The Epoch and the Murcielago

 

Whew, made it through the Diablo somehow and now we shake off, refresh and try to catch up to the next wave of the Lamborghini design evolution. There must have been a shake up speech in the design department because the next model, the Murcielago took another leap into the evolution of supercar history. Some people might argue with me on this post but remember, I am looking at this from the Hot Wheels angle mostly. The real world Murcielago was a refined version of the Diablo’s styling and added new inlets and fixed lights. They added flush mounted taillights and some aggressive new models like the SV. It was not certain what would come next but looking back on it now, this is the model that set the tone for the future of Lamborghini that would take the brand deep into the new millennium. The Murcielago featured a normally aspirated V12 and production is suggested to be about 3100 examples between 2001 and 2010.

HW Lamborghini Murcielago

The Hot Wheels Murceilago is cast in two different versions, each with its own interesting histories. The base model was introduced in 2003 and the last appearance was 2018 in the fast and furious line. The Murcielago is a good casting. The base Murcielago has had a good run but the main version has been overshadowed recently by its big brother.  

 

In a subset called Speed Machines, the Murcielago SV was introduced. The inaugural release, the Murcielago SV did not really excite collectors. As you will see, this will change with the follow up offerings. The next version to show up was the decades series SV and this one almost never made it to the shelves. It was an exclusive model, and the stores were not selling them, the line carried a higher price and did not sport much for the extra cost so collectors ignored them. As the SV was getting ready to ship out, the exclusive store chain cancelled the order. They were already in route so the stores put them out but in the discount aisle and there have been statements made that many never even made it to the pegs! This version went through the roof with the announcement of the 2020 return in the Lamborghini 5 pack. The decades model soared in excess of $200 and the 5-pack was near impossible to find in the stores for a little while. There have only been 3 releases of this casting so it does merit some hype and the casting is nicely done in all releases.

 

 Yes, it remains in package!

As you can see, the SV is an evolution in the Murcielago casting as well. The SV also features updated tooling that really captures the true look of the real car. Another change in the evolution of Lamborghini castings is the paint schemes. If you notice, the paint schemes on the Murcielago remained real-world styled paint schemes which is a direct change from most earlier castings we have looked at. It is unclear if this was a contractual change or just a change inside the Hot Wheels workshops. Either way, the collectors have taken notice as Lamboghini castings are now sought after and the next couple are heavy collector prizes.

 

Thank you,

Collector Quentin

I own the actual diecast pictured in this post. However, all packaging artwork, Mattel or Hot Wheels logos, paint descriptions and wheel descriptions in regard to the Hot Wheels versions are copyrights of the Mattel toy company.

 

Lamborghini and model names are property of Audi AG, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group.

 

https://hotwheelscollectors.mattel.com/

https://www.lamborghini.com/en-en/models

https://hotwheels.fandom.com/wiki/Hot_Wheels

The Diablo

 Pressing on in the celebration of the bull! We skip a couple models, the Silhouette and the Jalpa to bring us to the next Hot Wheels…The Diablo. First, let’s get an overview of the real car. Introduced in 1990 and remained in production into 2001, the menacing sounding Diablo was a model of the times. The 1990s saw a slight rebirth of muscle as manufacturers pushed little bits at a time. Where the Countach was edgy and made a bold statement, the Diablo reverted back to the more rounded shapes of its predecessors. The Diablo was a rounded edge wedge with minimal lines that took some styling cues from the Countach and added a few rounded bits. There were several versions of the Diablo including a GTR racing version, and the re-introduction of the SVJ back into the lineup. The diablo featured a V12 rear mounted and normally aspirated. It was a popular sports car for its time and gave us a vision of where the brand might be heading.

Lamborghini Diablo

The Diablo is a must for the evolution of Lamborghini but is possibly the worst casting for the Hot Wheels line-up of Lamborghinis. The Diablo was introduced in 1991 and ran until its final run version in 2003. Oddly enough, the final run version is the nicest version of them all. The lines of this casting are there, the fold out lights are cast into the bodylines, the taillight is close but not close enough when compared to the earlier Countach release. From a side view, the Diablo casting does not mimic the real car at all. Several of the releases featured wild decals and most had plastic wings that never matched the body color. The final run featured a black accented spoiler that looks great, it should have been the standard even though the real cars spoiler usually matched the body color.

