[canalnoises]

Are you planning a wheel swap for the Grand National? I cant remember if you already did the yellow Porsch but looking to forward to it and the orange one if you do!

Yep, this is my second Grand National, so once I can find a good wheel set for it it's definitely getting swapped. I think I only have one each of the yellow and orange Porsches, but they would be good swap candidates if I get dupes.

Interesting find on the Hunson Speed Wheels. We have one of those .99$ stores down aways from one of our Dollar Trees. I have never found diecast there before either but will have to check them out again. Has been awhile since I stopped in. The engineering on them is interesting as well. Both the one piece wheel axle design and the Hunson name sound familiar. I will add both of them to my to do list in the brand listings to see what I can find again.

I'm definitely interested if you can find any more info. If you're interested in having a set I could go back for another to add one to your trade box. They had a ton of them.

The GWNT and antelope head almost sound like previous Summer castings! Looking forward to what you find out about them, too.

I don't think they're former Summer castings. They're definitely of the pancake variety. One of them is a match for the Mercedes 300SL in the Way to Celebrate packs though... 👀

Congrates on the M2 Chase! I know you will already but be sure to show us what you trade for it - if you do!

Thanks! Do you know much about the M2 chases? Do they tend to appreciate after a while? I see that this one is going for about $60 (3x what I paid for it!) on eBay right now, but I might sit on it for a bit if it's likely to go up in value.

I found that 5 pack with the Bone Shaker in it; yesterday, at the toy show. Are you planning to also do a find thread on the 2021 Mystery cars. Those are the first ones I have seen for this year. Our mix of the Adventure Force 9 packs (well all their castings) still dont match up to what you are finding!
Did you notice the "Clover Leaf" lodo on the Hot Tube? I havent seen that in the Holiday Series in quite awhile either. I didnt find the Aston in the MB mix you did but the Ranchero in blue is a great looking casting. Did you see the Ford Capri - it is a greyish silver body color? Not that great looking but a nice addition to their casting line!

I can start a 2021 Mystery thread. I don't know that I'll pick up very many more of this series though, but I'll definitely buy the Lancia if I find it. We'll probably need to rely on others to fill in the gaps, haha.

I hadn't looked that closely at the Hot Tub, but yeah, there's a little clover on the side next to the 0317 (March 17/St. Patrick's day). I think it's a clever casting to use for a St. Patrick's Day car. Kind of a "pot of gold." The copyright on the base is 2020, so they must have retooled it. I don't have an older one right at hand to compare it to but I'll try to dig it out later.

I think the Aston Martin is a superb casting. Silver isn't my favorite color for cars, but I think this one looks pretty good in it. Haven't found the Capri yet, but I'm going to pick one up when I do. It's definitely not the best looking car, but I think it's kinda cool. I was pretty happy to find the Ranchero, and I love the color they chose. My dad has an reddish-orange '63 Ranchero that was his daily driver for a few years in the mid '90s until the floor basically rusted out. He's still got it, but it's a couple cars down on the restoration list, lol. Someday it'll get back on the road. But anyway, even though the MBX casting is a '61 it's very similar to the '63, so I try to get all the variations. I still need to find the pinkish one from a couple years ago.

 

[Milton Fox Racing]

I will see if I still have the pinkish Ranchero to put in the trade box.

I havent had a chance to get to the .99$ store yet but will let you know if I find the GWNT set when I do.

I would have to dig out my Hot Tubs as well but I think the engine is now part of the body casting. I noticed it wasnt chrome any more. Going to make it harder to scavenge it is a custom piece now!

Feel free to start the 2021 Mystery thread, I depend on others to add to (complete) most of the threads I create as well.

I think on ebay the M2 Chases still hold some more value, but I think they still go down over time. Locally it is easier to find them at the toy shows for less then the retail price eventually.

