Rare Matchbox of the Mattel Era, Part 11: 2014 Cadillac CTS Coupe with chrome interior (by David Tilley)...

Lamley Co-Founder David Tilley was lucky enough to get his hands on the latest Matchbox variation rarity.  Rare enough to already join on ongoing series on hard-to-find Mattel-era Matchbox variations.

Enjoy...

You are not reading this wrong. This model may be a newbie from Mattel for 2014, but we think it is safe to say that this will be another in a long list of rarities from Matchbox.

This is a 2014 MB12 Cadillac CTS Coupe. After an absence of 2 years we finally see a new example of this model. It debuted in 2011 in silver, and a First Edition 10-pack model in black also appeared the same year, and then.... it vanished! The CTS Wagon continued to be made, so there was not a legal issue with it. Mattel just decided not to use this casting. It was a real shame as it was a lovely addition to the range. When we heard they were finally bringing it back for 2014 we were happy. Very happy! But why is this being called a rarity we hear you ask? We are sure just about everyone who wanted one has found one in stores.

Well, this one comes with a chrome interior. Yes, that’s right. The rarity factor with this model sits inside the model.

The normal “common” issue sits in front of it in this picture. This model is supposed to come with a black interior. 99.9% of them are coming with a black interior. But there is tiny run with an unusual chrome interior.

Having all that chrome does look good. Of course there are some who hate the idea of chrome interiors at all, but they do show off the details very well. As we said, this batch has so far, from what we can tell, only been found sparingly in a single batch of models on ROW short card in central Europe dated G03 which is the third week of January 2014 (this particular example came from Germany). It is not the entire batch either as others dated G03 in that Euro batch have the standard black interior. It really does look like only a handful were done this way. The Americas, Australasia, and the UK have not been noted as finding any of this model. How this particular variation came about is unknown. Perhaps the factory was supposed to be chroming another body part for a different model and somebody accidentally put a tray of CTS interiors in there too. We may never know. But this is proving to be a rather unique and unusual variation, and one likely to only ever be found in that one particular batch.

So it may be worthwhile looking at central Europe if you really need to find an example with the chrome inside.

A Scion FR-S Party! The new Zamac plus a Variation Alert...

We do enjoy bringing our readers pics of the latest models as early as possible, but when it comes to the Zamacs, we are completely at the mercy of Mattel's distribution and our local Walmarts.  So we knew we would be a little late to the game when J case dump bins starting hitting the eastern US, without a trickle of sign that were in the West.

Sure enough, they didn't hit the West until late last week, 2-3 weeks after the East and Midwest (and at the same time K case bins are hitting there as well.   Um, grrrrr.)  But at least they did hit.  The last batch of Zamacs, with the pretty AE86, Silverado, and Camaro was scarce at best around here.  I did manage to find them at one rural Walmart, but I never saw them in the Salt Lake City area.  That is a little concerning, as the upcoming Chevelle Wagon, Hakosuka Skyline, and '70 Chevelle SS Zamacs are high on the want-list, and I hope I can find them.

But distribution talk is boring, so let's move on.

We have the Scion!  In 2012/2013 the Toyota 86/Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ dominated the auto world, so maybe 2014 is a year where we come down a bit.  (And get ready for the Nissan IDX buzz to start getting VERY LOUD.  We will be contributing.)  So Hot Wheels' version of the Scion may have come a tad late, and it has had a surprisingly run of bland colors and deco.

So the Hot Wheels Scion hasn't gotten the attention of many non-JDM collectors, but it might once we see one in a sharp primary color.  Bright red?  Satin blue?  For now, we have the Zamac, and it does look great.  But all Zamacs do.  We have said it before, we will say it now, and we will say it again: Zamacs are f*#king fun to photograph.  They always look good.

Then & Now with the Zamac AE86

There is another bit of HW Scion FR-S news, and we decided to include it with our post on the Zamac.  It just took a bit longer to get that Zamac Scion than we expected.

If you are a wheel variation collector, check your local Hot Wheels 9-packs.  If you are lucky, you might find the first color of the 2014 Scion with chrome-lipped J5 wheels, as opposed to the standard PR5.

We weren't lucky enough to find one, but thankfully we had an extra OH5 RX-7 to trade to HWC variation nut 1.eyed.jack for one that he found, and it arrived a few days ago.

As far as we know, this variation is exclusive to 9-packs, and has not been found in high numbers.  But both Target and Walmart have housed them.  So keep your eyes peeled.

