AndyW201

@Spottedlaurel happy birthday!
Had my weekly pilgrimage to Morrison's to get my unhealthy food stash for the Scotland truck run.
I was pleased to find my local store has  started doing diecast again, with Hot Wheels and Matchbox mainlines, along with some 1/43 Jada Star Car things, (KITT, BTTF DeLorean, F&F etc). Sadly the Hot Wheels and Matchbox were still old cases, the HW was the batch that Aldi got in months ago, and the Matchbox was that batch that has been everywhere since 2023, yep, the one with the green Ranchero and the blue Nissan Sentra... But it was encouraging all the same, that particular Morrisons has been one of my more successful hunting grounds over the years.
It wasn't all bad news though, they had some Matchbox 5-packs in, and they looked like pretty new ones. I was going to get some pics, but loitering around Berwick Hills Morrisons early on a morning taking pictures of toys isn't the best of ideas... There were some nice packs, including a "British Roadways"  one, with a Trafalgar blue-ish  Minor saloon, The new Coffee Cruisers one isn't bad either, but this is one pack I couldn't leave behind,



The Skyline GTX is still one of my fave castings, not a bad livery either,

Not sure about the colour on this one, but I've been after one of these spaceship Civic Type Rs for yonks now, so it's nice to finally get one,

First Matchbox Impreza too, though I've got quite a few Hot Wheels ones,

The Mazda 3 looks quite sharp in white,

Great colour scheme too on the 4-Runner.

It's staying as-is, it can keep my kid custom Dinky company 

@Spottedlaurel happy birthday!
Had my weekly pilgrimage to Morrison's to get my unhealthy food stash for the Scotland truck run.
I was pleased to find my local store has  started doing diecast again, with Hot Wheels and Matchbox mainlines, along with some 1/43 Jada Star Car things, (KITT, BTTF DeLorean, F&F etc). Sadly the Hot Wheels and Matchbox were still old cases, the HW was the batch that Aldi got in months ago, and the Matchbox was that batch that has been everywhere since 2023, yep, the one with the green Ranchero and the blue Nissan Sentra... But it was encouraging all the same, that particular Morrisons has been one of my more successful hunting grounds over the years.
It wasn't all bad news though, they had some Matchbox 5-packs in, and they looked like pretty new ones. I was going to get some pics, but loitering around Berwick Hills Morrisons early on a morning taking pictures of toys isn't the best of ideas... There were some nice packs, including a "British Roadways"  one, with a Trafalgar blue-ish  Minor saloon, The new Coffee Cruisers one isn't bad either, but this is one pack I couldn't leave behind,



The Skyline GTX is still one of my fave castings, not a bad livery either,

Not sure about the colour on this one, but I've been after one of these spaceship Civic Type Rs for yonks now, so it's nice to finally get one,

First Matchbox Impreza too, though I've got quite a few Hot Wheels ones,

The Mazda 3 looks quite sharp in white,

Great colour scheme too on the 4-Runner.

@Spottedlaurel happy birthday!
Had my weekly pilgrimage to Morrison's to get my unhealthy food stash for the Scotland truck run.
I was pleased to find my local store has  started doing diecast again, with Hot Wheels and Matchbox mainlines, along with some 1/43 Jada Star Car things, (KITT, BTTF DeLorean, F&F etc). Sadly the Hot Wheels and Matchbox were still old cases, the HW was the batch that Aldi got in months ago, and the Matchbox was that batch that has been everywhere since 2023, yep, the one with the green Ranchero and the blue Nissan Sentra... But it was encouraging all the same, that particular Morrisons has been one of my more successful hunting grounds over the years.
It wasn't all bad news though, they had some Matchbox 5-packs in, and they looked like pretty new ones. I was going to get some pics, but loitering around Berwick Hills Morrisons early on a morning taking pictures of toys isn't the best of ideas... There were some nice packs, including a "British Roadways"  one, with a Trafalgar blue-ish  Minor saloon, The new Coffee Cruisers one isn't bad either, but this is one pack I couldn't leave behind,



The Skyline GTX is still one of my fave castings, not a bad livery either,

Not sure about the colour on this one, but I've been after one of these spaceship Civic Type Rs for yonks now, so it's nice to finally get one,

First Matchbox Impreza too, though I've got quite a few Hot Wheels ones,

The Mazda 3 looks quite sharp in white,

Great colour scheme too on the 4-Runner.

One of Sunday's finds was this down at heel Corgi rockets Volvo.