In general, the Diablo casting just didn’t hit the standards of other castings of that era which may be why the Diablo is very easy to find and is always below market value. If the Diablo casting was still around today, it would be a peg warmer. To end this post on an upbeat moment, if you are a Lamborghini collector, the Diablo is easy to locate and there are a couple releases that will be a nice addition to that collection. The Diablo is also pretty good on the tracks so you can still do well racing them.

Thank you,

Collector Quentin

I own the actual diecast pictured in this post. However, all packaging artwork, Mattel or Hot Wheels logos, paint descriptions and wheel descriptions in regard to the Hot Wheels versions are copyrights of the Mattel toy company.

 

 Lamborghini and model names are property of Audi AG, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group.

 

https://hotwheelscollectors.mattel.com/

https://www.lamborghini.com/en-en/models 

https://hotwheels.fandom.com/wiki/Hot_Wheels 

Countach LP5000

 

So, we have witnessed the beginnings. Some very beautiful cars indeed. However, there are moments in history that you can look back at and see a clear change in the direction of reality. The world just changes. This is one of them. It is mid 1970s. Gas is an issue. Most big muscle V8s are fading out giving way to the pressures of a rapidly evolving economical market with competitive options. But not Lamborghini. A radical design that rivals the Stealth jets of a decade later. V6? Only half the answer. V8? Nope, lets go back to the roots. V12. Angles, giant wing, wheels – yes wheels that create an image of icons by themselves. A supercar emerges and forces all competitors to either compete or step aside. It has been said that the Countach LP5000 is one of the cars that sets the standard for all cars after it (in this market).

  I can’t really disagree with this assessment for at least the relative next couple generations or supercars. Produced from 1974-1990 with about 10 different versions and special models somewhere in that timeline. Hot Wheels have always took notice of iconic cars and the Countach is no different, lets see how they responded to the Lamborghini Countach:

 

Lamborghini Countach

      1988 is the first release of the Lamborghini Countach casting. I was a Lamborghini fan from this point and here is that first edition.

     A part of my collection since at least 1989! Just like the real car, there are several   versions of the Countach to collect (around 5). The other versions include the initial base model, the Tooned Countach, 25^th Anniversary version, pace car version and a redline club exclusive that features opening doors and a beautiful maroon paint job (the top of the line and price). The original casting will be my main focus. The original casting was a feature up until 1996. A gorgeous red version showed up in a special Lamborghini subset in 2017.

 There is a grail version out there. In 1993, there was a line of cars called revealers. They were in a water-soluble bags and when the bag dissolved, the package “revealed” a car or maybe a plastic gold coin to mail in for a special car. Yes – a golden Lamborghini Countach. Rumors say only around 1000 of these were shipped out so finding one is about as rare as some of the real cars themselves.

        The early casting covers the details very well although in the earliest years of release, the paint seems heavy and covers some of the light details and body lines. Some are better than others. Details like the giant stealth fighter like wing and taillight pods are all there and bring the casting close to the real car. Speaking of comparing to the real car, notice the direction of design from the Miura with its flowing rounded shapes to the Countach, the pointy, wedge shape with angles and straight lines everywhere. This will be part of the brands identity in future posts. The early castings were low to the ground, they do not make good track cars but some of the later releases like the pace car do well. Since there are so many versions and a long line of the same reoccurring paint scheme, they are easy to find and do not break the bank for most of them.

                                                Tooned Countach

     To wrap up, the Lamborghini Countach LP500 in either Hot Wheels or real life have become icons. The real car changed how supercars were designed and gave inspiration to an industry that abandoned creative styling for economy. In Hot Wheels, this marks the first Lamborghini to be covered. As we venture into a new era of the supercar segment of Hot Wheels, the Countach remains one of the licensed castings that gives every collector a direct connection to a legendary real-world supercar.

In the next issue, supercar supremacy brings a car that looks as sinister as its name. Hot Wheels takes notice and expands the Lamborghini line.

