Hot Wheels Invader Invades 2007

I love this tank-like vehicle design. It looks mean and dangerous. Pictured here is the sand camouflage paint scheme released as a blueline last year and the sinister dark grey blueline for the 2007 model year.

2007 Mustang 5 Pack

This 5 pack made a great gift for a young Hot Wheels fan. The yellow '65 has an opening hood and the tooned '68 is a bit more geared towards his tastes than mine. The red Mach 1 is probably the best looking of the bunch and the gold GT is a great casting with a classy paint colour. I suppose the blue cobra is ok too :)

2007 First Editions '69 Ford Mustang Variations

Some of you may be new to the hobby or just have a passing interest in collecting Hot Wheels and might wonder what to consider. This model is a typical example where there are 3 completely different variations in colour. Other variations would include the tampos (paint decals applied over the main paint), rims (dozens to pick from) and other materials (glass colour, base colour, etc.) The variations here are pretty obvious, but some variations might take a keen eye to spot.

Also, you can imagine that one of these three might have been produced in a smaller quantity and so it would be more rare and therefore more valuable to collectors. Keep them in good shape, sometimes you don't know which one turns out to be the rarity until they are no longer available.

5 Pack Informaiton

Many collectors might not be aware of the full contents of a 5 Pack gift set. Of course there are the 5 cars, but there is also a collector card that is punched out of the cardboard below the peg hanger. Look at this:

Complete 2007 Pop-Offs series

Here are the 4 models of the "Pop Off" series. I don't usually try to complete the series cars but I do like the "pop offs" as they are called. Its like getting a bonus ability above the normal Hot Wheels - a little extra playability.

Dodge Challenger Concept - Another Red Variation

Check out this colour variation of the Dodge Challenger Concept. A beautiful deep red. I have posted a less recent version - The green one was found months ago and featured in a previous post. I must say that either colour looks great on this car. In my mind the green is more of a classic muscle car era colour and the red is more suited to the modern re-interpretation of the Challenger design.

Buick Grand National Variation

I mentioned before how I like this car. Now I see this colour variation. Another nice deep red. I like how this model isn't all gaudy with crazy tampos. Just simple and classy.


But still if I had to call a favorite, it would still be the black one.

2007 First Editions Porsche Cayman S

I have so many cars to go through I decided to make this a 2 post day. This one I just picked up today. It is a yellow colour variation of the Porsche Cayman S. The previous metalic colour was nice but not quite as exciting as a canary yellow.

2007 Chevy Silverado Variation

This is the first variation I have seen of this popular model. the body colour is a nice deep red. This classic colour would make any model look good.

Hot Wheels 2007 Mystery Cars

This is a great marketing idea from Mattel. As a consumer, I am not entirely sold on the idea. What you would see with a mystery car, is a car packaged on the same type of blister pack as most other basic cars. The band marking what series it belongs to is black, and there are no indications of model name or number on the packaging. The blister itself is blacked out so that it is impossible to know what car is inside.



Why this is cool: you never know what you will get - it could be a rare model.

Why this sucks: you never know what you will get - it could be the same car you got in the last 3 packages (like what happened to me with the pictured purple Volkswagen Beetle convertible).

Ferarri 512M Revealer

I didn't know it at the time but the Ferrari 512M found in a three pack a few months ago was a preview of one of the revealer's series. It is an interesting variation of a good casting - the colour is hard to describe - metalic-orangy, but with brownish tint. See for yourself:

Many new cars!

Ok, it has been a long time since my last post - I have had a lot going on but I plan to make up for it - I will profile a number of cars I have found lately. There are many new 2007 First Editions hitting shelves now and a few unexpected variations as well.

I will start with what might be the most unique casting of the year - Sky Knife. It is 2007 First Editions #13. A very cool futuristic helicopter. I'll let the picture speak for itself.

Black Ferarri 599 GTB

I found the Black Ferrari 599 today. It looks slick. I have said before that I am a Ferrari fan and so I am usually biased about these things. The casting is pretty good as these things go but something doesn't look quite right about the interior. I bet tinted windows would be an improvement.

