Despite the challenges that last year brought, it was a great time to be a diecast collector. The amount of new brands, new castings, and new avenues explored were enough to empty even the deepest of wallets. So while we’re firmly into 2021, the momentum is certainly continuing at an increasing pace.
Case in point – Hot Wheels.
In 2021 alone, the blue brand has released, among many new castings, a Lancia Delta integrale, a Dodge Van in Japanese ‘Dajiban’ style, and a Ford GT40 MKIV. And now, another Roman numeral ambassador to drool over, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI.
Find all those great castings on eBay!
It was only a matter of time before the Subaru Impreza 22B STi’s on course competitor made an appearance as a carded adversary. It’s with great pleasure and appreciation I can present an early representation of the casting.
The pictures, courtesy of Jimmy Liu, show a pearlescent paint job sitting over small gray 5-spokes. The interior and rear spoiler, clearly the same piece, are molded in a bright blue. It looks like the hood vent inserts are part of the window piece, and hallelujah there are side mirrors. Praise to the diecast god of good choices! I should point out that the production car will not look like this (or will it?), if it wasn’t already obvious.
Overall, the proportions look great, even with a bit of Hot Wheels artistic license. The wheel arches cut into the body higher than they should and the trunk lid appears to be for an Evo 5 instead.
It will debut as a premium model in an upcoming Car Culture mix. Deco and mix mates TBD, but it might not be the only triple diamond in the release.
Hot Wheels already tackled the Evo VII and Evo X, so it will be great to get the three together for a family portrait. I already have my hunch that the X will dwarf the other two – I wouldn’t be surprised to learn it’s been packing steroids in the trunk. The VI may also open the door for a possible rally set that might include the WRX, the 037, the integrale, the 959, the RS200…I could speculate all day long and hope until the morning comes, but only time will tell. As if we need reassurance, the Hot Wheels team is filled with enthusiasts with their fingers on the pulse of automotive culture and their noses in the history books of bygone eras. The future is unquestionably bright.
Find the Hot Wheels Lancer Evo on eBay!
Releases like this are making it very hard to focus my collecting. But given a choice, I’d rather have an overabundance of awesomeness than a drought of diecast. So I say, collect on!
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