Thank you,

Collector Quentin

 

I own the actual diecast pictured in this post. However, all packaging artwork, Mattel or Hot Wheels logos, paint descriptions and wheel descriptions in regard to the Hot Wheels versions are copyrights of the Mattel toy company.

 

Lamborghini and model names are property of Audi AG, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group.

 

 https://hotwheelscollectors.mattel.com/

https://www.lamborghini.com/en-en/models

https://hotwheels.fandom.com/wiki/Hot_Wheels

The Celebration of the Bull(s)

 

The Celebration of the Bull begins here

 

Welcome one and all to the spectacular journey we are about to take. I decided to celebrate the bull - Lamborghini lineup because there is so much that has evolved with this company that it should not go without its day in the spotlight. Note that Lamborghini has never been interested nor focused on racing pedigree like many other supercar manufactures are, they were about style and outrunning whatever was on the market that year. Hot Wheels has covered most of the pertinent models and we shall take a journey around them. Take note of the design of the cars as we go along. There is a distinct progression of design!

 

In The Beginning

The official date that Lamborghini gives itself for introduction is 1963. Lamborghini was started by Ferruccio Lamborghini [1]. European sports cars were a niche owned by another animal at the time. Lamborghini wanted in and the bull was unleashed. There are many models that Hot Wheels have not covered but the ones they did, they covered well. Muscle cars were taking the streets of the US and the wealthy had eyes elsewhere for sports cars. Now that Lamborghini has been established in the automotive world, we should go back and look at some of the early models first.

64-66: 350GT: V12 rear wheel drive sports car. Not the icon they were looking for but then again, first to market cars rarely are. It is the beginning and for that, it is significant.

 66-68: 400GT: Refinements to the 350GT brought in the 400GT. V12 again rear wheel drive. 247 were produced [2].

 

66-72: Miura P400 [3] – the most recent casting by Hot Wheels – only found in the ID series and I was unable to find one. However, the Miura took Lamborghini in a new direction and we begin to see the evolution take shape. I believe the Lamborghini of today was clearly inspired by this beautiful car.

 

68-78: Espada. V12, 1200 made [4]. Take the time to look this one up. By the design, I see Lamborghini knew what was happening in the US and hoped to gain some fans with this one. I am now one for sure.

 

68-69: Islero. V12, 225 cars made [5]. This was a refinement of the 400GT. May have been a little to refined but it does improve the looks of the 400GT.

 

70-76: Jarama. V12. 328 cars produced [6]. Not sure how to celebrate this one, it has the looks of the Espada but just didn’t have that flash – you will soon see what I mean by that.

72-79: Urraco. V8! 791 produced [7]. The Urraco was meant to be an affordable offering in the emerging market of European sports cars segment and was meant to undermine the leaders of that segment. Aside from the reduction in power, we see the earliest signs of what we have today from Lamborghini, and this could be the one that sparked a dream in every young boys mind, releasing the bull wherever it was able to go.

 

Lamborghini has changed hands a few times, Chrysler owned it for some time, a major tech group bought it for some time and currently Lamborghini is owned by the Volkswagen group which also owns names like Audi, Ducatti and Bentley. That’s a lot of muscle.

Now that we have had our historical discussion of the real cars (and there are other versions among them, I kept it short and relevant), lets talk about Hot Wheels Lamborghinis. As I noted earlier, the Miura is the earliest model represented and also the latest release (ID series only). The earliest casting is the subject of the next post and by now, most of you already have a good idea what it is. The most interesting part of this journey will be evident very soon. Lamborghini was going to be a name to remember and the design revolution that happened is claimed to be the benchmark for the supercars of today. 

Side note: there is a Matchbox version of the Miura that was released late 2020 in a beautiful mint green color and may be the nicest Miura diecast that I have seen to date.

Thank you,

Collector Quentin

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photographs of Lamborghini models used herewith were retrieved from google using the creative commons licensing.