A quick scrub with some soapy water and some wheels I found* at the back of Smoll Eddy's lockup later we have this..


Slightly less down at heel Corgi rockets Volvo.
😁
 

This arrived yesterday - 

corgi cheverolet caprice. Not one I owned when I was small - it came out in 1980 - I liked superfast and airfix kits back then plus I was starting to take an interest in Star Wars toys.
Never a big seller - in fact I don't ever recall seeing it in shops. It's a nice model - large and heavy. It also came as a  taxi and stock car - green and two tone blue and silver versions also exist. With the postage I got for under a tenner.

Funnily enough I treated myself too..
Manta CC is one I've been looking for ever since I had my full size version.
400 was a cheap auction buy over here in Bg,and in Rothmans Racing colours probably the best looking rally car..

Treated myself 1/18 mk1 xr2

Birthday excitement this morning, these were wrapped up for me (actually my choices from the shop in Evesham visited last weekend):

Two of them are the same age as me, and I suppose the VW and Alpine A110 could be too. The latter looks better in metallic blue than the orange version, although the wheels are still a little too large.
Got a bit of birthday cash to spend at the toy fair in Norwich, and I'll also visit some of the shops - I'm particularly keen to find the Majorette Toyota 5-pack.

I've found a diecast in Spain too. Just wandering along the beach and spot this among the seashells 

@Split_Pin Guisval still alive in Spain. A bit salty at €7 but still they’re obviously still being made 

Had a little box arrive today from @AndyW201


A rather lovely Capri! Im well pleased with it. A+ better than described would use again etc 👍

Been out Hunting this morning, Entertainer had some good stuff - no time to photograph these individually now as I've got to catch a flight...

We've been out of the house mostly, for two days this week.  Naturally on Monday Royal Mail tried to deliver me a parcel.  They said they'd try again yesterday.  Well you can guess how that worked.  So today I went to the Collection Office and picked it up.

Some ebay bargains, 99p each plus post.  They're all in rather nice condition, I doubt I'll be repainting any of them.
Then on the way back I stopped in at the Salvation Army and spent a whole £2.50.

Most of these I just grabbed because they were reasonable-looking models, which is reason enough for me.  I had no specific purpose in mind, although I did think the tanker might be transferable to a better chassis-cab.  But look in the bag: there's a ladder truck that goes with the Fire Department box van, and I have a cabinet full of Fire trucks.  The rest of the bag can go in my sale stock.
I'm getting serious Cold Shoulder now...

Asda looking tidier than normal 

With many lines now reduced 

Found a vintage Matchbox in one of the charity shops. Not my thing though

Possibly should be some susie coils on the back of the cab with some coloured wires representing the trailer air lines? I've got the Corgi Brian Harris ERF with crushed car load and the susies are on a small plastic block pushed into a hole in the rear of the cab.

Then again,  I can't see any small holes in the front of the trailer that the other end should push into.
Bloody nice truck though, I love the styling of the Ergo cab.

Had a delivery today.
A few years ago, there was a glut of Opel dealer  models flooding onto eBay at heavily discounted prices. I had a Vauxhall at the time, (now the wife's car), and with the majority of them being made by Minichamps, and I can't resist a cheap Minichamps model, I snapped quite a few of them up. This was one I didn't manage to at the time, and has since proved quite hard to track down.


This particular model appeals to me on a few levels, a love of sporty cars that you wouldn't expect to see a sporty version of, cars that answered a question that nobody asked, and cars that were everyday street furniture right up to the point when they suddenly weren't.

So, a version of a car normally found in supermarket or garden centre car parks, but with a 178bhp turbo engine, low and stiff suspension, 17" wheels and batwing Recaro seats. It wasn't a bad time for Vauxhall back in the mid 2000s, with a modicum of BTCC success, and the whole VXR thing  giving their image a bit of a shot in the arm, but the Meriva and Zafira VXR & OPC suggested something a bit stronger than Golden Virginia being passed around the table at Vauxhall/Opel marketing meetings...

So, the Meriva could probably never be described as pretty but it looks pretty purposeful with the OPC (VXR to us) paraphernalia attached. One thing Minichamps manage to do well is capturing the lower ride height of the sporty models.

Detailing is good, particularly the front and rear lights. Nice to see actual miniature Opel badges, rather than tampo printed, and the correct OPC tailpipe.


The snowflake alloys are done well, with discs and nice painted calipers beneath.

Even chassis and suspension detail is pretty good.


