Old School 4 x 4s

The Toyota Land Cruiser and the Land Rover Series III. Two of the most famous four by fours and the granddaddy of the modern SUVs. One hails from Japan and the other from the UK. I’m not even going to touch on which is better because they are both really good at what they stand for.

This beautiful example of a rugged Land Cruiser FJ40 came from Matchbox and is from their Jungle Explorer series back in 2010. This casting is designed by no other than Ryu Asada. It comes in a matte black finish and splashes of olive green on the roof and decals. It has got excellent front fascia details such as a painted front grill, headlights, and even the turn signals. Anaconda decals and the number 2 on the sides add a touch of flavour to the vehicle. No such detailing on the rear though, but you won’t really mind since this is a well-sculpted casting. The doors are lined up with proper hinges, there is a number plate holder on the rear, the gas cover is carved in, the side vents as well, there are wing mirrors on the doors and the bonnet is pretty much sculpted as well. There are no windows on the front doors but everything else is covered and it gives you a nice view of that brown interior. The wheels are MBX R5002 and come in this nice shade of black. I love this piece.

The Land Rover Series III pickup from Hot Wheels, on the other hand, comes in its signature bright red colour. This one comes from the Hot Wheels Hot Trucks series in 2019 and designed by Dimitriy Shakhmatov who also gave us the Unimog 1300. Another classic four by four, this comes in another beautifully sculpted casting. It has an insane amount of detailing similar to the MBX such as panel lined doors and pick-up bed, tonneau cover latches over the bed, door hinges, wing mirrors, and even the gas cap. The rest of the sculpting comes from the plastic that covers the interior, the front grill, and the spare tire on the pick-up bed. The grey doesn’t really liven it up as much, but it works fine. This is a utility truck after all. It comes with BAJA5 wheels and fits it perfectly. This is another beautiful piece.

These classic four by fours are excellent for what they are. They bring the cars that they represent alive. I would put them in my bag and bring them about just in case a photo shoot opportunity comes along such as this one on the beach. Hopefully, I would retire to owning one (if not both) of these classics.

MBX Willys Jeep

The Willys Jeep served in the military from 1941 and proved to be one of the vehicles that had been indispensable during World War II. The Willys Jeep that most people (including myself) are familiar with and have grown to love is actually the Willys MB.

A short history lesson of the Willys MB. The United States Military had a requirement for a fast, light, and off-road capable military utility vehicle. Three companies, namely Bantam, Willys, and Ford, were commissioned for this task (there were others, but the majority fell to these three companies). The vehicle design was called the Army “Truck, 1/4-ton, 4×4, Command Reconnaissance” and was later called Jeep. How they got to the name “Jeep” is beyond me. Pilot models for the Jeep included the Bantam Reconnaissance Car (or BRC), the Ford Pygmy, and the Willys Quad. Pre-production runs (after further improvements) gave birth to the BRC 40, the Willys MA, and the Ford GP. Naming for the Bantam remained as the Bantam Reconnaissance Car. Willys had M stand for Military and A as the model name. Ford, on the other hand, used G for Government and P as a designation for their cars with a wheelbase of 203 cm. Yes, these are not the most creative names for cars. But when you are in the middle of the war, I guess it’s better than just calling it Private. When full production went into gear in July 1941, the government awarded the contract to Willys mostly because of their lower cost and more powerful engine at 60 HP. And the rest is history.

This Matchbox Willys Jeep is based on the production model MB. According to the Matchbox Wiki, the casting originally came out in 2010 under Jungle Explorers. From what I understand, it also came out with 3 different wheel colors and two paint jobs from the Jungle Explorers series. I only have this Army dark olive paint job with convincing military-inspired livery and grey colored wheels. Which is actually great. I like the Willys Jeep. But the availability of Matchbox cars at the time was very little to none where I am from. So getting this already had me feeling good.

I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Swamp Running

One fine day, we decided to have fun with our Swamp Runner van.

In the Matchbox Wiki, it simply states that the Swamp Runner van is a 4×4 Chevy Van. It came from the Matchbox Monsters series and a bright green swamp monster came with the package. We have since lost the monster soon after opening the blister pack but the van lived on.

We brought the van on an outing at the Eco Green park for a photo shoot and we were lucky to come upon a small stream with rocks and running water. My son and I looked at each other and exchanged a mischievous smile.

The Swamp Runner van in itself a very nice casting. The body lends itself as your typical slab-sided van with a short snout. Very squarish, very American. It sat on a raised chassis to emphasize its 4×4 nature with off-road styled tires. Being a standard MBX, the tires were made of plastic, but they looked the part of a mud-running 4×4 wheel. The van came with a yellow colored interior and yellow tinted windows, complete with sunroof both fore and aft. The paint job is where the van hangs its hat though. The matte black makes this a mean-looking slab of a van and yet blends in nicely with the yellow windows. On its side is a painting of a net and some scratches on the door trying to make it look like a monster left slash marks on it. On its slab sides are the markings “Swamp Runner” and several pieces of text with one saying “No catch and release” and “Danger – Explosives on board”. These are simple but fun touches that give this van character. And this is also the reason why my son and I brought the Swamp Runner out to play.

