First Look: Hot Wheels Zamac Nissan Skyline H/T 2000GT-X, '70 Chevy Chevelle, and '67 Custom Mustang...

Happy to have these.

The Walmart Zamacs are a little more exclusive than maybe we think.  Of course they are only exclusive to Walmart.  But even then, many Walmarts get the batch that is supposed to contain the Zamacs, but they aren't there.  We have already seen many people reporting N case Walmart finds, but with no Zamacs at all.

That has happened to us before.  The final batch of last year's Zamacs never hit stores around here, and only one store got the batch containing the AE86 Corolla and Special Edition Camaro.  We aren't complaining, because it is nice when the Zamacs are a little hard to get.

But it does make us nervous when we are anticipating a Zamac batch as much as Batch N.  Of course that is no secret.  There is a Skyline, and that is all that has to be said.  But the Chevelle is a casting I am VERY fond of, and the Mustang is also a real looker.

Well, we are good, as I found the batch today, and all three Zamacs were there, along with a handful of green Kenmeri's.  All is well here, and we hope all of you out there who hope to find them are successful as well.

Not much else to say about these, other than posting the pics.  We love the Zamacs, and hope they return to Walmart in 2015.  There is an enormous list of models we would love to see get the Zamac treatment, just like the Hako, a casting that gets to really show off its details in unpainted form.


Hot Wheels Nissan Skyline H/T 2000GT-X, '70 Chevy Chevelle, and '67 Custom Mustang (2014 Walmart Zamac Exclusives):

The Great Super Treasure Hunt Experiment of 2014: A tip from a friend...

My mini-hot streak continues.  The last 3-4 weeks have helped my fill in some spots on my quest to find all 15 Super Treasure Hunts in the store, in the middle of the day.  Three weeks ago I came across the Super Twin Mill, last week the Chevy Nova Wagon, and this week the '69 Corvette.

The '69 Corvette was found yesterday.  In fact, I found two at the same store.  This wasn't as unique as my find last week at Alco in the middle of nowhere, but it wasn't a standard Walmart find either.

This came after a tip from a fellow collector.  A friend in Arizona, known on HWC as blackb13, posted on a forum I frequent that he had found the '69 Camaro Super at Dollar Tree.  That was a bit of a surprise, as Dollar Tree hasn't carried Hot Wheels for at least a couple of years.  But it appears they have changed their minds, as from what we have heard, all Dollar Trees are getting either Batch K or M in droves.

After Jason mentioned his find, I figured I would stop by the two Dollar Trees in the town I was visiting on business.  The first did have Hot Wheels, but it appeared they had been there for a few days.  The second Dollar Tree was bursting at the pegs.  Upon walking up I could see two Homers and a regular TH right up front.  It was definitely promising.

Peg after peg I went through, knocking my fair share on the ground (which I always put back, I promise), but only a few false hopes occurred when I thought I saw the Vette but it ended up being the mainline.  Ultimately I walked away leaving quite a few Homers and reg TH's.  Either someone just beat me to the pegs or the cases at that store were void of Supers.

That was Tuesday.  Wednesday I drove to another area for meetings, and had a few minutes to kill, so I decided to visit the one Dollar Tree in town.  I found the pegs were a lot like the previous Dollar Tree, bursting on every peg, with Homers all around.  So once again there was promise.

I was coming up empty after a lot of searching, and was starting to think that I just missed out when the third row from the bottom yielded a purple treat:

A few pics and it was in my hands.  I was more than happy to have the one Super, and was ready to leave when I decided to keep looking.  Sure enough, on the very last peg I checked, hanging right at the bottom:

Finding a second is nearly as fun as finding the first, but I rarely find two in the same store.  That was fun.

A lot of you have commented that I seem to find a lot of these.  Of course I have had my share of luck.  But it is not as crazy as you think.  That is why we are calling it an experiment to see if I can find them all without pallet-raiding overnight or door-warming every morning.  Most collectors that do that find Supers, find more than one.  I have happily found one here and one there, mostly by hitting rural stores, visiting certain Walmarts with toy managers that like to peg Hot Wheels randomly during the day, or randomly stopping by stores that are not on most collector's routes.

