’78 Porsche 935-78

The Porsche 935 is a race car built by Porsche and was introduced in 1976 for the FIA Group 5. The 935/78 is the third and final version developed, well, in 1978. It was built for the 24 hours of LeMans outputting in the range of 600+kW.

Porsche 935-78

The Hot Wheels version is designed by Jun Imai and was first introduced in 2012, under Hot Wheels Racing. The Car Culture Race Day Premium was released in 2017. During that time, this casting has only come out a few times and has never shown up in the mainline.

The 935-78 was affectionately nicknamed Moby Dick during its racing heydays. This is because it was mostly white, and the long tail-like wing, together with its overall shape, makes it look like a whale.

“Moby Dick”

I never had the earlier castings of the 935-78, and I currently only have this on hand. Honestly, I was not a big fan of the whale. I like more streamlined and compact designs. Although lately, these wide-bodied wonders are showing their appeal to me. When I cracked this open, it hit me. This is a damn good-looking car. The 935-78 in bright red and contrasting yellow Momo livery. The car itself looks great with a single mold. The wing that portrudes at the tail is a bit thick, but that is to be expected at this scale. It also has the Momo livery on the wing. The rest of the car’s livery are simple numbers and sponsorship decals, all in yellow. The wheels, on the other hand, are dish type RRAs that are also finished in red, with chrome lining to break the otherwise monotonous color. The effect overall is sometimes too much (red), but when you look at the thing as a whole, it becomes a pleasant view. As a race car, this doesn’t have any headlights painted on. What is nice, though, is how the tailpipe is hidden underneath that bulky tail. The proportions of this casting are unbelievably balanced for this scale.

Overall, I fell in love with this car only after a few times looking over it. No, it wasn’t love at first sight, but in the end, I decided to keep this larger than life lady.

Whale’s Tail

’78 Porsche 935-78

The Porsche 935 is a race car built by Porsche and was introduced in 1976 for the FIA Group 5. The 935/78 is the third and final version developed, well, in 1978. It was built for the 24 hours of LeMans outputting in the range of 600+kW.

Porsche 935-78

The Hot Wheels version is designed by Jun Imai and was first introduced in 2012, under Hot Wheels Racing. The Car Culture Race Day Premium was released in 2017. During that time, this casting has only come out a few times and has never shown up in the mainline.

The 935-78 was affectionately nicknamed Moby Dick during its racing heydays. This is because it was mostly white, and the long tail-like wing, together with its overall shape, makes it look like a whale.

“Moby Dick”

I never had the earlier castings of the 935-78, and I currently only have this on hand. Honestly, I was not a big fan of the whale. I like more streamlined and compact designs. Although lately, these wide-bodied wonders are showing their appeal to me. When I cracked this open, it hit me. This is a damn good-looking car. The 935-78 in bright red and contrasting yellow Momo livery. The car itself looks great with a single mold. The wing that portrudes at the tail is a bit thick, but that is to be expected at this scale. It also has the Momo livery on the wing. The rest of the car’s livery are simple numbers and sponsorship decals, all in yellow. The wheels, on the other hand, are dish type RRAs that are also finished in red, with chrome lining to break the otherwise monotonous color. The effect overall is sometimes too much (red), but when you look at the thing as a whole, it becomes a pleasant view. As a race car, this doesn’t have any headlights painted on. What is nice, though, is how the tailpipe is hidden underneath that bulky tail. The proportions of this casting are unbelievably balanced for this scale.

Overall, I fell in love with this car only after a few times looking over it. No, it wasn’t love at first sight, but in the end, I decided to keep this larger than life lady.

Whale’s Tail

Car Culture: Race Day

Race Day. Another set from Hot Wheels’ Car Culture series. As the name suggests, this set is filled with race cars. These are castings of race versions of certain models. Expect race liveries, roll cages, and big wings. Alright, so, not all race cars have big wings. But just to set your expectations, these are the cars that come with Race Day.

Race Day

’78 Porsche 935-78
Mazda RX-3
Porsche 914-6
Porsche 962
Acura NSX

A quick glance at this set will already get you excited. This is not as colourful as I expected cars with racing liveries to be. Maybe I was expecting them to have a loud presence like drift cars. I’m not saying that they are boring, just understated for what they are. I guess it’s also because they give off this retro racing vibe rather than a modenrn one. And that can be a good thing.

One would not immediately think of an RX-3 to be a race day car, but these small rotary rockets were proper racing machines in their heyday. It isn’t a surprise to find Porsches here, but again, the fact that Hot Wheels has chosen retro race cars is a good choice. Porsche has that heritage of racing in its DNA, and it’s good to see the grand daddies of racing Porsches. The NSX is the most modern looking of the bunch here. With production of the NSX starting in 1990, though, it isn’t as ‘young’ as you think. Still, this is a testament to a timeless design.

Let us take a closer look at these race day cars.

Race Day: Japan

Volvo 850 Estate

As if jumping back to the future in an instant, another, more modern Volvo hits the Fast Wagons. This time, it is the Volvo 850 Estate. This casting didn’t start its life in the Premium Line, but rather from the more modest mainline. However, it did so in the best fashion, under Race Day. The first casting of this model came in the guise of the 850 Estate Touring Car. Yes, it emulated the BTCC contender the first time it hit the shelves. Kudos to the late Ryu Asada for that.

Volvo 850 Estate

The one we get in the Fast Wagons is a bit more pedestrian. It doesn’t come with the familiar racing livery and instead looks a bit more plain. Mind you, it still looks good. It comes dressed up in a cream yellow paint job. Plain, yes, but remember that the special edition 850 T5R came in this colorway. It does make the smaller details stand out even more. Printed on headlights and taillights are clearly seen, and how about we add a pair of indicators on the sides as well. Door handles are painted but nothing to write home about, to be honest. The blackened side moldings that continue to wrap around the bumpers need a nod though, as this was one of the identifying visual cues of the T5, at least it was for me. The wheels are RR5SPMs, which aren’t bad. But I honestly think they could have done better. Dish or multi-spoke are my bets for this car. Another notable detail is the number plate, for which they put the rear latch to good use. And did I mention already that this casting has wing mirrors? Well, it does. Not very big, but details like these are rare on this scale (especially on a Hot Wheels car).

Volvo 850 Estate

Some real-world information: the Volvo 850 came about in 1991, originally in sedan guise and marketed as a compact luxury car pitted against the likes of the BMW 3 series and Mercedes C-class. The estate version was introduced in 1993, and a Turbo model was introduced the year after that. A special performance version was built in 1995 and was a success in terms of its run as a performance car. This was the 850 T5-R. However, it was back in 1994 that Volvo entered the British Touring Car Championship with the 850 Estate. Back then, an unorthodox car for racing. It did well enough and was eventually recognized as a capable racer in the BTCC. However, changes in the BTCC regulations forced the estate version to retire and replaced with a saloon version for 1995.