Monthly Toy Haul - 11/03/23

I have been a diecast collector since 2017, but I have never thought about writing about them on a monthly basis, so what a better time than now to start! We have an amazing haul this month! Some amazing cars, and some interesting information regarding them to follow!

Vintage Gifts

Early in the month, I got gifted this amazing Reader’s Digest 6 Car Pack. Now, I normally open all of my diecast, but this time I decided to keep it packaged since it was quite vintage. Until I find out more information on whether these are rare or not, I’ll leave them in their plastic covers. These Reader’s Digest packs were only gifted to subscribers of the namesake’s monthly series, which consisted of condensed versions of popular new books that gave readers a chance to give the novels a go before buying the actual books. Anyways, turns out this set was from 1989, which is pretty vintage, considering I'm not even that old! Each car inside is quite special too! From the top, we have the [1910 Ford Model T], which was the first affordable production car introduced in 1908, sold to middle class Americans! Contrary to popular knowledge that Henry Ford was quoted saying, “you could have the Model T in any colour as long as it was black!”; the car was only available in Blue, Green, Grey or Red from 1908 to 1913. It was only until 1914 was the quote actually implemented. In fact, Blue was the only standard colour, Grey was reserved for Town cars, red for Touring cars and Green was for Coupes and Landaulets (like the example here!) 

Second to the top was the [1910 Fiat Modello 8CV], which is basically the Fiat Type 54 which was produced from 1910 to 1911, was an executive open touring car of the time. It was powered by a 5.7 litre inline 4 producing 30 horsepower, and carried 5 people. Not much is known about this car unsurprisingly! 

In third, is the [1912 Simplex], more correctly known as the Crane-Simplex Model 3, was only sold as a chassis and a 6-cylinder engine. Again not much is known about these brass era cars!

Next up is the [1906 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost], the first British car on this list. It had a 30 horsepower 7 litre inline 6. This specific car shown here has the ‘Roi-des-Belges’ open top that was coach built by Barker and in 2005 this was the most expensive car in the world, at $35 million USD!

This next one is the [1914 Vauxhall Prince Henry], with the highest power so far, was run by a 4 litre 75 horsepower inline 4. Any other information known about this car, is that it was Vauxhall’s first sports car!

Lastly in this 6-pack is the [1907 Peugeot 95], a French executive cabriolet, made to compete with the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. It had a whopping 11.1 litre inline 6, making 60 horsepower, and even though it weighed significantly more that the rest of the cars here, it was the only one that could get faster than 100 km/h, quite a lot for the time!

Jay Leno’s Garage Premium Set

I only went out twice this month to buy toys. This first time I only bought this [Chevy], the [Aero Sculpt] and the [Merc], and the second to buy the rest!

The [Custom ‘70 Chevy Nova] is a casting we have gotten 4 times as of now, which features a widebody 1970 Chevrolet Nova with a drag wing and a full roll cage and this superb ‘Metalflake Green’.

The [Aero Sculpt] on the other hand is the first appearance we have seen of this casting, which depicts an aerodynamic form of a generic 60’s race car, and left in ZAMAC form too! That’s Zinc, Aluminium, Magnesium, And Copper alloys!

The [‘80 Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL] is also a brand new casting, harking back to the classic Matchbox with opening doors! However, this isn’t the first time that Matchbox has made this chassis 450 SEL. They originally produced this car from 1979 to 1985!

The second time I went out was actually today. I was hoping to get the full Jay Leno’s Garage Premium Set, but the only one I missed out on was the red [Lamborghini Countach] sadly. The [‘66 Chevrolet Corvair Yenko Stinger], however, was one of the cars in the set I was actually looking forward to! The car was 1 of 115 Yenko versions of the Corvair Corsa and Car & Driver was quoted saying that the car was “the most beautiful car since before WWII”. This car is powered by a rear-mounted 240hp 2.7L Flat-6 like a Porsche 911! 

The set sure is great, with every car being practically unique! Even this reused casting on the [Mercedes-Benz 300 SL] had detailed front and rear lights, period correct racing livery, and even paint peeling to show its unrestored look! The real history of this car was that it was found in the desert, rotting alone, with no engine or transmission; and Jay Leno wants to swap in a classic 6.3 litre V8!

The next car in this set is a nostalgic one: the [Jay Leno Tank Car], rightly named so! Its actual name is the Blastolene Special and it houses a 29.4 litre Continental AV1790-5B V12 from an American M47 Patton main battle tank with twin turbos and a 6-speed Allison gearbox! The car approximately makes 1,600 horsepower! The reason why I said this car was nostalgic was because it was actually featured in Gran Turismo 4!

The final car in this set that I could find was this beautiful [Mclaren F1]. The Jet Black colour scheme with the red stripe is actually depicting Chassis 015 car! The other car sharing this colour scheme was Chassis 002, which was delivered to the Sultan of Brunei (as always…) Of the 64 Mclaren F1 road cars made, only 4 of these were in Jet Black!

Replica Entertainment Series

I’ve always loved the Replica Entertainment Series, whether they be famous movie cars like K.I.T.T. and the BTTF Delorean Time Machine, or TV Series cars like the Japanese Live Action Supaida-Man Car! This time the movie car was the [‘64 Lincoln Continental] from The Matrix trilogy. This car was driven by the good guys when they picked up Neo on the street, and is regarded as the best anti-hero car of all time!

And from the TV-series section is, funnily enough, another Jay Leno car: the [EcoJet]! This car is a one-off, specifically created for Jay Leno. Looks wise it resembles quite like a Cadillac Cien at the front! The car runs off the Honeywell LTS101 biodiesel gas turbine, which is normally found in helicopters. The 650hp car once broke its windows when Jay Leno was out testing the top speed!

Team Transport Series

This car/truck duo has always been a huge part of collecting for me, as I sometimes like to display my cars in racing teams with cars displaying similar liveries. One day, when I get a 1/64 diorama, these sets would greatly help out with the vibe and give me a head start!

First off is this [MG Metro 6R4], a brand new casting of the famous Group B rally car! This specific red and yellow livery resembles the Castrol Racing 6R4 that ambulance driver Didier Auriol drove and won in the 1985 French Rally Championship. Group B was unfortunately (or rather, fortunately) banned, due to a series of fatal crashes, and so the 6R4 was forced to race in other rallies… the 6R4 in the name stands for 6-cylinder, Rear-engine, 4-wheel drive!

The second Team Transport in this wave was the IWC Racing [‘16 Mercedes-AMG GT3]. The IWC Racing Team livery was previously featured on the spiritual predecessor of this car, the 300 SL. IWC Schaffhausen is a real brand that sells Swiss luxury watches, and the roof of the AMG GT3 features the 2015 IW324604 Ingenieur Automatic Edition “AMG GT”, limited to only 25 pieces!

And last, but definitely not least for this month’s haul is the [HW Classic Hydroplane], another brand new casting! The boat is not based on a specific powerboat, but just a generic one instead. Its truck features a special stand, unique to this casting, allowing the Hydroplane to balance on the stand! I seriously didn’t expect Hot Wheels to release such an awesome vehicle that didn’t even have Wheels!

Well, well, well… we've come to the end of today’s writeup, and I am so looking forward to what next month brings! Hopefully I can get some even cooler models!