Usual Minichamps detail inside, including those Recaro seats. Having owned a new Corsa C SXi many years ago, the dash is all familiar stuff. Being a reduced price dealer model, it is all a bit black and plain. I've seen the proper OPC-branded version in Arden blue and that has nice colour-coded seats and trim, but I'm not paying the price people ask for that version...

Only problem with this is with paint imperfections, which seems to be a thing with Minichamps. A few of mine have gone like this, including this car's bigger brother, the OPC Vectra, which is the same colour. But they were a fraction of usual Minichamps money, so I'll live with it.
This should go well with the rest of the All Voxalls R Shit collection, I've got a black Corsa C by Minichamps that I've had since I owned the real thing, which fits nicely with this, as well as a Vectra C OPC and OPC versions of the Astra H and J. I'm on the lookout now for the Minichamps dealer Zafira OPC, but seeing the prices people want for them, it'll take a while...

Had a delivery today.
A few years ago, there was a glut of Opel dealer  models flooding onto eBay at heavily discounted prices. I had a Vauxhall at the time, (now the wife's car), and with the majority of them being made by Minichamps, and I can't resist a cheap Minichamps model, I snapped quite a few of them up. This was one I didn't manage to at the time, and has since proved quite hard to track down.


This particular model appeals to me on a few levels, a love of sporty cars that you wouldn't expect to see a sporty version of, cars that answered a question that nobody asked, and cars that were everyday street furniture right up to the point when they suddenly weren't.

So, a version of a car normally found in supermarket or garden centre car parks, but with a 178bhp turbo engine, low and stiff suspension, 17" wheels and batwing Recaro seats. It wasn't a bad time for Vauxhall back in the mid 2000s, with a modicum of BTCC success, and the whole VXR thing  giving their image a bit of a shot in the arm, but the Meriva and Zafira VXR & OPC suggested something a bit stronger than Golden Virginia being passed around the table at Vauxhall/Opel marketing meetings...

So, the Meriva could probably never be described as pretty but it looks pretty purposeful with the OPC (VXR to us) paraphernalia attached. One thing Minichamps manage to do well is capturing the lower ride height of the sporty models.

Detailing is good, particularly the front and rear lights. Nice to see actual miniature Opel badges, rather than tampo printed, and the correct OPC tailpipe.


The snowflake alloys are done well, with discs and nice painted calipers beneath.

Even chassis and suspension detail is pretty good.


Usual Minichamps detail inside, including those Recaro seats. Having owned a new Corsa C SXi many years ago, the dash is all familiar stuff. Being a reduced price dealer model, it is all a bit black and plain. I've seen the proper OPC-branded version in Arden blue and that has nice colour-coded seats and trim, but I'm not paying the price people ask for that version...

Only problem with this is with paint imperfections, which seems to be a thing with Minichamps. A few of mine have gone like this, including this car's bigger brother, the OPC Vectra, which is the same colour. But they were a fraction of usual Minichamps money, so I'll live with it.
This should go well with the rest of the All Voxalls R Shit collection, I've got a black Corsa C by Minichamps that I've had since I owned the real thing, which fits nicely with this, as well as a Vectra C OPC and OPC versions of the Astra H and J. I'm on the lookout now for the Minichamps dealer Zafira OPC, but seeing the prices people want for them, it'll take a while...

Possibly should be some susie coils on the back of the cab with some coloured wires representing the trailer air lines? I've got the Corgi Brian Harris ERF with crushed car load and the susies are on a small plastic block pushed into a hole in the rear of the cab.

Then again,  I can't see any small holes in the front of the trailer that the other end should push into.
Bloody nice truck though, I love the styling of the Ergo cab.

Had a delivery today.
A few years ago, there was a glut of Opel dealer  models flooding onto eBay at heavily discounted prices. I had a Vauxhall at the time, (now the wife's car), and with the majority of them being made by Minichamps, and I can't resist a cheap Minichamps model, I snapped quite a few of them up. This was one I didn't manage to at the time, and has since proved quite hard to track down.


This particular model appeals to me on a few levels, a love of sporty cars that you wouldn't expect to see a sporty version of, cars that answered a question that nobody asked, and cars that were everyday street furniture right up to the point when they suddenly weren't.

So, a version of a car normally found in supermarket or garden centre car parks, but with a 178bhp turbo engine, low and stiff suspension, 17" wheels and batwing Recaro seats. It wasn't a bad time for Vauxhall back in the mid 2000s, with a modicum of BTCC success, and the whole VXR thing  giving their image a bit of a shot in the arm, but the Meriva and Zafira VXR & OPC suggested something a bit stronger than Golden Virginia being passed around the table at Vauxhall/Opel marketing meetings...

