The E30 M3.
Is it appropriate that while I write this post I am listening to Reflektor, the brand new album from Arcade Fire? My full beard has been flowing in the fall wind all day, my orange-souled wingtips kept my feet warm, as did my button-up sweater with a tie, and I am ogling over a '92 BMW M3. As soon as I am done I will go catch up on tonight's episode of the Daily Show.
Hot damn, folks, I am a super-hipster!
I won't deny that my infatuation with JDM and classic BMWs makes my almost a cliché these days, but cool is cool, and these cars are f-ing cool. At least it is a toy car I am writing about, so that makes me either a supercool hipster ("and he collects...get this...toy cars!! man that is cool!), or a hipster-cancelling dork (yeah, but not only does he collect toy cars, he blogs about them. eeeewwwwwww!). I kind of like falling in the middle.
Back to the E30 M3. BMW did the 2002 and the E30 in the same year, 2012. A year after two classic Skylines, and a year before doing a Dastun Wagon and a Porsche 992 GT2. If they are not careful, the next Hot Wheels convention will be full of checkered slip-on Vans, plaid shirts, and full beards with Wayfarers instead of the traditional 55-year-old pot bellies with ill-fitting t-shirts of conventions past.
I keep digressing. Alright, back to the M3. I am glad the E30 barely made it into the now-defunct Racing line in 2012, and that Hot Wheels has seen the casting fit enough to be in the basic range in the two years that have followed. And I am glad each model has kept BMW appropriate deco and wheels.
This is a model that instantly became a Top 5 Hot Wheels casting for me when it was released, so I am always happy to have another version, this time in bright red (orange?).
...AND...
I am always happy when Hot Wheels provides a variation on one of my favorites to hunt down. On the silver model it was the rare vari/error with the Nissan Skyline interior, and on the blue model the even more rare MC5 wheel variation.
The red model is already coming out and we already have a variation. Take a look:
You have this one:
And you have this one:
Can you see the difference?
Yes, the bottom model has a rollcage, and the top does not. It appears the interior of the E30 has been modified, removing the rollcage. From what we can tell so far, the "with rollcage" version is in far smaller numbers than the "without rollcage" version, making us think that the casting was indeed modified.
We will surely have a better idea after Kdays this Saturday, so keep your eyes peeled and let us know which version you find. Nonetheless, two variations are always better than one.
I need to wrap this up. Methinks the lady (who I have been married to for 15 years today) and I are doing lunch in a bit, and we will be sure to include kale. After all, I love the E30, and she is reading Malcolm Gladwell. At least she is supposed to say she is.
(Looking for the E30 variation? Check these listings.
Hot Wheels '92 BMW M3 (2014 Basic):
More pics of the rollcage vari:
The fam:
