You know the ones I'm talking about. Those HWC/RLC releases that are extra special. The ones we emphasize in our collections and the ones new collectors will pay $100 for on eBay in a year or two. There's the 'Candy Striper' '55 Chevy Bel Air Gasser, the Real Riders Texas Drive 'Em, the Gulf Racing VW Drag Bus and, of course, that lime green '83 Chevy Silverado rolling on fat whitewalls. I don't need to include links or pictures, because the 4 HWC releases I just described are so iconic that you'll be able to conjure up an image in your mind faster than you can search eBay and experience some sticker shock.
The recent Holiday '64 GMC Panel deserves to join that elite club of standout RLC cars and it probably will join that group eventually. Yeah, Christmas is over, and not everyone wants to stare at a holiday car in July, but this year;s Hot Wheels holiday car is timeless.
Collectors have always considered the '64 GMC Panel as a sort of counterpart to the '55 Chevy Panel. The '55 Chevy had a bike in the back when it first came out. Collectors first complained that you couldn't easily remove the bike and later complained when the opening door feature and bike were lost. So Mattel threw us diehards a tantalizing holiday bone by opening up the '64 GM's tailgate and throwing in a detailed snowmobile. How cool is that? Oh and there's a little notch just inside the liftgate so you can easily slide the snowmobile in and out and remove it easily.
The snowmobile is epic. It's the obvious gimmick, but it's all metal, matches the panel truck's deco, and it's a cool gimmick. There's more than the snowmobile, though. The Real Riders are perfectly suited. The Spectraflame gold finish is one of the best Spectraflame finishes I've seen in a few years. That's a welcome change in my books after a few rough years and declining finish quality on spectraflame-emblazoned RLC releases.
Beyond Spectraflame and snowmobiles, the little details really stand out. Sure, there's a detailed license plate that says 'hpyhldz'. As if that's not cool enough, Mattel made the renewal stickers for the license plate green and red in the top corners of that already-miniscule license plate. If that's not attention to detail, I don't know what is. Oh, and since I'm not one to miss an opportunity to state the obvious, this one's all metal (base and body) and rolls on redline tires. It doesn't get much better. Enjoy the photos! (And get your hands on one before the price becomes prohibitive...can't say I didn't warn ya...)
Happy Collecting!!
From : thewesterndiecastreview.blogspot.com
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