I hope the following photos play with your imagination as we had fun doing this shoot.

Along for the ride on this shoot was a Hot Wheels McDonald’s Happy Meal toy. A blue 4×4 monster truck emblazoned with pimp-my-ride stickers. It is a so-so car, but the wheels do have a nice play to them making them nicely articulated to sort-of climb around rocks. If it did not look like a toy, it would actually be a decent collectible car. It still joined the photoshoot nonetheless and it survived!

Matchbox Austin Mini

Since we just came off from the topic of Matchbox cars, MBX now in this millennium. Let’s have a look at the classic Mini Cooper from 1964. I’ve had this in my box for a long time because, well, it’s the classic Mini that built the legend of what it is now. The Austin Mini Cooper.

Austin Mini Cooper, MBX

What I have is a fine example in no less than British Racing Green paint job. What I appreciate about this casting by MBX is once again their attention to detail. The classic paint job with the white roof, and once again painted on headlights. Too bad the rear didn’t get the same treatment. But the wheels were nice. They weren’t necessarily steel rims like in the original car, but they were nice. And let’s not forget the textured edges of the wheels which you don’t see much anymore in other toy cars. When you admire the car more closely, you will notice that the door hinges are beautifully cast together with the handles, rear handles and number plate. It even has the kinks where the metal have been joined together between the A-pillar and the front fenders, so too are the kinks at the rear end after the C-pillar. This attention to detail earns this casting top marks. You can almost forgive that the car does not have side mirrors, granted not all Austin Mini Coopers at the time had wing mirrors. The grill though, which is molded together with the front bumper is finished in chrome and lends a nice elegant touch to what can be called a “people’s car”.

Austin Mini Van

And then we have this Austin Mini Van that is based off the Mini Cooper. The van came out in 1965 and was basically the Mini Cooper with the rear end chopped off, extended and slapped on with van doors in the rear. The MBX reproduction of the vehicle is very nicely detailed as well just like the Austin Mini Cooper. The example that I have kept may have had some chrome loss on the wheels over the years, but the rest of the car kept its condition normal. Thanks in part to the grill on the van not being co-molded with the bumper like the Cooper version, it did not suffer any deterioration that is a common fault of plastic parts. And that’s the other thing, MBX didn’t just re-purpose the casting of the original Austin Mini Cooper to make the Austin Mini Van, they made it for this casting on its own. The details are there too, including the door hinges, the gas cap, and even the roof air inlet. The kink wasn’t as pronounced as in the car, but you can still make it out. The front windows are based on the sliding windows (the same on the car) which is cool since you will only see half the windows on a vertical orientation. Once again, attention to detail earns this (and the Mini Cooper) top marks. Even the tampo design on this car is reminiscent of the era that the car was based on. If I had the chance and opportunity, I would get more of these so long as the price is just right.

Matchbox Mini Cooper S Cabriolet

Matchbox was the brand of small die-cast cars that I grew up with. There were more Matchbox cars than Hot Wheels cars where I’m from and that’s probably the reason why. The one set of Matchbox cars that really hit me was the 48-car carry case. It had a very simple but very nice design, vintage by today’s standard, but that’s where its charm comes from. It had a bunch of cars and I remember only some of them like the hovercraft, the Pontiac, a forklift and a Swamp Rat military hovercraft. All very nice cars. And all not mine. My cousin had that case, and I was allowed to play with it when I come around to their house. I’ll probably never get that set anymore in good condition (with a decent price), but I won’t forget how that experience made me what I am today when it comes to die-cast cars. You see, my cousin didn’t play with those cars the way that I used to. He was always very careful handling them and he would always insist that each car is back in the case at the end of the day. To an extent, that is how I am today.

Put that top down

The few Matchbox cars that I own now is mostly due to Hot Wheels being more widely available. These two that are on my desk, are cars that I am having second thoughts on. I mean, I love the Mini Cooper, and the original Mini Cooper revival from BMW was actually a good compromise between nostalgia and modernization. In fact, the Mini Cooper has become an icon all over again with its revival. But it does not appeal to me as being as collectible as the old Mini Coopers were.

I don’t even remember when I bought this pair of cabrios. What I do know is that I bought them because they looked better than a Hot Wheels Mini Cooper. Yes, there was a time that I got tired of looking at Hot Wheels because I felt that they were a bit exaggerated in some way. And the wheels on this yellow cabrio just looked nice to me.

British English

So the casting is exactly the same apart from the wheels. And as far as roofless cars go, these are nicely done. The windshield is strong enough that it does not bend. The casting is solid and is complete with fender flares, sculpted door handles, and oh-so-cool side mirrors! The whole interior has sculpted seats and includes the rolled up rag-top at the back. No removal top here like some Tomica convertibles, but the car looks cool nevertheless. There’s just something about the proportions of the whole package that makes it stand out. The racing stripes add on to the feel of the car overall and aren’t overly aggressive in that regard. Plus, you have painted on headlights and taillights as well so you pretty much have detailing covered. But while the overall package is very good, it still somehow lacked oomph, like it was missing some sort of X-factor. Alas, the model could have been a great collection for me, but there was just something missing (and I still can’t put my finger on it).