Today's First Look is one of my favorite Matchbox castings. Actually, if you forced me to answer, I would say the Ford GT IS my favorite Matchbox casting. It has been around for seven years now, and it always looks good and current. Ford does not even make the car anymore and I still think it is one of the best-looking current cars on the road.
And I hope for years to come Matchbox finds a place for it in their lineup. There are so many color combos they could do, and I am all for some out-there colors as well. There really is no color combo that would look bad.
And then the 2012 version comes out. Now I have seen the words "horrible", "ghastly", "disastrous", and others used to describe this model when it was previewed by the Ambassador. I understand the sentiment. It is such a favorite casting among collectors, and not seeing it in its racing or street clothes is very disappointing.
But I won't that far in describing it. I kind of like it. There are two things I really like about it - the color and the wheels. I have been waiting to see the Matchbox 5sp wheels, which are so cool looking, on the GT, and they work perfectly. And the metallic tan looks really nice as well, making a great color-combo for the model. After that, I don't know if the blue windows work, and I haven't met a Desert Games captain with a Ford GT. Now admittedly I haven't been to many Desert Games, nor have I met any captains, so maybe Mattel knows something I don't.
I will chalk this GT under the "variety" column as I put it in my collection. When it comes to my favorite castings, I am definitely in the "more the merrier" camp. As long as we see more realistic versions in the future, I might gain even more affinity for this one. It goes in the "mixed-feelings" bag for now.
Matchbox Ford GT (2012 basic range):
