It’s been quite a while since your HB dropped by Colorado Diecast, but I made up for the length of my absence with a score worthy of a dedicated blog post. What I did today was rather foolish, but due to my passion for mid 1950s General Motors products, I couldn’t help myself.
Again, I reference my post in which I announced joining the Red Line Club: I included an image in that post that I grabbed off the web: an incredibly beautiful Spectraflame blue and white 1957 Buick Caballero station wagon. This is-bar none-my favorite station wagon in all motoring history! OK, I’ll give you that it’s linemate, the ‘57 Olds Fiesta, is a close second, but the Buick wins-barely-on the tail lamp housings and grille! The caption I put under that picture read “tell me what I have to do to get this one from way back in 2010.”
Well, today I found out what I had to do: the answer was, cough up an absurd amount of money! I’m already having some buyers remorse over this thinking about all of the things that I could have bought with what I spent on this one Hot Wheels car, but this was not an impluse buy; I saw this in one of their many glass cases way back in early December and wanted it then, but I held off due to holiday expenses and told myself that I would buy it early in the new year if, by some chance, it was still there the next time I stopped in. And there it was…waiting for me! So, you see? I had no choice!
And again this brings up the issue of packaging, which I ranted about in my follow-up post about RLC. This is a sealed blister pack, so I cannot open and enjoy it. At some point, I may choose to violate it anyway just because I can’t resist; I mean, could you? Look at how beautiful this thing is, with its wide white walls and opening hood, the roof and the grille cast will all the details of the magnificent real thing. But for now, it stays put in the package as a wall ornament.
And it has some good company! Another recent RLC purchase has just arrived! The now legendary demand for the 2014 RLC club release called the Candy Striper, the spectraflame pink and white 55 Chevy gasser that routinely sells for over $1500 now, must’ve inspired Mattel to release something similar: another spectraflame pink and white ‘55 gasser! This one is more subdued than the Candy Striper, and features the Neoclassic-style redline wheels that I profiled in my post about that collectors line, which are made to look exactly like the original bearing wheels even though in reality, they have a much more conventional construction.
I bought two of these, one for myself and one for Jason, and it was all I could do to give that second one up, but it was the right thing to do, considering what he has done for me over the last couple of weeks…
My “Hot Wheels Whisperer” has made some great scores recently, including hitting a local Target at exactly the right time and nabbing a nice pile of the most recent Hot Ones series. As the name implies, they’re hot! Stores can’t keep them stocked; the moment they appear, the epay flippers grab them and they’re gone. He even managed to get me the Porsche 917 LH, the second time around for this casting as a Hot One…I still don’t have the last issue of it!
This is all in addition to some fantastic Matchboxes he found recently and picked up for me, including a recent recolor of the Alfa Romeo Dueto Spyder to metallic teal, and a pair of excellent late 60s Fords including everyone’s favorite Mustang!
The Buick Caballero was not the only thing I picked up @ COD today! Nope, there were some more awesome finds as there always are, including a pair of treasure hunts, one a really awesome model of a car that I have never seen before: the “Chevrolator!” How could I turn that down?? it looks like a C1 Corvette reimagined as a stretched land speed record car. I also picked up another copy of the gold and white Riley and Scott Mk III (also a TH), a black flamed Ferrari 333 SP, and an orange racing version of the Jaguar XJ 220 that I’ve never seen before. For good measure, I threw in their very pleasing casting of the ’58 T-Boid, and rounded it out with a Honda CRX with a red/white/blue racing tampo that I also had never seen until today!
With the exception of the insane purchase I made, it seems to me like Colorado Diecast has moderated their prices somewhat; other than the Buick wagon everything I grabbed today was very reasonably priced, and of course, as always, I had to hit their infamous 50-cent bin, and not only got some cool mainlines for Jason and myself, but also picked up a couple of vintage Lesney-era Matchbox Superfasts, one very rough, but one in excellent condition!
So that’s it for this weekend’s diecast update, but don’t go away: next up, get some bigger news from the track, and a new addition to the numbered Auto World Ultra-G racing fleet; there are some new arrivals headed to Drag City!
But that Buick was a must have! I haven’t seen anyone make a model of that car. That is like a once in a lifetime kind of thing, so I totally get that! Congratulations on that acquisition. As a lifelong Buick lover, this was one that you really did need. There are some other really nice pieces too, like that Pontiac Bonneville! I really like that Toyota truck too!