatically when you drive vehicles over the little pressure switches, and the door to the mini-mart slides open when a car parks outside.

The pumps are pretty toy-like, but good all the same.

There's even an EV charging station.

I guess the question has to be, why would a grown man want to spend time and money messing about with this sort of thing?

I really don't know.

But it feels like this appeals to my 43yr-old self in broadly the same way it would absolutely have appealed to my 8yr old self. That same very pure rush of joy at something designed to delight and amuse - even though you'd think that several decades of being an adult, and having to fill cars with fuel to get to work, might have soured my enthusiasm for make-believe play of this nature.

So I dunno.

Through watching the YouTube unboxing videos, I slowly came to learn more about the Action Drivers line of play sets.

Of course, Matchbox have been making this sort of thing for decades, but the Action Drivers branding only started in 2020, when the Fuel Station was launched, along with a Fire Station and a slightly alarming 'Helicopter Rescue' set, featuring a helicopter that seemingly drops an ambulance through the roof of a hospital, where it crashes down two storeys through the building and out the front, straight into a barrier.

Both of these others were available online; the fire station at about £25 and the hospital for £19. While the hospital seemed to be about the same size as the fuel station, comprising two square base units clipped together, the fire station seemed twice the size at four base units, and boasted light and sound features.

The idea is that all the sets can be clipped together to form streets and junctions, to build a small but rather busy town.

As seems to be Mattel's way of doing business, rather than just making the sets for as long as demand sustains it, the 2020 Action Drivers line were deleted and replaced with three new releases for 2021. These included a large multistorey car park with light and sound, about as big as the fire station (four base units); and an even bigger Airport Adventure set, with airport terminal, car park, runway and control tower (a whopping eight base units, I think).

These can be found online for anything between £40 and £90.

Additionally, as is Mattel's habit, they released an exclusive Pizza Hut restaurant in late 2021 which (I think) was only available through Target stores in the US.

For 2022, a slightly different Pizza Hut set was released worldwide, which seems to command a bit of a premium (£30-£50), despite only being a small single base unit set.

A whopping six new sets appeared in 2022, comprising another single-unit set, the Bus Station; along with the twin-unit Auto Shop; a twin-unit Construction Site; the four-unit Canyon Adventure shown upthread; a four-unit Police Dispatch Centre; and a large six-unit 'Volcano Escape' set.

Busy times.

2023 saw five new sets - a single-unit FedEx Depot (which seems to be very sought-after, as I haven't seen any for sale anywhere), a twin-unit Ferry Terminal set with push-along ro-ro ferry boat; a four-unit Super Clean Car Wash set; a much bigger six-unit building site set styled as the Epic Construction Yard; and a slightly weird 'Transforming Excavator' which isn't a city-type toy, but rather a large plastic lorry with fold-out bits allowing you to play with smaller Matchbox on it.

So far this year Matchbox has released a 'Tow & Repair Truck' set similar to the Transforming Excavator, as well as a more conventional Traffic Control Centre single-unit set, and a large 'Farm Adventure' set that looks like it might be a six-unit set. So far.

I'll level with you - I don't want them all. Some of them just don't appeal much; others seem quite expensive for all they are.

But I do like a lot of them.

Watching the (predominantly US) YouTubers picking these sets up in Walmart or Target for like $8 or $12 made me a little indignant, as they're so much more expensive over here.

FOMO and rage, what a great combination.

Having scored well over at the Toymaster in Holywood, it occurred to me that the branch in Newtownards might be a good hunting ground for any other sets.

But I was wrong.

Just another fuel station, this one with the Questor car robbed out of the packaging.

However, after another few weeks of YouTube, FOMO and bitterness at how UK collectors seem to get screwed over pretty much every which way, I remembered that there was another independent toy shop over in Ards.

This one proved rather more fruitful, and of course I fell into it wallet-first.

Yup, the 2020 release 'Helicopter Rescue' - for a few quid less than its online listings - and the 2022 'Park & Play Garage' came home with me.

This store also had the Canyon Adventure set for £17, and the Bus Station set for £14, but I don't much fancy another bus station and the Canyon Adventure isn't my bag.

But the multistorey car park is quite good, if somewhat overly-orange.

There's barriers to get in and out, a lift with light and sound, and parking for a fair few vehicles.

I'm not all that keen on the light and sound functionality, though it can be disabled on this set by taking out the electronics unit. Certainly not because it sounds very loud at 1am.

EV charging points on the top floor.

It's very appealing. Yet still, a sense of 'why?' nags at me.

The hospital is a bit weird, and also makes something of a nonsense of Matchbox's 'real world play' tagline, as I'm not sure how responsible it is to teach kids that hospitals are drive-thru buildings.

But it really looks well when they're all clipped together.

And it was into the midst of this turmoil that the Airport Adventure set arrived from a courier; I'd been swayed by discounts applied into my Amazon wishlist item. £55 down to £49.

Hnnng.

I haven't opened it; apart from the fact I've some vague notion of gifting it to my brother's kids, I understand that once the airport terminal building is clipped together it can't be taken apart again, so will never fit back in the box.

Not a problem for 99.999% of buyers, probably. But an issue for me. To the point that, once I realised the toyshop in Ards had another airport set for £35, I was giving serious consideration at the weekend to going back over and buying it as a second one.

But - I didn't.

Yet.

So they're all back under the bed at the minute. You can be sure there was no trace of them in the kitchen by the time MrsDC got home.

All the while, the Ferry Terminal and Fire Station are still sitting in my wishlist.

But I don't know if I want them. Not really. They're very appealing, and very ingenious toys, but I keep looping back round to why I'm so drawn to these sets. Even as a kid, I found the idea of sets like these better than the reality; often there was that sense of "oh... so that's all it does" about 10 minutes after opening it on Christmas morning or whatever. So I know better. But I still like them.

Ah well. It's probably fair to say this post hasn't exactly gone the way I intended it to when I started typing this morning.

But thanks for coming to my TED Talk, however involuntarily. 

Hopefully the pics are enjoyable, and you can avoid the rambling.

Just like the cars can't find them round here.

Like I keep saying it's fuckall to do with saving the environment it's the cash cow motorist can pay for stuff as their getting less from the drinker & smoker nowadays.

& Until the I'm all right jack of the PCP generation  wake up it'll just keep happening.

Bloody pikeys 

1 hour ago, lesapandre said:

Waiting for that Marina which is pulling onto the hard shoulder?

More likely it's already broken down & she's alighted for shame I mean safety.

20 minutes ago, grogee said:

PHWOAR! 

Is that bit of timber on the dash standard fit? 

No should have radio/speaker  & I think a small cubby hole there.

They all seem to spell entitled prick to me.

5 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Why can they not just produce all those models as stock road cars? The Supra would have been great but I find this version just sterile. 

Because there originally for American kids.

10 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

That survived the crash well*. Probably didn’t matter because the occupants were jettisoned on impact.

As laurel & hardy were jettisoned on impact.

1 hour ago, Supernaut said:

Do a Vice Grip Garage, then.

Go there, fix it in situ then drive the 400 miles home...

Can you talk enough bollocks to make the job take 3 times as long though?

Back then it would've been.

The futures brown 

Bout ten years ago mate had a trooper in with one side of tow bar hanging off complete with chassis rail attached was towing a horse box few days before, 

Another a P100 ex garage parts hack etc tow bar was attached with M8 bolts.

Probably right you couldn't to original KA.

Yep sounds like the later matchbox one.

7 hours ago, High Jetter said:

^^^ I wonder what the turning circle on that is!

Similar to a super tanker.