1988 Hot Wheels Color Racers Lamborghini Countach

Last month we hit Haysville for the city-wide garage sales. We stopped at dozens of sales and the only thing I came away with was a beat-up Hot Wheels Lamborghini Countach. While the casting made its debut in the 1988 Speed Fleet series, it was also used that same year as a Color Racer. I already have two examples in my collection so I decided this would be a good chance to show the differences in the paint on these aging color-changers.

The Color Racers were cars that would change color when exposed to hot or cold temperatures. As I’ve mentioned before, over time, the late-1980s color-changers lose their ability to change color and often get stuck in one state of color or the other.

This first example is the car I found in Haysville. In its warm state, it is a yellowish beige.

Running cold water over these ’80s cars isn’t always enough to get them to change. My friends online suggested putting them in the freezer, which is the trick I used to get these to change to pink.

Hot Wheels | 1988 Color Racers | 5607 | Lamborghini Countach | beige to pink with red, blue and white trim, blue tint windows | MY | bw

The next set of photos is my second example, in slightly better shape than my Haysville car. This one is a little less yellow in the warm state.

After the freezer treatment, this one is a little richer pink.

Hot Wheels | 1988 Color Racers | 5607 | Lamborghini Countach | beige to pink with red, blue and white trim, blue tint windows | MY | bw

The next example is a car I got years ago in the Case of the Sad Dad and its always been stuck in this mostly pink state. By the way, all of these models are cast in Malaysia, but this one has the smoke tint windows, versus the blue tint windows on the two above.

When I hit this car with a hot hair dryer, it turns a kind of fleshy-beige, certainly more pink than the two above.

Also, after the freezer treatment, this car shows a much more rosy pink than the two above.

Hot Wheels | 1988 Color Racers | 5607 | Lamborghini Countach | beige to pink with red, blue and white trim, smoke tint windows | MY

Finally, the three cars side by side, warm state on top and frozen state on the bottom.

Advertisements

1982 Matchbox Model A Ford

This Matchbox Model A Ford is the other keeper from the bag of cars I picked up at the 3rd Ave Flea Market in Ardmore, OK. The Matchbox Model A Ford was first released in 1979 and there are about 26 variations to be found. This metallic green version from 1982 is one of only about 8 of those versions that were cast in England.

It’s interesting that this model was given different wheels from front to back to give the car a little rake. This one has “5 Crown” wheels on the front and slightly larger “Open Dot Dash” wheels on the back.

Matchbox | 1982 | 73 | Model A Ford | metallic green with dark green fenders, green windows | England | Superfast wheels

The next photo shows the Model A Ford on the D.A.F. Building Transporter that I found on the same trip. Like most barn finds, here you can see how grimy the Model A was before I cleaned it up.

1982 Hot Wheels P-911

As I’ve mentioned before, I have buckets of “reject” cars that I’ve picked up over the years from those times when I had to buy a bunch of cars just to get one or two that I really wanted. At the 3rd Avenue Flea Market in Ardmore, OK, I spent some time looking through several bags of cars marked $5 each. I did find one that I decided was worth the investment. The bag had two keepers for me, a couple 4x4s for my friend Brad in New Mexico, and seven odd cars to add to the reject buckets.

The car that sold me was this Hot Wheels P-911. From the 1982 mainlines, it is the evil twin opposite of the white Ziploc Promotional model I already have in my collection.

In 1982, the P-911 with this paint and tampo could also be found with either gold Hot Ones or gold blackwalls.

Hot Wheels | 1982 | 7648 | P-911 | black with white yellow and red trim | MY | bw

1983 Hot Wheels Flat Out 442

While antiquing in Ardmore, OK, for my Birthday weekend in late July, we visited the 3rd Ave Flea Market. The place is full of interesting items and has an entire yard full of architectural salvage. I spent most of my time there, however, near the front of the store where one vendor had a large assortment of diecast cars.

I found this Hot Wheels Flat Out 442 by itself in a little ziploc baggie for $2. The Flat Out 442 is a racing version of the fourth generation Oldmobile 442 fastback. It was first cast in 1979 and has made about 9 appearances up to 1984. It was retooled for the 2012 The Hot Ones series. This metalflake gold variation wearing gold Hot Ones wheels is from 1983.

This Flat Out 442 makes a nice companion for my Mirada Stocker, also from the 1983 Hot Ones series.

