Matchbox Monday Model of the Day: Matchbox 2007 10-pack Exclusive Honda Ridgeline...

Yes, this is a bit of a late post.  But we don't want to leave Matchbox Monday without something.  And we also need to do something on Matchbox Monday to remind you folks to visit the store of our Matchbox Monday partner, MVE Collectibles, who currently have stocked a ton of new and old Matchbox, M2, Greenlight, and Hot Wheels.  If you haven't checked them out, we suggest you do...)

Today was a traveling day, plus Mattel has not had a chance to photograph some new sneaks, so we are postponing the Matchbox Ambassador Update until next Monday.

In its place, we were able to post on Facebook some past posts on rare models of the Mattel era, including the Chilean Mini, Life EMS Ambulance, and the Line Preview Hazard Squad.  The model we are featuring today can easily fall into the "highly sought-after" category, while not necessarily classified as rare.

But then we have seen the 10-pack Toyota Land Cruiser in red (take a look at the completed listings by highest price first) skyrocket in price, mainly because there were a lot of people who missed out on it when it was out a few years ago.  And of course because the 10-pack models were produced in much lesser numbers.

The Honda Ridgeline will never achieve the legendary status of the Toyota Land Cruiser, but you do wonder what the future holds for the real thing.  It does seem that there is a considerably smaller number of Ridgelines on the road these days, and it does seem to look more and more dated.

And the same goes for the Matchbox version.  The casting was done very well, and was released in 2007, when Matchbox could hardly do anything wrong.  The model may one day be a cool casting to collect, based on how unique the real car is, and there may not be a more desired version that the 2007 10-pack racing version.

We don't think of the Ridgeline as a racing vehicle, on the streets or the desert, and even googling a racing Ridgeline does not produce much.  But that does not mean it doesn't look good as a racing vehicle.  The 10-pack model has a bit of a generic deco, but it works so well with mild mud splatter and "muddy" wheels.  This mini Matchbox version may be the toughest the Ridgeline has ever looked.

So couple this model's unique deco with the fact that it was somewhat overlooked at the time, and is now hard-to-find, and you have a model that collectors want.  I have surprisingly seen this model sell in the 3-figure range at collector events.  Crazy, eh?


Matchbox Honda Ridgeline (2007 10-pack exclusive):