And it makes for a happy family:

2013 New Model

2013 New Model - large PR5 wheels (found only in 3-packs)

2014 Mainline

2014 Mainline J5 wheels (found in 9-packs)

2014 Zamac exclusive

Variation Alert: 2014 Hot Wheels Mazda RX-7 with two different wheel variations...

This one caught our attention on HWC.

Variation guru Cam40 out of Texas had quite the day at his local Toys R Us.  He pulled not one, but TWO, different wheel variations on the Hot Wheels Mazda RX-7.  We will let him explain:

at one tru I found all this:

ah, first the stuff I didn't get.

red `70 celica nekkid (no side tampo) in 9`r
green `69 coronet super bee with oh5 (gold rim/black spoke)so it looked mostly correct, in a 9`r.

now the did gets:
get ready for this! ya another dang wheel vari.
on the rx-7!
black spoke mc5? and its forward setback.

and this really blew me away, as if the blk/spk
mc5 didn't already.
a carded oh5 vari.!

It is quite the day when you can find two different wheel variations on any model, but when said model is the Mazda, our jealousy level goes through the roof.  

Needless to say, it might be time to check your TRU...

Variation Alert: Rare Hot Wheels '87 Toyota Truck with OR6sp wheels is being found in Canada...

You never know when little tidbits of collector knowledge will pop up.  We are well into the 2014 Hot Wheels year, but some news on a very hard-to-find 2013 model has just emerged.

We love our wheel variations here at Lamley, and one of the best of 2013 was the tan Toyota Truck with Off-Road 6-spoke (OR6sp) wheels.  As far as we had heard, the rare vari had been found in Puerto Rico, but we hadn't confirmed any other location.

That is until we heard from Lamley friend Shawn Hill from up yonder in Canada.  He sent me a photo of a few of the Toyota variations that he found, and our interest was piqued.  All in all, Shawn, who is a vari nut himself, found six of the elusive pickup.  Thankfully he was feeling generous and we were able to work out a trade to send a couple to Lamley.

They just arrived, and we decided to open one for your pleasure.  Enjoy Shawn's retelling of how he found them, check out the pics, and you Canadians get off your duff and go find more of these...

From Shawn:

To live in the nation's capital is to live in a fantastic haven for little car hunting. Boasting 8 WalMarts in the greater Ottawa area (as well as a healthy amount of large grocery stores) and a very small collector community, this city will yield cool finds for the dedicated hunter. 

I am a big fan of Treasure Hunt cars as well as muscle cars, service vehicles and JDM/Euro sports rides but my favorite thing to find is the wheel variation! Even if it is not a preferred casting of mine, if the wheels are different than usual, it goes in the cart! My favorite wheel vari I have found is the black wheeled tan 87 Toyota Pickup mainly because when I posted it on some of the larger Facebook groups, no other collectors had seen it. It is rare. It is cool and I found 6 of them. 

Oddly enough, I found a couple at Target. This is odd because Target does not restock regularly, if at all. I found 2 on the pegs at once in the company of one regular silver star rimmed model. The other place I found my 87s was Loblaws, a large chain of Canadian grocery stores with a hit or miss selection of Hot Wheels. One Loblaws puts out a case per month or so while the other Loblaws where I found an 87 vari had supposedly discontinued their toy section. As always, when you decide at the last minute to check a spot you are sure will yield nothing, something cool arises. In this Loblaws case, the vari was in the company of 2 regularly wheeled models. 

Did the production line run out of silver rims and slap on the black ones at the last minute? Was it a calculated move by Mattel to put out something rare for those of us in the know to hunt? Who knows. As long as little cars keep hitting the pegs, I will be hunting these HTF varies. Please share if you have found the black wheeled 87 Toyotas as well!

 Hot Wheels '87 Toyota Truck OF6sp variation (2013 Mainline):

Variation Alert: 2014 Hot Wheels '70 Chevelle SS with PR5 wheels...

We love wheel variations, and we have just learned of another...

It looks like the Hot Wheels '70 Chevelle SS in purple, which is part of Batch G, is coming on two different shoes.  It was one of the first-to-market models in the Kmart cases, and all of them, as far as we know, sat on MC5 wheels, as shown in an earlier Lamley post:

But now comes word from our friends at Wheel Collectors that that some of the G Cases they received had Chevelles with PR5 wheels:

Some Chevelles in the Wheel Collectors cases had MC5 wheels, so at this point we have no idea which variation will be harder to find.  Time will tell.  At this point we can say we want both.  Or all three, if you found the Super TH.

If you like this casting as much as we do, and want to ensure you have both variations, Wheel Collectors has listed the PR5 variation:

Hot Wheels '70 Chevelle SS with PR5 wheels

Which do you prefer?