1984 Lledo Wonder Bread Model T Ford Van

A few weeks ago, I came across several diecast collectibles at a garage sale in the neighborhood. Most were larger scale delivery van type vehicles, but I found two of a smaller scale that I liked. The elderly man at the pay table told me he had “more smaller scale models around somewhere” and, while his daughter tried to tell him that he had gotten rid of them already, he wandered off to the garage to look for them. A few minutes later, he came back empty handed. I left my phone number in case he came across them later, but unfortunately, I never heard from him.

However, the two models I landed are pretty nice (I’ll show the other one in a separate post). This 1984 Lledo Model T Ford Delivery with Wonder Bread promotional graphics is one of over 170 variations of this casting – advertising everything from Ovaltine to the Royal Air Force – cranked out by Lledo during its less than 20 year lifespan. Click here to see my Lledo City of Toronto Double-Decker Bus and to read more about the Lledo company.

Lledo | 1984 Days Gone 06B-WON | Model T Ford Van | white body, light blue roof, blue chassis, gold grille and windshield, with Wonder Bread trim | DG6-DG8 base, door lines | gold 12-spoke wheels with black tires | Made in England

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Hot Wheels STAMPS coming from the United States Postal Service

I’m sure we can all debate about whether or not they chose the right models for these postage stamps … Either way this is pretty cool.

ORANGE TRACK DIECAST

8/15/2018 — Wow! Ever hear the slogan “what will they think of next?” … Hot Wheels product is in full force for the 50th Anniversary and now, the United States Postal Service (USPS) is getting in on the fun. Announced today, USPS will offer 20 Hot Wheels stamps of 10 different Hot Wheels castings, later this year. Fans of Orange Track Diecast (OTD) will get a kick out of the fact that the 10 cars featured will be shown racing down that all-too-familiar orange track. Images were shot by photographer Len Rizzi. Project’s Art Director was William J. Gicker and Stamp Designer/Typographer was Greg Breeding.

No official word on when these will be available, but you can look out for a dedication “first-day-of-issue” ceremony to be held at a specific location which will also be announced. I will update this page when that information becomes available. Keep checking back!…

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1998 Hot Wheels 30th Anniversary Mutt Mobile and Side Kick

I recently added two more models to my collection of Hot Wheels 30th Anniversary reproductions from 1998. This cool series replicates one casting and the original packaging from each of the first 30 years of Hot Wheels. With these two, I now have 11 of the 30 different castings.

This 1971 Mutt Mobile came to me from my friend, Chris, who moved to St. Louis awhile back and keeps an eye out for fun finds for me. As you can see from the photos, in 1998 they had some trouble trying to replicate Spectraflame paint, as many of these models have some serious paint flecking even while they’re still in the package.

Mutt Mobile was originally designed by Larry Wood and the 1971 first release has an opening rear door with two plastic dogs inside. In 1973, the casting was re-released as Odd Job in enamel and flourescent colors (minus the dogs). Mutt Mobile was retooled in 1994 for the Vintage II Series, was gold-plated for FAO Schwartz in 1995, and appeared in the Target Retro Wheels set in 1996. It made its most recent appearance in 2002 in the HWC.com Series 1.

Hot Wheels | 18860 | 1998 30th Anniversary | Mutt Mobile (1971) | blue | redlines

I found this 1972 Side Kick at the Flying Moose. Side Kick is another Larry Wood design, this one featuring a right-side driver’s door that slides out when the rear exhaust pipes are pulled out. The original Side Kick was produced in Spectaflame aqua and light green, and wasn’t seen again until this 30th anniversary issue. Since then, it has seen about 8 variations up until 2011.

For some reason, the metallic purple paint on this one is holding up pretty well, though the unpainted metal base and engine are a little oxidized.

Hot Wheels | 18861 | 1998 30th Anniversary | Side Kick (1972) | purple | redlines

2018 Hot Wheels Stars & Stripes ’66 Chevy Nova

I’ve enjoyed seeing all of the different Hot Wheels 50th Anniversary series in the stores this year. But after finding the ’66 Nova from the Stars & Stripes series, I’m having mixed feelings about it. I’m trying to be selective about what I add to my collection these days, so I chose to only buy the Nova, rather than buy and display the entire series so that I could spell out “HOT WHEELS”. As much as I like the weathered Americana packaging, I’m not sure how I feel about having a car with a giant “T” on the package, which looks pretty random when you see it on its own. Still the car itself is a beautiful metalflake blue with a flashy stars and stripes motif, and it will be a nice addition to my collection of many ’66 Novas.