You might notice that I usually find Supers well after they have been released in dump bins at Walmart.  That seems to be the key.  Don't fret when the batches first hit, just be patient and see what comes later.  For example, the N case dump bins are hitting Walmarts around here, and of course when I found one the Supers were long gone.  I was happy to walk away with the Zamac Hakosuka Skyline and green Kenmeri.  Finding the Impala Super TH will come later.  If I am lucky.

Alright, the tally so far:

Chevrolet SS - Found at a rural Walmart at 11:30 am
Sand Blaster - Found at a nearby Walmart around 4:30 pm
Camaro Special Edition - Found at neighboring town Walmart around 3 pm
'71 Mustang Mach 1 - Found on a Saturday afternoon grocery run at Harmon's Market (I found two)
'07 Mustang - no luck
'55 Chevy Bel Air Gasser - no luck
'70 Chevelle SS - Found at two different Walmarts on the same day (one at 10 am, one at 5 pm)
Twin Mill - Found at a rural Walmart at about 3:45 pm
'64 Chevy Nova Wagon - Found at 5 pm at a rural Alco
'83 Silverado - Found at Target at 1 pm
'76 Greenwood Corvette - no luck
'69 Corvette - Found 2 at Dollar Tree around 11:30 am

With the Impala just hitting, I am only missing three.  Like I have said before, finding the Gasser and '07 Mustang seems highly unlikely, but I am holding out hope I can find the Greenwood. 

We shall see...

First Look: Hot Wheels '71 Datsun 510 Wagon Super Treasure Hunt...

A few of you have said we have been integral in helping set the hype on the Datsun Wagon at fever pitch, making it become the latest lust for scalpers and the like.

Ya' think?

Of course we have.  Not because we wanted to.  We didn't start out showcasing the Datsun Wagon last year with the Pitchfork-like intentions of creating hype.  We showcased it because it is easily one of our favorite Hot Wheels models...well...ever.  Any news on the Wagon, we report it.  Any time we are writing about a model that reminds us of the Wagon, we get it out and photograph it.  And anytime we learn that the Wagon is going to be a Super Treasure Hunt, we sure as shit are going to showcase it.

Like we said in our post earlier today, the Wagon would easily be a popular model because of the fact that it is well-done, unique, and part of a red hot car culture.  And those are the reasons we love this model.  But because of how hard the Boulevard was to find last year, and because of the resulting skyrocketing prices on ebay, the buzz around the Wagon took on a life of its own.

So if you look back at what we like to showcase, you will see an abundance of posts dedicated to models like the Hakosuka and Kenmeri Skylines, the Toyota 2000GT, the BMW E36 and 2002, the Porsche 993, and the Ford Gran Torino Sport.  But those models aren't living on the "rare" plain that the Wagon is.

So if we have inadvertently made the Datsun Wagon the next Drag Bus, Chevy Panel, or '67 Camaro, we are sorry.  We promise we didn't mean to.  We just like it a lot.  And we know many of you share that same opinion.

And speaking of hype, the 510 Wagon Super TH lives up to it.  When a friend of mine called me to tell me he had it, his first comment was how amazing it looked in person.  A couple of days later we had ours, and we cannot agree more.  This model is a beauty.

Sure, the Boulevard is a classic.  Having a soft spot for olive green, and for wagons, and for JDM, Jun Imai's Boulevard is an all-time fave.  But the Super is not as far behind as I thought it would be.  The spectraflame red is rich, the wheels menacing, and livery just right, and not just because it mimics the deco of Jun's real 510 Wagon (or at least did).

The Super gives the Wagon a whole new look, much different than the Boulevard, and the red mainline for that matter.  It emphasizes its stance and length more than anything, making you appreciate the casting just a little more.  Yes, it is a hot model because it is a Super, but what makes it great, especially when the hype dies down, is how good-looking it is.  I have no idea if our photos do it justice, but we will do our best.

We hate to say this about a model that is going to be very tough to come across, but it is a must-have.

Sorry...


Hot Wheels '71 Datsun 510 Wagon (2014 Super Treasure Hunt):

The family: