Tinman wrote:It's difficult for me to wrap my head around these oversize muscle cars being in the YY range. I think that was a poor decision and it mocks the target customer of YY range of models.
I have other comments but they deal too much with personal preference for the range and the subject matter, so those I will keep those to myself, I'll simply sum up my personal comment with: "Not a fan of these."
I agree
DGinBC wrote:If you hearken back to 1956 when the YY models were first fabricated, they depicted replicas of 30 to 50 year old vehicles. These 60's and 70's muscle cars are now ~50 years old.
DGinBC wrote:If you hearken back to 1956 when the YY models were first fabricated, they depicted replicas of 30 to 50 year old vehicles. These 60's and 70's muscle cars are now ~50 years old.
Idris wrote:An interesting and though-provoking point.
But muted by my comment about original production dates.
They can be a bit of a shock to the system for traditional Yesteryear collectors and seem very far removed from the original concept of makking models in a range called 'Models of Yesteryear'. I have to say though I am happy for them to exist as anything that keeps the Yesteryear name alive is fine by me.
I, personally am a fan of the late 60’s early 70’s muscle cars but am surprised to see castings ‘made in China’ included on a forum focused on models ‘made in England’.
Over the recent past, some threads about castings with diverse nations of fabrication have been added. That’s okay but I think It would be helpful if they were under a heading for “Matchbox after Lesney”.
(Good luck to the moderators! And thank you for your work.)
Kurt
MatchboxFreak wrote:I, personally am a fan of the late 60’s early 70’s muscle cars but am surprised to see castings ‘made in China’ included on a forum focused on models ‘made in England’.
Over the recent past, some threads about castings with diverse nations of fabrication have been added. That’s okay but I think It would be helpful if they were under a heading for “Matchbox after Lesney”.
(Good luck to the moderators! And thank you for your work.)
Kurt
Kurt,
You're right. My bad.
I just thought these Super Kings would make an interesting topic/thread. I completely forgot what it says on the tin - Vintage British.
I've been in contact with the moderators and told them to move or delete as appropriate.
I'm just off to the library with my revolver to do the decent thing.
The "Superkings" models based on the toolings used for the Yesteryear series were meant to be "toys" that were a retro throwback to the Lesney Superkings and Speedkings models of the 1970's, which were also primarily designed to be toys. So the models had those same metallic colors as other models that Lesney released in the 1970's, similar wheels, and similar box styles and artwork. The Yesteryear toolings were used as those were the best 1:43 scale castings that Matchbox had at the time to be modified for this range.
As the range continued, further models were planned such as a Camaro, also based on the Yesteryear muscle car tooling. I have a prototype of this in my collection.
There was also an El Camino that was released in the range, which of course never appeared in the Yesteryear series. There was also a Wreck Truck planned but the series was canceled before that was released.
The Retro New "Superkings" range was a wonderful series, espiecially for those like me that collected original Superkings in the 1970's. That same magic all brought together again. The models rolled well for a toy, but had gorgeous paint and metal baseplates.
I was very dissapointed that the range was canceled. It was always hard to find in the stores byt then Mattel canceled the range due to poor sales. Go figure...
francipe wrote:
I just thought these Super Kings would make an interesting topic/thread. I completely forgot what it says on the tin - Vintage British.
I'm just off to the library with my revolver to do the decent thing.
The Super Kings are an Very interesting range; detailed and well executed. Thank you for sharing!
Please holster your revolver!
bobneumann wrote:The "Superkings" models based on the toolings used for the Yesteryear series were meant to be "toys" that were a retro throwback to the Lesney Superkings and Speedkings models of the 1970's, which were also primarily designed to be toys. So the models had those same metallic colors as other models that Lesney released in the 1970's, similar wheels, and similar box styles and artwork. The Yesteryear toolings were used as those were the best 1:43 scale castings that Matchbox had at the time to be modified for this range.
As the range continued, further models were planned such as a Camaro, also based on the Yesteryear muscle car tooling. I have a prototype of this in my collection.
There was also an El Camino that was released in the range, which of course never appeared in the Yesteryear series. There was also a Wreck Truck planned but the series was canceled before that was released.
The Retro New "Superkings" range was a wonderful series, espiecially for those like me that collected original Superkings in the 1970's. That same magic all brought together again. The models rolled well for a toy, but had gorgeous paint and metal baseplates.
I was very dissapointed that the range was canceled. It was always hard to find in the stores byt then Mattel canceled the range due to poor sales. Go figure...
Nice to hear from you Bob ! Pictures of those very rare preproduction models mentioned by you and which you have in your collection can be found here:
I remember when these came out and everyone was complaining that they were super hard to find. I'm sure that had much to do with their poor sales. Pretty much the same thing happened with the promised rebirth of YYs. Why Mattel has never offered items direct to the public on it's web page is beyond me. Seems like a perfect way for collectors obtain the models they desire and to fuel Mattel's sales. Their whole approach to a web site for the Matchbox the line has been pretty piss poor in general.