So, the Meriva could probably never be described as pretty but it looks pretty purposeful with the OPC (VXR to us) paraphernalia attached. One thing Minichamps manage to do well is capturing the lower ride height of the sporty models.

Detailing is good, particularly the front and rear lights. Nice to see actual miniature Opel badges, rather than tampo printed, and the correct OPC tailpipe.


The snowflake alloys are done well, with discs and nice painted calipers beneath.

Even chassis and suspension detail is pretty good.


Usual Minichamps detail inside, including those Recaro seats. Having owned a new Corsa C SXi many years ago, the dash is all familiar stuff. Being a reduced price dealer model, it is all a bit black and plain. I've seen the proper OPC-branded version in Arden blue and that has nice colour-coded seats and trim, but I'm not paying the price people ask for that version...

Only problem with this is with paint imperfections, which seems to be a thing with Minichamps. A few of mine have gone like this, including this car's bigger brother, the OPC Vectra, which is the same colour. But they were a fraction of usual Minichamps money, so I'll live with it.
This should go well with the rest of the All Voxalls R Shit collection, I've got a black Corsa C by Minichamps that I've had since I owned the real thing, which fits nicely with this, as well as a Vectra C OPC and OPC versions of the Astra H and J. I'm on the lookout now for the Minichamps dealer Zafira OPC, but seeing the prices people want for them, it'll take a while...

Had a delivery today.
A few years ago, there was a glut of Opel dealer  models flooding onto eBay at heavily discounted prices. I had a Vauxhall at the time, (now the wife's car), and with the majority of them being made by Minichamps, and I can't resist a cheap Minichamps model, I snapped quite a few of them up. This was one I didn't manage to at the time, and has since proved quite hard to track down.


This particular model appeals to me on a few levels, a love of sporty cars that you wouldn't expect to see a sporty version of, cars that answered a question that nobody asked, and cars that were everyday street furniture right up to the point when they suddenly weren't.

So, a version of a car normally found in supermarket or garden centre car parks, but with a 178bhp turbo engine, low and stiff suspension, 17" wheels and batwing Recaro seats. It wasn't a bad time for Vauxhall back in the mid 2000s, with a modicum of BTCC success, and the whole VXR thing  giving their image a bit of a shot in the arm, but the Meriva and Zafira VXR & OPC suggested something a bit stronger than Golden Virginia being passed around the table at Vauxhall/Opel marketing meetings...

So, the Meriva could probably never be described as pretty but it looks pretty purposeful with the OPC (VXR to us) paraphernalia attached. One thing Minichamps manage to do well is capturing the lower ride height of the sporty models.

Detailing is good, particularly the front and rear lights. Nice to see actual miniature Opel badges, rather than tampo printed, and the correct OPC tailpipe.


The snowflake alloys are done well, with discs and nice painted calipers beneath.

Even chassis and suspension detail is pretty good.


Usual Minichamps detail inside, including those Recaro seats. Having owned a new Corsa C SXi many years ago, the dash is all familiar stuff. Being a reduced price dealer model, it is all a bit black and plain. I've seen the proper OPC-branded version in Arden blue and that has nice colour-coded seats and trim, but I'm not paying the price people ask for that version...

Only problem with this is with paint imperfections, which seems to be a thing with Minichamps. A few of mine have gone like this, including this car's bigger brother, the OPC Vectra, which is the same colour. But they were a fraction of usual Minichamps money, so I'll live with it.
This should go well with the rest of the All Voxalls R Shit collection, I've got a black Corsa C by Minichamps that I've had since I owned the real thing, which fits nicely with this, as well as a Vectra C OPC and OPC versions of the Astra H and J. I'm on the lookout now for the Minichamps dealer Zafira OPC, but seeing the prices people want for them, it'll take a while...

Had a delivery today.
A few years ago, there was a glut of Opel dealer  models flooding onto eBay at heavily discounted prices. I had a Vauxhall at the time, (now the wife's car), and with the majority of them being made by Minichamps, and I can't resist a cheap Minichamps model, I snapped quite a few of them up. This was one I didn't manage to at the time, and has since proved quite hard to track down.


This particular model appeals to me on a few levels, a love of sporty cars that you wouldn't expect to see a sporty version of, cars that answered a question that nobody asked, and cars that were everyday street furniture right up to the point when they suddenly weren't.