FKV84 | 2018 Stars & Stripes 50th Anniv. | ’66 Chevy Nova | metalflake blue with red, white and gold trim, stamped ’68 Nova on base | PR5

It’s interesting that the base of this model is mistakenly stamped “’68 Nova”, just like the multipack exclusive I picked up earlier this year.

Flying Moose Matchbox Finds

My $5 bag of Matchbox cars from the Flying Moose was full of keepers. (Even better that it was 20% off, making it $4.) This Ford Kennel Truck would be really sweet if it still had all of its parts. First made in 1969 in metallic green with black plastic wheels, the Kennel Truck came with four plastic dogs and a tinted canopy over the bed. This apple green model with Superfast wheels is from a year or two later and would have had a clear canopy and a chrome grille.

Matchbox | 1970 | 50 | Ford Kennel Truck | apple green, missing chrome grill, missing dogs and canopy | Superfast wheels

This Vauxhall Guildsman is my favorite of the bunch. It’s pretty clean with the exception of the scuffed windshield, and the flame sticker on the hood is in pretty good shape. The casting first appeared in 1971 in pink with Superfast wheels and there are about 8 variations of paint, decoration and window tint color.

There is a great story behind the Matchbox Vauxhall Guildsman: The model was designed by Phil Gannon in 1968 and submitted that year to the annual Vauxhall Craftsman’s Guild design competition sponsored by General Motors. Gannon’s design took third place that year and was eventually picked up by Lesney – the only design to have been turned into a Matchbox toy among thousands submitted to the competition during the five year period that it ran.

Matchbox | 1971 | 40 | Vauxhall Guildsman | red, flames label, green windshield, unpainted base | England | Superfast wheels

The Matchbox Porsche 911 Turbo with opening doors came out in 1978 and has proven to be a very popular casting with over 50 different variations made. Mine is pretty weathered and is a curious metallic brown color.

Matchbox | 1978 | 3 | Porsche 911 Turbo | metallic brown with ivory interior, black base | England

There are about 18 variations of the Matchbox Alfa Carabo, which first came out in 1971. Similar in design to the Vauxhall Guildsman above, the Alfa Romeo Carabo was a concept car first shown at the Paris Motor Show in 1968. Though it was never a production car, It’s wedge design and scissor doors were highly influential in many car designs that followed, including the Lamborghini Countach.

Matchbox | 1985 | #75 | Alfa Carabo | light purple with yellow base | England | Superfast wheels

The Ford Escort XR3i Cabriolet first came out in 1985 and has been produced in about 10 variations. This Ocean Explorer is from the 1999 Beach Fun 5-pack. I also have a version with unique laser wheels from the late 1980s.

Matchbox | 1999 Beach Fun 5-Pack | Ford Escort XR3i Cabriolet | white with black trim, red interior, Ocean Explorer graphics | 8-dot wheels | made in China

Flying Moose Hot Wheels Finds

Back in June, I found a vendor at the Flying Moose Antique Mall who was having a 20% off sale. I flipped through a bunch of $5 bags of loose cars and picked out two bags – one full of Hot Wheels and the other full of Matchbox – that looked interesting. A casting like the Hot Bird is usually a pretty safe buy. I thought I had this one already, but the red interior makes it a little later variation (1990) than the tan interior version from 1982 that’s already in my collection. Both are black with gold Hot Ones wheels.

1990 Hot Wheels Collector | Hot Bird | black with yellow and red trim, red interior | MY | gho

I was glad to see this Classic Cobra still had an intact windshield, even after having been tossed into a bag with four other cars. This black model from the 1989 Park ‘n Plates series makes a nice companion to the red version from 1986 that I recently found on eBay.

1989 Hot Wheels | Park ‘n Plates | Classic Cobra | black with orange, red and yellow trim, red interior | MY | BW

The other three cars in the bag were not anything I wanted to add to my collection. I’ll show the Matchbox cars in another post.

2018 Gift-Pack Exclusive ’66 Chevy Novas

Back in March at WalMart, I found the first of these two Hot Wheels 9-Packs, which contain exclusive variations of the ’66 Chevy Nova. When I took the gray Nova out of the package, I realized it was mistakenly stamped “’68 Nova” on the bottom. I looked online at several sources trying to find more info, but have yet to find it listed on any of the usual sites. Meanwhile, I noticed that a white variation was showing up on eBay and I quickly found that 9-pack at WalMart more recently. (The white model is correctly stamped “’66 Nova” on the bottom.)

2018 Hot Wheels Gift-Pack Exclusive | ’66 Chevy Nova | metallic gray with red and black flames, stamped ’68 Nova on bottom | PR5

2018 Hot Wheels Gift-Pack Exclusive | ’66 Chevy Nova | white with orange and black flames, | black PR5 with gold rims

Click this trail to see a few more of my Hot Wheels ’66 Novas.