Die-cast Blast! Premiums, Elites, and Mainlines – A Weekday Report from the Hunting Grounds

Because it’s been a few days, I thought it was time for a “lite” weekday post showing some goodies I’ve added to the ginormous 1:64 collection over the last few weeks. 2 of these were specifically purchased with intent for the diorama, while others may rotate in briefly throughout the next year, and still others are just interesting or cool. So, here’s a look at a few recent additions, some of which you can find in your own local store, and others…maybe not so much…

“Elite 64”

This ‘75 BMW 3.0 CSL is definitely bound for Drag City! How could it not be? When this showed up on the RLC club page I jumped right on it! Usually, I don’t open cars like this, but I’m going to open this one! The 2^nd purchase I made after joined RLC was another “Elite 64” McLaren, and I opened that one too; even put decals on it, and it’s in the paddock right now. This BMW will be joining it soon! That means I can repurpose the blister pack protector for another car, since I can never open these packages cleanly without tears! It sucks to have to throw such nice packaging away, but that’s what you get when they make them non-reusable, and hey…you can’t keep them all sealed!

Premiums

Along comes another P-917K! This one will not replace the Gulf livery version in the paddock-I like that one too much-but it will augment the display somewhere because, look at it: it has to! The name “Circuit Legends” certainly piques my interest! What other “circuit legends” might we be seeing in this series?

The ‘70 Roadrunner was a must have for obvious reasons – its an uptowned copy of a casting that has long existed and I have several mainline versions, but this one was offered in a very appealing color combo with really awesome wheels. The mint green Bronco rounds it out: this casting has also been done recently as a mainline Matchbox, but I liked the color combo and the wheels on this metal/metal version, so grabbed it I did!

Hot Ones!

I love these, you know it! I’m a sucker for the retro stuff and Jason my Hot Wheels Hunter scored a few more at an after-work stop Target and picked me up a couple more! Now I have 2 of the “long tail” 917LH’s and the oversized but still cool GT-40 Mk IV. Still doubt I’ll open these, but you never know…

HW “XL”

This is a fairly new thing they’ve started doing. I don’t collect 1:43’s like I do 1:64’s but I like them, and along with my Hot Ones, J picked himself up one of these “enlarged” El Segundo Coupes. This one was a little poignant for yours truly, since it is a blown-up version of the exact car that helped start my cub on Hot Wheels collecting: the 1:64 version you see on the countertop below it is the very first Hot Wheels I ever gave to Jason, so his getting this bigger version seemed like a nice bookend!

Anniversary Editions

This is another thing Mattel is now doing annually: the bright gold and metallic anniversary editions. 2024 was turquoise, 2025 was purple, now 2026 is dark metallic blue. Nice! The ’70 Camaro, Honda Civic hatch, Subee Brat, ’80s Dodge D100 and everyone’s favorite HW ever (it seems) The Boneshaker, all here! Only the “sharknosed” Corvette-that eternal casting from 1975-is missing from this sequence

Mainlines

And last but not least, the bulk-cheapies that anyone can buy…if you can find ‘em! Here again, The Hunter comes through with a haul for me and a haul for himself, although a couple of his are now on my want list: especially that Datsun 240Z in gorgeous copper-orange, probably the 2nd best variation I’ve seen on this awesome casting to date, and the cool “La Liebre” coupe, another fantasy car so cool it should be real!

For my stash, the only one of these 7 I already had was the red Cortina, but I only had a single one which I snagged @ a Wallyworld in AZ when I was there for X-mas, so a 2^nd copy is much appreciated! The black satin issue of the “Hoto Roto” is awesome, as is the white El Segundo and the “Willow Green” Mini, which will be getting a racing number decal applied soon enough! Bound for the diorama, then? We’ll see! And that “Pantone” series model of the Twin Mill III is especially cool to me, considering that after working in the graphics and print/publishing industry for well over a decade, it’s a concept I’m very familiar with! I used to talk to co-workers in “Pantone-speak;” whenever someone said “186” we all knew exactly what that meant!

And THIS is why they’re called “Treasure Hunts!”

So one that Jason found that I definitely didn’t get was this gray Triumph TR6! Very cool! I wanted it and he was almost ready to give it to me until he saw that little logo on the back of the card behind the car! Holy cow, how does he keep finding these things in the wild like this?!

And there you have it folks, just the latest additions to the collection that’s eating my basement and my brain! I may run out of room someday, but I’m not there yet, and when your cars are as easy to store and maintain as these are, I say…keep ‘em coming!