Mid-Summer Madness means miniature machines motoring onto your monitor!

(That’s alliteration, boys and girls.)

July 2014

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys (Doris Rowland) – Well, in that case, Pete is a Man among Men. Take a gander at this outrageous 1:18 replica of a Don Garlits top-fueler. This beast is nearly a foot and a half long!

Oh, you knew I’d be nice and provide you with a close-up of the engine. Drink in all those sumptuous details! Individual spark plug wires … hard lines … You can even see the teeth on the gear! And if you look carefully at the butterflies, you’ll see lettering which makes it obvious that Don Garlits is the original Notorious B.I.G.

Now, at first you might think this is an “error car“, its body shell sadly having come off the rivets and floating around loose in the blister. Look more closely, however, and you’ll see the body is quite attached and in fact matches the equally Escher-esque illustration on the cardboard. This is Poppa Wheelie, which I bought from Pete, and which has, well, no real explanation for itself. Wish I knew the source for that body concept. It looks a leeetle bit like a Trabant 600 Universal, but I’m not certain.

DeLorean DMC-12 and Back to the Future time machine. Hoo-boy. Big Tractor Mike RAOK’d me with these right at the beginning of the meeting, and I put them right away in my cart. And forgot about ’em, until I looked through the cart this past weekend, looking for something else. Of course, they’re deserving of a photo. However, instead of setting up my camera, I decided to put ’em on my scanner, just see to what kind of results I’d get.

In case you’ve ever wondered just what kind of geek would spend money on Franklin Mint Star Trek pewter sculptures, Your Humble Webmaster is exactly that kind of geek. However, like many of us, I’ve finally reached heartbreaking but unavoidable realization that Some Things Must Go. You see here the Klingon (née Romulan) Bird-of-Prey, and the Romulan Warbird, which now have Must-Go’d to Big Tractor Mike.

…And what did I get for them two statues? Not cash, but an in-kind trade in the form of these cases. Because while Some Things Must Go, still yet Other Things Must Be Stored Somewheres. Hmm… BTM got things from space, and I got things which contain space … So, he got space, I got space….

Tom purchased this way-cool VW set. Yes, this type of set is expensive compared to 5-car and 10-car sets, but then the collector is getting a higher-grade model. Depending on what one’s collecting goals are — not to mention the displaying goals — that extra cost can well be worth it.

Ken nabbed this one-of-a-kind … um, well, one-of-seven-thousand-kinds ’93 Camaro, which is even more rare in being autographed by über-successful driver Jack Baldwin.

Ken also nibbed this exceedingly rare Johnny Lightning Moving Van, a custom edition for the 1994 National Premium Incentive Show.

Ken also nubbed these Classic ’36 Ford Coupe…ses. The colors are great, and that’s thanks to Jim; these are re-paints.

Ken also norbed this delightful double-decker. Yeah, some paint bites here and there, but otherwise in fine shape. So, dear reader, is this a Matchbox classic, perhaps? Or maybe a PlayArt, or Corgi?

Nón, Monsieur! Eet ees indeed ze Haute Wheels Daubel-Deckaire! Le Mattel no longaire makes such fantastíque machínerée!

Another item Ken purchased is this very convincing Mad Max knock-off. While the movie Interceptor is actually a 1974 Ford Falcon XB sedan, this AMC AMX has the color scheme just about right, and makes a great substitute for kids who couldn’t find a licensed model.

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. This is actually a prize from the Kool-Aid Wacky Warehouse. Because the ’80s ruled, dude!

Bill gets a triple-word-score here. He lucked into several sets of the highly-rare Matchbox military two-packs. As I arranged these for the photos, I noticed some curiosities. First, and most obvious, there are two different styles of cardboard backer. Second, there are two sets labeled “TP-12” in  the third photo … yet the vehicles are different in each set. This makes me wonder just how many total set variations there are…

Ah-so! Honorable Bill-san has done very well here. This pop-top Bug was introduced in 1972 as Dragon Wheels, and re-christened as Hot Chocolate in the ’82 line. This special edition with Japanese-market window box makes a classy coda.

Oh, this is too yummy. Finding older Hot Wheels still on the card is hard enough. It’s even harder when that card is from a specific series, rather than the “generic” HW card. Bill scores mighty-mighty with this Speed Machines-edition ‘Vette Van. And as if that weren’t enough, check out the retro pricing on the sticker! For its on-card coolness, its series singularness, and its vintage valuation, I hereby declare this to be our July 2014 Find of the Month!

See you at the August meeting!

~WM