 

[canalnoises]

Good to know about the M2s. Sounds like it might be best to move it now while there's more interest in it. Did you see the post on the Lamley Group blog today about M2 quality issues? It's gotten a lot of attention on Instagram and Facebook, and M2 actually released an official response. I wonder if that will hurt sales and values in the short term. I don't buy M2 models very often (mostly VWs before this chase set), but I've definitely noticed issues with fit and finish on ones I have. Without opening up this one it looks pretty good, though.

 

[Milton Fox Racing]

I havent seen the Lamley post yet....

I always gently shake any M2 boxed item before buying it - to see if any parts or screws are floating around inside.

 

[canalnoises]

I hit up a different Walmart today and found some goodies. There was a big row of bins in one of the main aisles with a bunch of different Mattel toys and Easter stuff, and while I definitely wasn't the first one to look through it still looked relatively fresh. The only mainline I took from it was another Valentines Beetle (yay!) but there were also some new Easter cars. Those were tempting, but I'm trying to show some restraint so I left them behind. 😖

The bin below the mainlines was full of HW monster trucks, and they were still stacked in there so neatly I'm pretty sure nobody before me had looked very closely at them. I found four of the orange and pink monster Beetle in there and bought three of them... so much for restraint, I guess. I'm not planning to just hoard them, though. I'll keep one on the card, give one to my nephew, and open the other. I've seen a couple people take the body and put it on a more stock-looking base, so I want to take a stab at that.

(I put it back on the MT base after the pic. It's just a single screw so it's pretty easy to take on and off.)

The first thing I noticed when I got back to the diecast aisle was the sorry state of the Matchbox section. Talk about peg warmers. Almost all of them were the self-driving bus and Chow Mobile II...

So anyway, all I ended up getting from the diecast aisle was the new black Moving Parts Xterra, and three more Mystery Cars. Turns out there was an unopened box up on the top shelf, so I pulled it down and dig into it. I looked at literally every car in the box, and the last three at the very bottom were the Lances Stratos, Mini Cooper, and Mitsubishi Double Shotz, the only three licensed castings in the set. It almost seems like they're semi-chase since there's only one of each in a box. There were multiples of all the others.

Here's the full haul (minus the two other Beetle MTs)

DLM'd Mystery Models

 

[canalnoises]

I havent seen the Lamley post yet....

I always gently shake any M2 boxed item before buying it - to see if any parts or screws are floating around inside.

Haha, that's a good call. Here's a link to the article. It's pretty damning 😬

How M2 Machine’s IROC Camaro set nearly made me quit the brand

M2 Machines 1985 IROC Camaro Wal-Mart exclusive three pack has great castings, but the quality control is a problem.

lamleygroup.com

 

[Milton Fox Racing]

I like Jason Bilsky's comment best!

 

[Milton Fox Racing]

Congrates on the finds!

The orange VW body does look nice - by itself!

What did you think of the new Moving Parts cards?

I see a purple UTE and a National Parks snow cat casting in the MB 5 packs I would have picked up!!!

 

[canalnoises]

I like Jason Bilsky's comment best!

That is hilarious 😂 I'd missed his comment before.

Congrates on the finds!

The orange VW body does look nice - by itself!

What did you think of the new Moving Parts cards?

I see a purple UTE and a National Parks snow cat casting in the MB 5 packs I would have picked up!!!

I really like this Beetle casting. Even though it's on a MT base, the body itself is the first time they've done a completely stock one. I hope they release it with a normal base at some point. There's a Herbie the Love Bug MT that's starting to show up in some places that I'm pretty excited for, too. They said in an Instagram post that they made it a '63 model specifically so it could be an accurate Herbie.

Honestly I think the new Moving Parts cards are weird. If I was someone who kept everything on the card I might be a bit annoyed since there probably aren't any protectors they'll fit in. But at only $2 a piece maybe they aren't really worth putting in protectors anyway. But according to Lamley (been watching and reading a lot of their stuff lately, could you tell? Lol) the reason they designed the card the way it is had a practical purpose. They wanted kids who were looking up at the cars on the pegs from below to be able to see the artwork and catch their attention. I think it's kind of clever and a good design for that reason. I hope it increases sales so we can get even more Moving Parts castings.

