BY: TOM FELICE
Hello ladies & gentlemen, Its now already getting cold outside & fall is upon us. As always it went way to quick again this year. This spring & summer has been very busy, between the shows each weekend, the family, the house, the cars and so on there is just not enough time. Somehow we all seem to manage to make it all work. What I am getting at is that so many new things have hit the stores and shows that it’s once again hard to keep up. Not that that’s a bad thing!
I will get right to it then and start off with model cars. The AMT/Ertl Company has come out with a different way of packaging the 1:24th scale 71 R/T Charger released a while back. It’s now in a 3 pack with a 36 Ford coupe and a 67 Mustang along with glue & paints and a brush. AMT/Ertl company also has released a 69 Charger 500 “buyer choice edition” 1:24th scale skill level 2. Yet another AMT release is for you 1970 fans, is the 70 Charger from the Fast and Furious film. The release date says September so it’s available already unless they held the release. That does happen from time to time. The box art looks good but still looks like it will be the “open head light” look. I hope they will give the option to use a flat hood for a stock look. If they don’t offer that then I hope AMT will release a stock 70 in the future. If we hear anything we’ll pass it on!
Sticking with model releases Testors “Lincoln Mint, ultra metal series” has once again released another un-built metal model. It is a 69 Charger R/T. They did release a Daytona a while back in the same way. (See T&C #14). The car comes in more than 100+ pieces, and is skill level 3. It is the most challenging level to build. You don’t need to paint it unless you’d like to change the red color it comes in.
Now to Hotwheels, It was not so long ago that I mentioned that Hotwheels had, out at the time, seven chargers in different years, colors, and sizes. Well they now have just hit the market with a 69 Charger in 1:64th scale. That’s right not since 1968 has Hotwheels released a 69 1:64th scale Charger! It was a joy to see it in the stores again. This car is black with gray flames/stripes on the side. Hot Wheels is also now in the final phase of the 69 Charger Daytona release (make sure you get them while they last) and it’s nice to see another Charger year taking its place. In addition to that they also have another Charger concept R/T release in the scorcher series that’s out (special thanks to Robert Miller on that one Thanks Rob).
Muscle Machines 1:64th is now out in a few more colors also. The releases are now in orange and also in yellow. Speaking of Muscle Machines. I mentioned, not so long ago, that a company comes along that breaks the mold, so to speak. The first in this latest trend was Johnny Lightning, their detail is still to be admired and keeps the other companies on their toes. Then came Muscle Machines in 2001 and the new look was awesome and refreshing to say the least, some other descriptions I hear are tough, mean lookin, wild, and so on. Well the reason for all this is that I have seen yet another company just recently on the shelves of the local Target store called Phat Boyz. They come two cars to a package and are about ½ the size of a Hotwheels car. The idea they came up with is a squished look. The cars look like they have been run over or sat on. They are low, short and wide. Sounds weird to describe it but you have to see these things they are kinda cool looking and they have a 69 Daytona in the package with a 57 Chevy. The Daytona is turquoise with flames up the hood. They also released a 71 Charger with a GTO along with it in the package. The Charger is in Red with green flames up the hood & a white roof. Keep your eye out for these cars. I’ve see them in Wal-Mart and Target.
The Johnny Lightning Company (www.playingmantis.com) is producing more chargers than we can shake a stick at these days and I will attempt to catch everyone up on the latest releases. In the past they released a Classic Gold edition charger and now the second series of Classic gold contains a yellow 69 R/T charger w/black tail stripe, top and interior. The next lineup they released a little while back is an awesome display of what JL is capable of. It’s the “Gold Series” , and let me tell you this is a super detailed 1:64th scale release in a hard plastic blister. There is a Daytona in this series in black with red stripe, white letter rubber tires and a 70 Charger R./T in plumb crazy purple. JL also has come out with another Daytona in PEZ yes PEZ. The car has 50yrs of PEZ on the roof & is in purple & tan. Kind of an ugly looking car but still it’s a Daytona so we’ll take it. Now they’ve also come out with a “Dragsters series”. In this set there is a 72 Charger called the fiend. It’s out in two different versions one with plastic tires & the other real rubber tires. Ok were almost caught up with JL. This next set is a Coca-Cola series. The car in set one is a 74 in blue. I have no more info on this car as of this printing. There is already a second set released in this series, set two includes a white 69 R/T Charger. The last JL Charger in this issue is in a Motor Trend series. This one is Gene Snows Funny Car Charger. Now your guess is as good as mine as to how a funny car made it into their Motor Trend series? Well I will stop here. I’m sure by the time you read this there will be even more cars released so collect what you like & like what you collect. Tomdroptop@aol.com Take care Tom