Expanding the Collection

The following toy cars were purchased or received in trade by Doug Breithaupt in the previous month. Some are new but others are older diecast acquired from other collectors. The prices paid are also shown. This addition to 'Tales of Toy Cars'. is intended to share recent finds with fellow collectors. If you have found some interesting diecast cars recently, let me know and send an image if possible, attached to an e-mail.

HOT WHEELS

1959 Cadillac Coupe de Ville (custom) - $7.95

Evil Twin (custom 1953 Cadillac) - $.75

2000 Honda Civic Si - $.75

Old Number 3 (Fronty Ford?) - $.75

CAR OF THE MONTH

2000 Cadillac Vizon Concept - Maisto - $2.95

Recent Additions
Additions in the month of July look far fewer than usual but that's not really the case. A whole bunch of new Motor Max cars were found but are covered in a separate story (click here). The same is true of the Ferrari 156 F1 by Hot Wheels (click here). The remaining finds are a good mix.

The car of the month is one of Maisto's new Showcase Collection GM concept vehicles. In this case, the packaging is more impressive than the product. The Cadillac Vizon shown is a decent casting but suffers from Maisto's smoked window/no interior malaise. The plastic box folds shut to protect the model and mirrored surface. I have to say that this was the most difficult car to remove from the package in my 18 years as a collector. I also bought the Buick Bengal Convertible, now slated for production, but have not set aside the 30 minutes to extract it from it's plastic prison!

Maisto also provided a two-pack of the Ford Sport Trac and Pontiac Piranha in decent colors. Hot wheels provided three regular line cars; the 2000 Honda Civic Si, Evil Twin custom Cadillac and Old No. 3, a pre-WWI racer. The Civic would be fine if the tampos were dialed back. The Old No. 3 suffers from a body that's too narrow and tires that are too wide and the Evil Twin is pure Hot Wheels. I confess that once again I paid the BIG money for a Hot Wheels collectible. I used to own a 1959 Cadillac Coupe de Ville and could not resist this example. It is a mild custom, including yellow headlights and blacked-out grills. Is it worth $8? No it is not, but I wanted it anyway.

Two very welcome models were received in trade. The Playart AMC AMX 360 is quite nice and the '74 Pontiac Trans-Am from Ertl is a classic example of the great toy cars once made by Ertl.

PLAYART

AMC AMX 390 - trade
ERTL

1974 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am - trade

MAISTO

2000 Ford Sport Trac - $.50

2000 Pontiac Piranha Concept Car - $.50