One of the highlights of Hot Wheels Batch J is the next color of the 2017 Ford GT. Blue was a stellar debut, especially when complimented by a Super Treasure Hunt, but the second color is even better.
Grey with a black stripe and black rims is a standard look for the Ford GT, and it makes this casting look really good. When featuring a model like this, though, my tendency is to put it together with previous releases, which are quite a few considering this model was only released a few months ago. The new grey version would look nice next to last year’s basic, Super TH, and Forza releases.
But it looks even better next to its true counterpart. A model that is truly one of my all-time favorite Matchbox models – the 2005 Matchbox Superfast ROW Ford GT:
The pairing is obvious. Same color combo, same center stripe. The color of the rims is the only significant difference. But there they are, two generations of the Ford GT making one good-looking pair. Both major Mattel diecast brands, coming together beautifully.
I could go in one of two directions. The first is to discuss the 2017 Ford GT casting, while the second is to give a little background on the Matchbox. I can do both.
There isn’t much to say about the Hot Wheels. The casting itself does sit slightly too high, but other than that it looks great, and this color combo will be hard to top. And the same goes for the Matchbox. Those Superfast wheels were never collector favorites, but other than that the model is almost perfect.
I don’t think the 2005 Ford GT will ever leave my list of Top 5 Matchbox castings. I have been a huge fan since the first release over 10 years ago in red. And because of that I made sure I pursued all the releases, some of which were not easy to get.
In the mid-2000’s Matchbox was working hard to appeal to many areas of the world, releasing some region-specific lines. That meant lines like Stars of Cars specifically in Europe and the ROW (Rest of World) Superfast line released in Europe and Australia. ROW Superfast mirrored the 75-car US Superfast line casting-wise, but the colors were different. It was cool to see attention paid to other markets like that, and forced collectors to make friends with others overseas in order to ensure every collector got what they wanted.
I remember getting my grey Ford GT from Australia, via a trade with my good friend Jono Crellin. And I am glad I did, because the batch that contained the Ford GT was released in very small numbers. Sadly, like many Mattel lines, overstocked pegs meant later batches didn’t have a place to go, and that meant those models would end up much harder to find.
So as it turned out, the ROW Ford GT became hard-to-find out of the gate, and remains on many collector’s want lists. I got mine back in 2006, and have held on to it ever since.
So it was kind of cool to be reminded of the ROW GT by the release of the Hot Wheels version. I will have to keep them together.
Leave a Reply