Hot Wheels | 1983 Hot Ones | 2506 | Flat Out 442 | metalflake gold with red, blue and orange trim | HK | gho

 

1985 Hot Wheels Peterbilt Cement Mixer

This Hot Wheels Peterbilt Cement Mixer is the second item I found at the Parkway Antique Mall on my Birthday weekend in Ardmore, OK, back in late July. I already have one in my collection, but this one was nice and clean and a good price. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized it’s the Malaysia-cast variation from 1985 – so it’s different than my Hong Kong made first-release from 1980.

The Peterbilt Cement Mixer shares a cab with the Peterbilt Tank Truck and Peterbilt Dump Truck. The cab by itself was also used as Hammer Down in the valuable Great American Truck Race playset from 1980.

Hot Wheels | 1985 Workhorses | 1169 | Peterbilt Cement Mixer | red with white & gray plastic mixer, non-recessed exhaust stacks | MY | bw

1971 Matchbox Super Kings D.A.F. Building Transporter

On my Birthday this summer, we found ourselves in Ardmore, Oklahoma. I had taken a Friday off and we made the drive down to the halfway point to meet up for the weekend with a friend who had moved to Texas. Well, what’s the best thing to do when spending your Birthday in a town you’ve never been before? Check out the antique shops, of course.

Our first stop was the Parkway Antique Mall, where I found this Matchbox Super Kings D.A.F. Building Transporter. I wasn’t familiar with the particular model, though I could tell it was missing something from the bed. Still, the price was right, and I knew it could serve a different purpose even without the missing part.

The Matchbox Super Kings K-13 Building Transporter was actually packaged with a small building. Originally, there would have been a plastic bracket fitted to the two holes in the truck bed. The bracket would have held the parts to assemble a plastic building that had clear plastic windows and an opening door. Click here to see the Matchbox wiki page with photos of the complete set. The Building Transporter was also released in metallic green with a red base.

Of course I’d love to find the missing parts to make my Building Transporter complete, but in the mean time, I used it to haul home the Matchbox Model A Ford I found on the same trip.

Matchbox | 1971-1975 | Super Kings K-13 | D.A.F. Building Transporter | green with missing plastic walls and carrier | England | Superfast wheels

Click on these links to see some of my other Matchbox Kingsize models, including the Mercury Commuter Police Station Wagon, Bertone Runabout, Javelin AMX, Range Rover and Ambulance.

2019 Hot Wheels Fast & Furious 5-Pack and Fast & Furious ’61 Impala

Back in May, I pre-ordered the Hot Wheels 2019 Fast & Furious 5-Pack from Amazon after Brad over at OrangeTrackDiecast.com influenced me with his post on the topic. By the time the package arrived in July, I had almost forgotten about it entirely, which made for a fun surprise.

My wife and son and I are fans of the movie franchise, but I mostly wanted this 5-pack for the ’61 Impala – here representing Dom’s Impala from the beautiful opening scene of The Fate of the Furious.

The Hot Wheels ’61 Impala was a new model in 2012, and so far has only been produced in 8 different variations, the nicest of which, in my opinion, was found in the 2013 Cool Classics series.

Hot Wheels | FYL16 | 2019 Fast & Furious 5-Pack | ’61 Impala (Fate of the Furious) | red with white and silver trim, clear windows, gray interior | Indonesia | MC5

Hot Wheels | ’72 Gran Torino Sport (Fast & Furious) | green with white trim | Indonesia | MC5

Hot Wheels | Corvette Grand Sport Roadster (Fast Five) | silver with license plate and tail light tampo | Indonesia | LW

Hot Wheels | ’70 Ford Escort RS 1600 (Fast & Furious 6) | blue with white trim | Indonesia | gold 5SP

Hot Wheels | ’70 Chevelle SS (Fast & Furious) | matte gray | Indonesia | chrome rim black PR5

It was also Brad at OrangeTrackDiecast.com who pointed out that all of the cars in the 5-pack are unique variations. In fact, the ’61 Impala in the individual blister is a different variation than the one in the 5-pack. So, of course, I had to run to Walmart to find one of those as well. Besides, it has pretty cool card art.

While all of the cars in the 5-pack are made in Indonesia, the individual ’61 Impala is cast in Thailand. It has open-hole 5-spoke wheels, versus muscle car 5-spokes in the 5-pack. And, rather than the gray interior seen in the 5-pack, the individual car has a white interior.

Hot Wheels | FYY57 | 2019 Fast & Furious Series (The Fate of the Furious) | ’61 Impala | red with white and silver trim, smoke windows, white interior | OH5

In my collection I also have the Jada Fast & Furious 1:32 scale ’61 Impala.