Lamborghini and model names are property of Audi AG, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini   retrieved 01-01-2021

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini_400_GT retrieved 01-01-2021

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini_Miura   retrieved 01-01-2021

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini_Espada   retrieved 01-01-2021

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini_Islero   retrieved 01-01-2021

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini_Jarama  retrieved 01-01-2021

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini_Urraco   retrieved 01-01-2021

 

 

20 GF14 S2000

Honda S2000

The Honda S2000. A really top-notch casting in my humble opinion. Honda is not really known for its sports cars and this is one of few than have earned street cred and track cred in many disciplines. They are also getting some collector value in the real world. JDM is an increasingly popular segment in Hot Wheels as younger generations get in the collecting hobby and look for cars that they see and admire. The S2000 is among the best in the JDM segment.

This casting was released originally in 2011. It may rank high in the most to market in a short span. It has been a staple in the fast and furious base series, car culture series in 2019, Honda series in 2018 and many more sub series releases. The release displayed here is from 2013 and is the second coloring for 2013 (original 2013 was blue). I featured this casting in the regular series of the blog and to this day is the most read blog post.

What is so catchy about this little pocket rocket? It is just done right. The wing is not overdone, the body work leans toward a drift look but it is not overdone. It looks like a serious hot rod or track weapon. The wheels often get featured in dual colors, gibing it more of a fast and furious styling but the Honda anniversary version is spot on, see that blog post for more pics. I love collecting this casting but tend to stay mainline versions only. F&F is a rabbit hole I just don’t want to venture into right now. 2020 has a release in yellow that I am anticipating but may not see until late because of virus postponements. We shall wait eagerly.

Thank you,

Collector Quentin

I now own the actual diecast pictured in this post. However, all packaging artwork, Mattel or Hot Wheels logos, paint descriptions and wheel descriptions are copyrights of the Mattel toy company.

20 GF13 Tooned Chrysler 300

Tooned Chrysler 300

The tooned series can go several ways. This one is part of a sub segment called “Blings”. Blings originally and typically throughout the release life have big exotic chrome rims. There are 2 subseries to the tooned series, Blings, cars with augmented bodies and big wheels and Tooned, slightly augmented bodies, big engines and big wings. The 300 casting floats in between these sub series.

This particular release is from the 2017 Tooned series. It features the PR5 Wheels and a sinister dark metallic grey tone, implying that this one is more ready to rumble on the strip than at the car shows. There is a “regular” casting for the Chrysler 300 but it too is a little augmented and usually features big bling wheels. The toned can be fun to collect and they are easy to find. There are some really fun releases out there and a toned collection would be a large collection on its own.  

All in all, this casting is just that, a really fun casting but it serves little purpose beyond collecting. It has really low stance and snags on the track dividers. It is metal body but plastic base and doesn’t have much weight, so it is horrible through boosters and fails at loops. One upside to this toned casting is that it actually has better body lines and features than the “regular” casting. The grill and headlights look great, the rear section look spot on, and the body lines are all there albeit a little augmented. I personally started collecting this casting as something fun to add to my collection.

Thank you,

Collector Quentin

I now own the actual diecast pictured in this post. However, all packaging artwork, Mattel or Hot Wheels logos, paint descriptions and wheel descriptions are copyrights of the Mattel toy company.

20 GF12 Dairy Delivery

Dairy Delivery

Another great edition to the Hot Wheels line is the Dairy Delivery. Originally released in 1998 with decals that read Got Milk?! It is modeled after a Milk Truck from the 80s, this little gem has some unique features that make it a fun addition to any collection.

 Let’s start with the features mentioned. There is a fuel tank shaped like a milk carton and upon closer inspection, there are milk carton crates in the cargo area. This version is the 2009 mainline release and features a Hot Wheels Redline racing livery. I really like the flat green paint with gloss red decals, it gives it a retro look and almost a rat rod style. The stance is low implying there is more than milk in those cartons. It is a metal body casting, so it has some weight to it. Due to its size and stance, it does not do well on track.

As noted, this casting debuted in 1998. There are so many versions out there that it is truly hard to keep track of. From collector convention cars to store sponsored liveries to Treasure Hunt line and beyond, this one can be tricky to find outside the mainline. The mainline does carry a small premium to collect but don’t worry, they are fairly common, so the premium is reasonable at the moment.

Thank you,

Collector Quentin

I now own the actual diecast pictured in this post. However, all packaging artwork, Mattel or Hot Wheels logos, paint descriptions and wheel descriptions are copyrights of the Mattel toy company.