Renault 5 Turbo

The Renault 5 Turbo was a car designed by Renault for rallying, in particular, to compete with the Lancia Stratos. While based on the standard Renault 5, the R5 Turbo was heavily modified to have a rear-mid-mounted engine design and rear-wheel drive. The R5 Turbo had been successful in its mission with wins in several rally championships including the famous Monte Carlo.

The Hot Wheels casting debuted in 2013 with the Hot Wheels Boulevard series and was only followed up with the Modern Classics version from 2017. Since this is from the Car Culture series, it comes with a metal base and makes it quite hefty and nice to hold in the hand. The bodywork itself is the widebody version of the rally car. It is well molded with a detailed front-end, vents can be seen on the hood and the rear air-ducts that would feed air to the engine in the real car. The inside is also adorned with a roll-cage for a full-on rally-spec design. Too bad the engine is actually hidden in a compartment just like the real car, hence you can’t see it. It was no surprise but I was really glad that the car came in rally livery. It comes complete with the number 16, white and red colorway over a metallic blue base, and some sponsorship decals to boot. The effect is carried on nicely to its white-colored RR8SP wheels.

To be honest, the Renault 5 Turbo is not a pretty car. But its unconventional design that led to a successful motorsport career has made it a car worthy of having a place in the car culture community. The more I look at it, the more I like it. So it stays in the collection.

’70 Ford Escort RS 1600

The Mk I Ford Escort was built from 1967 to 1975. Like most cars, the Escort was originally built as a commuter car. However, a later version of the Escort was built to compete in Group 2 international rallying. With this in mind, the RS1600 was born and the heart of this car is a Cosworth twin-cam 16-valve producing 200 hp. This car was further immortalized in movies thanks to the Fast and Furious franchise (6th).

The version on hand is the from The Fast and The Furious Premium set. It comes with the blue and white paint scheme and gold RR8SP Real Rider wheels. As I’ve said previously, these wheels are perfect for this car. It’s not an exact replica of the movie car but it makes a pretty good piece. Being a Premium, it comes with detailed headlights, taillights, and even a rear number plate. The movie version was adorned with rally-style auxiliary lights and the Hot Wheels version does its best to emulate that. It doesn’t do so well. The auxiliary lights are just transparent plastic pieces that are attached to the front of the vehicle. They still look nice though and totally not out of place.

The regular version of the car was already good, to begin with. Having it in a Premium version just adds icing to the cake. And yes, this version,