Mystery cars have now become a common part of the Hot Wheels basic lineup. It started with mainline cars hidden behind blacked out blisters, then it moved to foil baggies.
The foil bag cars are no longer official mainline cars, but rather recolors of previous models and decos, similar to what you will see in 9- and 10-packs. Some models have been tremendous (the Kroger-only Super Speeders line comes to mind), while others sit and sit and sit.
That shelf-warming tendency of the latest batch has led to a lot of boxes of mystery models hanging around each and every Walmart, which has the exclusive rights to carry them. Plus the models included in that batch have not garnered a ton of excitement.
Even with that, our interest was sparked when a collector out of Germany reported finding new mystery cars in a local store. Like the Walmart batch, it included 12 models:
We were especially interested when one of the mystery models was a Lamley favorite, the Aston Martin DBS, in jet black. So even with the last Walmart batch of mysteries clogging the shelves, we figured the next batch would show in time. So we waited.
And waited.
And waited.
But then, during a routine weekend check-in with the Team of 3 at Diecast TV Channel on youtube, we saw that they too had found the mystery cars, including the Aston. That could mean they were close to hitting the US. So we continued to wait.
And continued.
And continued.
And continued.
Until we gave in. We are fans of Diecast TV Channel (And you should be too. Their videos clear, concise, and maybe the best produced of all youtube diecast channels. It is like a quick weekly diecast newscast. HIGHLY recommended.), and have chatted with the Team of 3 before, and after a few emails back and forth, worked out a trade to get three of the new Mystery models over to Lamley.
So we are happy to have three, and they are below, but the question remains: Will we see these in the US? The answer could very well be no.
These could very well be international exclusives, made to be the equivalent of the current batch of mysteries at Walmart, only for non-US markets. The follow the same pattern as other mystery cars, sharing the same deco as mainline versions of the same casting, only in different colors.
Or these could be slated for US release, but delayed because of the slow-moving batch ahead of it. That could very well mean Walmart won't want the next batch, which could leave those models in limbo, and unofficially make them international-only models.
Only time will tell, but in the meantime we are happy to have secured these three - the aforementioned Aston Martin, a Pontiac GTO, and Lamborghini Reventon. The Aston especially is fantastic in black. Grey rims would have made it even better, but we are not complaining. We are happy to have the HW DBS collection complete. A hearty thank you to the Team of 3 for their help. They have some good stuff coming their way in return...
So what do you think? International only? Coming to the US? Do you even care?
Hot Wheels Aston Martin DBS, '70 Pontiac GTO, and Lamborghini Reventon (2014 Mystery Models):
Lamborghini Reventon
'70 Pontiac GTO