So, a version of a car normally found in supermarket or garden centre car parks, but with a 178bhp turbo engine, low and stiff suspension, 17" wheels and batwing Recaro seats. It wasn't a bad time for Vauxhall back in the mid 2000s, with a modicum of BTCC success, and the whole VXR thing  giving their image a bit of a shot in the arm, but the Meriva and Zafira VXR & OPC suggested something a bit stronger than Golden Virginia being passed around the table at Vauxhall/Opel marketing meetings...

So, the Meriva could probably never be described as pretty but it looks pretty purposeful with the OPC (VXR to us) paraphernalia attached. One thing Minichamps manage to do well is capturing the lower ride height of the sporty models.

Detailing is good, particularly the front and rear lights. Nice to see actual miniature Opel badges, rather than tampo printed, and the correct OPC tailpipe.


The snowflake alloys are done well, with discs and nice painted calipers beneath.

Even chassis and suspension detail is pretty good.


Usual Minichamps detail inside, including those Recaro seats. Having owned a new Corsa C SXi many years ago, the dash is all familiar stuff. Being a reduced price dealer model, it is all a bit black and plain. I've seen the proper OPC-branded version in Arden blue and that has nice colour-coded seats and trim, but I'm not paying the price people ask for that version...

Only problem with this is with paint imperfections, which seems to be a thing with Minichamps. A few of mine have gone like this, including this car's bigger brother, the OPC Vectra, which is the same colour. But they were a fraction of usual Minichamps money, so I'll live with it.
This should go well with the rest of the All Voxalls R Shit collection, I've got a black Corsa C by Minichamps that I've had since I owned the real thing, which fits nicely with this, as well as a Vectra C OPC and OPC versions of the Astra H and J. I'm on the lookout now for the Minichamps dealer Zafira OPC, but seeing the prices people want for them, it'll take a while...

Had a delivery today.
A few years ago, there was a glut of Opel dealer  models flooding onto eBay at heavily discounted prices. I had a Vauxhall at the time, (now the wife's car), and with the majority of them being made by Minichamps, and I can't resist a cheap Minichamps model, I snapped quite a few of them up. This was one I didn't manage to at the time, and has since proved quite hard to track down.


This particular model appeals to me on a few levels, a love of sporty cars that you wouldn't expect to see a sporty version of, cars that answered a question that nobody asked, and cars that were everyday street furniture right up to the point when they suddenly weren't.

So, a version of a car normally found in supermarket or garden centre car parks, but with a 178bhp turbo engine, low and stiff suspension, 17" wheels and batwing Recaro seats. It wasn't a bad time for Vauxhall back in the mid 2000s, with a modicum of BTCC success, and the whole VXR thing  giving their image a bit of a shot in the arm, but the Meriva and Zafira VXR & OPC suggested something a bit stronger than Golden Virginia being passed around the table at Vauxhall/Opel marketing meetings...

So, the Meriva could probably never be described as pretty but it looks pretty purposeful with the OPC (VXR to us) paraphernalia attached. One thing Minichamps manage to do well is capturing the lower ride height of the sporty models.

Detailing is good, particularly the front and rear lights. Nice to see actual miniature Opel badges, rather than tampo printed, and the correct OPC tailpipe.


The snowflake alloys are done well, with discs and nice painted calipers beneath.

Even chassis and suspension detail is pretty good.


Usual Minichamps detail inside, including those Recaro seats. Having owned a new Corsa C SXi many years ago, the dash is all familiar stuff. Being a reduced price dealer model, it is all a bit black and plain. I've seen the proper OPC-branded version in Arden blue and that has nice colour-coded seats and trim, but I'm not paying the price people ask for that version...

Only problem with this is with paint imperfections, which seems to be a thing with Minichamps. A few of mine have gone like this, including this car's bigger brother, the OPC Vectra, which is the same colour. But they were a fraction of usual Minichamps money, so I'll live with it.
This should go well with the rest of the All Voxalls R Shit collection, I've got a black Corsa C by Minichamps that I've had since I owned the real thing, which fits nicely with this, as well as a Vectra C OPC and OPC versions of the Astra H and J. I'm on the lookout now for the Minichamps dealer Zafira OPC, but seeing the prices people want for them, it'll take a while...

Stopped off at Esso, managed to squeeze in 18.2 litres of unleaded. On the basis that I’ve clocked up 157 miles since I brimmed the tank last Sunday, that means the Sierra has averaged 39MPG. Bloody amazing but bear in mind that 99% of the distance was driven in zero traffic conditions and between 30-65MPH.

With the tank full, the fuel gauge has made a welcome return.