I already have the purple Ute from a 9 pack I got a while back, but after posting the pic here I noticed that it also has a blue Barracuda. I wish I had picked it up for that alone. I'll have to see if I can get back over there to buy it soon. Hopefully it'll still be there. I really should have gotten the one below it, too. There's good stuff in that one, too.

 

[canalnoises]

Here's the Ute. It's a Holden VE SSV.

 

[samace22]

Awesome haul congrats. 👍

 

[canalnoises]

Saturday was a 5-pack day. I went back to Walmart and was able to get the two Matchbox packs I passed up last time, a couple more Hot Wheels packs, and an Adventure Force/Maisto pack.

I also got a handful of new F case singles, plus three of the Muppets cars. They had the other two as well, Fozzie Bear's Cool One and Animal's Ground FX. Those castings don't do much for me though, so I just got Kermit's Classic Nomad, Piggy's Custom Beetle, and Gonzo's '32 Ford. The Beetle has a metal base, which was a pleasant surprise.

 

[Milton Fox Racing]

Everyone was looking for Ms Piggy at the last toy show. Good job going back for the MB 5 packs. They have a lot of really nice castings in them. The HWs Exotics do as well. I like the look of the school bus and #19 truck, too! Is that a Mustang in grey at the top of the Adventure Force 5 pack?

The proportiions look off on the Mk IV. Was it that tall?

 

[samace22]

Awesome haul congrats. 👍

 

[canalnoises]

Thanks, Sam!

Everyone was looking for Ms Piggy at the last toy show. Good job going back for the MB 5 packs. They have a lot of really nice castings in them. The HWs Exotics do as well. I like the look of the school bus and #19 truck, too! Is that a Mustang in grey at the top of the Adventure Force 5 pack?

The proportiions look off on the Mk IV. Was it that tall?

There were a few of the Miss Piggy Beetle there... maybe I should have grabbed them all. I'm fine having left them for other collectors, though. That being said, I do kinda need to find a way to offset the costs of my collecting, so I'm considering trying to sell some stuff on eBay or at local swap meets once I'm vaccinated and feel better about spending time out in public, haha.

I think all these 5-packs are great. There are definitely a lot of great castings here and I'm glad I was able to get them.

The school bus holds a bit of nostalgia for me. It's almost exactly the same as one I or one of my brothers had as kids and it even still has the old style Maisto wheels. I have another one from an AF multipack that I got last year though, so I'd be willing to trade it if you're interested. I think the #19 Chevy Colorado is also a duplicate, so that would be available as well.

The gray car at the top of the AF pack is a Subaru BRZ, and I think a new casting for 2021. The proportions feel a bit off to me, but it's still kind of a cool model. I think it's the first 1/64 Subaru that Maisto has ever done so that's kind of cool too.

I guess I'm not super familiar with the GT40 Mk IV, but it looks okay to me.

 

[Milton Fox Racing]

If I block out the wheels it looks better. I will be on the hunt for the Subu. Let me think about the bus and Colorado - I am moving more of my stored Corvettes out to display and space is getting to be tight!

 

[canalnoises]

Sounds good

 

[canalnoises]

Stopped at a Dollar Tree and a Family Dollar today.

Dollar Tree had three different Vacation Playsets from Greenbrier/Suntoys (assumed). I was excited to finally get them. This is the first time I've seen any of these sets around here. There were also a lot of Hot Wheels and a smaller number of Matchbox, but it was clear they had been picked over somewhat. Still found a bunch of good stuff though, mostly among all the stuff that had fallen off the pegs. My attempt to be a good citizen by hanging up all the fallen cars worked out pretty well for me, haha. The Magic 8 Ball Rodger Dodger isn't the $TH, but I think it's still a cool one.

Family Dollar's selection was much slimmer, but therer were a few that were worth picking up.

 

[samace22]

Awesome finds congrats. 👍

 

[canalnoises]

Thanks Sam!