Diorama Updates…Because This Stuff Is Simply Irresistible!

Although the massive pile of die-casts you saw showcased here have not yet been opened, there are a few very special cars that I bought over the last few months with the express intention of putting on the Drag City diorama. One of those cars was discussed here, where I expressed misgivings about opening it once I received it…which means I chickened out. Well, I finally hauled out my big ‘nads and tore open that “Elite64” McLaren. I tried, of course, to use the Acetone method to de-seal the package with as little damage as possible, and I failed, of course, as I often do at that; the package is ruined, and so be it! I added a racing number to the car (which it should have had from the factory, Mattel!) and its now in the paddock just where I imagined it when I bought it!

But that’s not all!

A couple more cars have replaced others on the layout! First off, we have a Matchbox “Superfast” edition ‘71 Nissan Skyline, which replaced a Datsun 510 of the same vintage.

If these seems like swapping like for like, you can see that the HW Datsun 510, despite being a great model, was cast just a little too big in comparison to other cars! This one has been on the layout for nearly 4 years ever since I got it, but although I’ve mostly made it work, I always knew it was out of scale with the other cars, so given the chance to replace it with another “J-vintage” racer, I retired the Datsun to a case.

Next up we have a Hot Wheels Premium version of the 917LH. I have several copies of this car in several different liveries, including another that looks almost exactly like this one, but as a mainline with standard plastic wheels and a plastic base. This baby is all metal and has Premium blackout wheels with rubber(ish) tires.

Everyone loves the Gulf Oil racing colors and I’m no exception, so this one replaced the “Psychedelic” dark blue and green version of the same car, lined up at the starting gate!

And lastly for these new additions: Matchbox just released a new color on the awesome Bizzarini 5300GT which I gushed about here. Actually they’ve just recently released a dark blue one as well, but I haven’t yet acquired that one. This bright green one, however, is a “Collector” issue of which I bought a pair (one to open, one to stay virginal!) and, like the red one earlier, my love for this car means this one takes a promenant place in the paddock! This one came out of package bearing racing #65, which suits me just fine!

Last Tuesday I got all “teazy” with y’all in this post, but I always come clean, and here’s 3 new additions to the layout from the last frenzied trip to Colorado Diecast: all 3 are “service vehicles.” The truck at the entrance to the carnival represents a change; this was originally an ice cream truck which was moved from the area near the Dunlop bridge, but I decided to relocate it over there to make room this for this new tableau. However, I admit I was quite furious when I opened up this recent pressing of the age-old “Highway Hauler” and found out the rear doors don’t open!!! Why the hell not? They always have with every release of this vehicle in the past! Can you throw us a frickin’ bone here, Mattel? Isn’t it enough we have to pay $10-15 for these premium cars with the metal in them that we used to get a for a buck? Can we get some opening cargo doors here please???

Well, I guess should have scrutinized the truck more carefully in the shop as I was making this up in my head, but as I said, every copy of the Highway Hauler I’ve ever owned had opening rear doors, and the plan was to leave them propped open while people crowded around the Hot Wheels vendor at the entrance to the Carnival! What more perfect place to sell Hot Wheels than a big racing event at Drag City?

Even with the doors closed, you can see he’s there at his little table and people are gathered around the check out the goodies. Now, what’s not complete about this tableau are the cars that should be on that table…so all I need to do is find about 2 dozen 1:500 scale die-casts and as soon as I do, I’ll have that table “populated!”

Also near the track now are a cargo van (a casting originally released in 1977 as the “Letter Getter,” and this hefty all-metal piece takes me back to those times), this one is emblazoned with the awesome Champion spark plugs logos, and across the track on the other side we have a “pro-tour” style ‘59 Chevy Sedan Delivery providing trackside service for Hurst products! Not bad, not bad at all!

And lastly, we have a new fuel tanker over in the fuel depo; unlike old Shell and BP tankers which are each pumping fuel into the track’s storage tanks (Drag City maintain a stash of both brands of fuel for racers), this “interloper” is a Philips 66 tanker, a late ’40s Ford CoE that looks mighty ‘rodded out with those big 5-spoke mags. Perhaps he’s a clever sales rep using his cool truck as a conversation piece to try to interest the track brass in switching brands?

Now then, there’s one more car that I really want to add to the layout but I cannot figure out where to put it: that would be the Porsche 959, which is pushing the limits considering the real car was released in 1986, and we’ve only just achieved that year here in the “storyboard” of Drag City because, as I explained here, it is whatever year I say it is, and we still haven’t finished the 1986 racing season! Of course, it’s just fine by me if the 80’s go on forever, but since I know some of y’all are dying to see some racing action on this blog about, ya know, racing, I figured I’d better get back at it! That means that maybe I shouldn’t spend so much time trying to figure out where to put this 959…so for the time being it remains sealed in its package sitting right beside the track waiting for me to make a decision. When (and if) I do, it will also get a racing number on its doors and trunk lid.

So there you have it: the latest changes to the action around the track at Drag City! Because an “equal number of” cars is always good! 😀