A Bunch of New Finds

Today I was pleasantly surprised to find a few new 2007 First Editions on the pegs. First, this Humvee from the GOLD series. These really catch my eye. This is the second one I found - I think I will try to get the whole set.

Next is the black "Hot Bird" I have the black and purple ones - I like the 80's cars.



This Old Number 5.5 looks great in yellow or red.

And the Track Stars series is interesting because of the quality of the castings. I recognize a lot of these cars as special series cars from the 35th anniversary year. They were not released as "regular" Hot Wheels before.


Now This is a great hot rod colour scheme! It is a reverse of the other version I have from a few months ago.





And then I saw in front of me a few new models which do look very nice. This is the CCM and It has a great metal flake gold paint job.





I looked a bit deeper and found the "Nitro Scorcher" AKA "Ferracin'"





But my hunt was not complete until I found this beautiful Ferrari 250 LM: I do love a nice vintage racing Ferarri. Mattel knows to make it red for Farrari fanatics like myself.

TV Batmobile

Ok, I finally found a Batmobile. It seems like everyone stateside has been talking about them for months. As a Canadian, I have had to adjust to the fact that the new stuff takes a bit longer to get to us. The 2007 First Editions and other new hotwheels models have not been as slow as I can remember from previous years but I am always left to wonder if some cars will ever get here. At least I can say I got my TV Batmobile! for the record, it has the textured grille - I am not sure if that makes it special or not. Here is a picture:

Awesome Hot Wheels 3 Pack

For a Ferrari fan like me, this one was a great find. Two of the three cars were Ferrari's and they happened to be variations of the cars I don't have. I know that the black 599 GTB has been showing up in other places but I have yet to see it in its own blister pack. And the orange coloured 512 seems unique to me. The third car is a rather common Volkswagen New Beetle Cup car from the "Pop offs" series.

Some 2006's still showing up

I see these still showing up. We are well into 2007 but the 2006 models still make appearances. They are newer stock and they do come in the latest package style. Here are a few of those:

Odds & Ends

There have been a lot of new releases for different series' in 2007 that have caught my attention. I have mentioned before that I do not want to collect every single car that gets released but I will pick them up if I think they are worthy for whatever reason. The following cars have that special quality. I can't explain why, but these are the cars I have brought home over the past week or so, in no particular order:

My New Favorite Hot Wheels Car

Yes, I like this one a lot. The Ford GTX-1. It has the right combination of detail, color, tampos and style. The interior is chromed plastic and if I had one complaint it is that the dashboard behinf the windsheild has a fingerprint on it from the assembly process. It happens from time to time. I have a few other new finds I will be sharing in future posts - stay tuned.

Drought

Its a usual occurrence, when I get half a dozen new cars in such a short time period, then nothing for weeks. It doesn't stop me from looking regularly - but I get a bit disappointed when I go for more than a week or two with nothing new. So this update is just about how there is nothing new yet. For the sake of posting a picture, I present this graphic from my collecting website:

1 New Car Today

This Dodge Ram 1500 pickup in red looks much better in my opinion than the purple one. More... manly?

Good Day For New Cars

Today was a good day for new cars. I didn't get any treasure hunts but I did find a few new models and some variations for the 2007 First Editions. They have been trickling in for the past month, today the flow was better than average.

It started when I spied the white '70 Firebird. I like a lot of the old musclecars - this one is one of my favorites. The 66 Nova doesn't appeal to me as much but I was quite pleased to see the Buick Grand National.

To be objective, I could say the design of this car is a bit ugly - but in an '80's context it has a definite "edginess".

This red Camaro doesn't look quite as sexy with plain old 5spokes.
Colour variations were found for the Shelby and Charger, as well as a Ferrari blueline.




The great surprise for me today was this 5 pack. Gotham City is the name and it contains some awesome models. The top is a bike I have not seen before, but it looks very cool. Next is the 'Batman Begins' Batmobile - one of the best for sure - it was never released as a mainline car as far as I know. Then a Viper coupe with matte black paint. The helicopter looks very cool too but I don't recognize it - anybody know about it? please let me know. And the submarine is a mainline casting from a few years ago, but looks like it fits with the Gotham theme here - I might have to open this package!