Hot Wheels No. 3 - 2021 Ford Mustang Mach 1

Not bad, not bad at all........... 😎 😎 

Impressive chassis detail!

@jkuvakas +1.

I like it. I'll have to run over to Target and see if they have one. I picked up the Corvette at a target while in Indiana. I am very pleased with it.

That looks great and is very nicely done ! The price is quite nice, too. That grey color seems quite popular now days.

I seem to be the only person who continues to be totally unimpressed by these new Hot Wheels models. The castings look distinctly "soft-focus", the paint looks heavy, as if trying to disguise detail shortcomings in the casting, and the surface detailing also looks "soft" and nowhere near as crisp as on the DeAgostini models which JK has been featuring in videos, and several of which I own, so I know how much sharper they look.

If nobody told me otherwise I would have said this was a $5 mass-market toy. Some forums members with a keen eye for model quality obviously approve of them, and maybe if I saw one in the metal I might change my mind, but on the evidence I don't feel any urge to find out, and don't understand the enthusiasm for what is a distinctly second-rate product to my eye. Of course opinions on the forum will often vary on the merits of any particular model range, but my assessment doesn't usually diverge that far from the general view. But in this case . . . Sorry. Thumbs down.

@graeme-ogg I think your assessment is spot on. There's no question this HW is toy-like,  but the take-away here is that for c.$25 one is able to get a decent, in scale, metal replica of a very popular car.

With evolving manufacturing techniques, increasingly becoming more sophisticated, I suspect the day will come when these "mass-market toys"  will look much like high-end  1/43 replicas look today. 

Remember what 1/43 collectable vehicles looked like 30-35 years ago?   This toy-like  HW Mustang beats the hell out of any of those.  😏 😏 

Well, I'm glad you agree about the "toy-like" aspect, but not so sure about the question of price and quality of detail.

The "evolving manufacturing techniques" are not something to look forward to in the future, they are already available for mass-market production and allow people like DeAgostini to turn out models in Chinese factories to a higher standard than this - and at lower prices. I can pick up models in the the American Cars series from France or Spain for as little as 15 Euros. OK you might say DeAgostini enjoy economies of scale in churning them out, but Mattel is also a big outfit and should be able to match them on quality and price.

30 years ago? I have some quality European diecasts from way back then that have crisper casting and detailing, and fairly moderately priced diecasts from 10-15 years ago that blow these Hot Wheels out of the water.

p.s. Yes, the underbody detail is pretty good! Shame about the rest.

@graeme-ogg I fully understand your point... "As large as HW is, with all their resources they can clearly do better... why then, churn out toy-like replicas?"   I would argue it's because they can.  

 Some clever marketing folks sieged on this opportunity to gain additional profits by producing low cost/high markup diecast cars in a slightly larger scale than their usual "1/64"  size.

HW makes toys. If they can increase profits (with minimal effort ) by marketing "1/43 replicas" (that are toy-like ) they'd be foolish to ignore that revenue stream.

I'll see if I can find one, get it on the turntable with some nice lighting, and give you a closer look.

I like the DeAgostinis. But, they are not consistently well done. Some of them have sub-standard trim or stripes, odd-looking tires, and questionable wheels. Others are spectacular. The packaging on the DeAgostinis is flimsy, and so is the base. The good ones are a great value but the marginal ones, not so much. If you're on a subscription here in the States, they are about $20 each. That's the only reasonable way to get them over here because the well-done ones go for much more than that on the secondary market. 

Posted by: @jkuvakas

I'll see if I can find one, get it on the turntable with some nice lighting, and give you a closer look.

I like the DeAgostinis. But, they are not consistently well done. Some of them have sub-standard trim or stripes, odd-looking tires, and questionable wheels. Others are spectacular. The packaging on the DeAgostinis is flimsy, and so is the base. The good ones are a great value but the marginal ones, not so much. If you're on a subscription here in the States, they are about $20 each. That's the only reasonable way to get them over here because the well-done ones go for much more than that on the secondary market. 

I have found, buying some Di Agostini's European classics, often a tiny detail change can bring them up nicely and they fit alongside more expensive products quite comfortably. I generally pick-up their models for between 12€ and 20€ max' ! ! !  I would like to buy some of their American range models, but it seems you have to subscribe to the series.

Yes, we are fortunate over here because somehow or other DeAgostini/Altaya seem to release quantities of these models for sale as stand-alone items in Europe. Either that or model shops take out a large subscription for each set and then sell the models singly. Which is good for collectors like me because (a) not all the models in the series interest me and (b) as JK says, some are not as quite as well done as others. I guess these shops may find themselves stuck with the less desirable models in each set.

I had this problem years ago with the Franklin Mint 1:43 series of American cars. Only available here by subscribing to the full sets and since some of the models didn't look so great, I passed on the lot, and years later got the ones I liked second-hand at swapmeets (often at throw-away prices, unlike the nasty mark-ups you find on eBay for DeAgostini models you may have missed when they came out).

My Target shelves are all empty, so I have not gotten the Mustang or Jeep yet.  Harvey - if you happen to go back and see them... Please.  Still not on the website either... Wonder if the sleazy dealers have bought them all up already...

I really have a dislike for that color that some cars are coming in now. That gray color looks like it should be used on a military vehicle of some type and I do not, repeat do not, like those black wheels. I've changed so many of my models by painting the wheels the color that I think look more appropriate. 

Of course just my personal opinion.

Steve