Only a few more weeks until this baby starts hitting the shelves! This is certainly a welcome addition to the BigTime Muscle series.

All I can say is “Let me see the 1:1 scale..!”

[via Jada Toys]

Over on JDS, DracKnight lets fellow collectors know that new 1/24th scale pieces are appearing from Jada Toys covering several of their different lines. New pieces he personally spotted at his local Walmart include:

For Sale - ‘59 VW Beetle

D-Rods - DIV Cruiser Skool Bus

VDubs - ‘63 VW Bus Pickup W/Luggage Rack

VDubs - ‘59 VW Beetle W/ Surfboard

BTM - ‘57 Chevy Corvette (Pro-Street wheels)

BTM - ‘65 Ford Mustang (Pro-Street wheels)

diecastAUDIO thinks the VDubs line is going to leave the wallet a little thin this month..!

[via joesdiecastshack.com]

Excite.com’s Money and Investing section has posted an article called “Hot Wheels(R) Rolls out New ‘07 Models” that highlights all the new series being released this year. One interesting part of the commentary states:

“In addition to the two new segments, there are some modifications for the 2007 Hot Wheels(R) basic car line. Always popular with collectors, the scarce Treasure Hunt series of cars will be produced in greater numbers, making them easier to find for kids and the casual consumer. Joining the mix will be a new series of “super” Treasure Hunt cars, produced in smaller quantities than the regular Treasure Hunt cars.

“We found that we’d made the series so popular with our collectors that kids rarely had a chance of finding a Treasure Hunt car on the shelf,” explained Walker. “By increasing production on the regular Treasure Hunt models, and introducing the new ’super’ Treasure Hunt cars, we are serving both audiences.”

In diecastAUDIO’s opinion, this is certainly an interesting perspective - but a TH is a TH. Now there will that many more cars for the “hoarders” to keep out of the hands of children and honest collectors.

Thoughts anyone..?

[via joesdiecastshack.com] [full article: excite.com]

From the johnnylightning.com blog: This weekend some of the Johnny Lightning team will be at the Tinley Park, IL Collector Toy Show on Sunday morning Dec. 3rd checking out all the collectibles and toys for sale. We’ll be walking the show so come over and say “hi”. We MIGHT just have another goodie for ya. We gave out a couple cool cars at the last show and a few test shots…hope to see you there.

[via johnnylightning.com] [more info at uniqueeventsshows.com]

After over a year in the making, David Chang’s EVO SS Concept Drag Bus is now available as part of the KUSTOMCITY? “Artists Proof Series.” David’s 1/64th scale creations are available in Satin Flat Black or Kandy Blue with eye popping graphics and fantastic detail.

These pieces feature stackable display cases with diamond plate platforms, deep-dish wheels, rubber tires, metal chassis and brass bushings for a smooth precision roll. Whats that?!? - It ROLLS..?! - Yes indeed, these puppies are meant to be played with (carefully of course!) and to facilitate the playing, each car is mounted to the base with removable screws which allow you to unmount and remount the car on the display case with ease.

These beauties are manufactured in China and will be only 984 total and are priced at $29.95 each - so order soon!!

[via Kustom City Designs] [Order from K-Tek Diecast]

2007 Ultra Hots News and Rumors

The 2006 Ultra Hots Series started with 16 castings and ended with 18 castings. In 2007 we should see as many as 24 different castings…. All castings have rubber tires and an opening feature… The 2007 Series has many changes so lets look at some…. Castings that are gone from last year are The Anglia Panel, The 65 Pontiac GTO, The 65 Mustang convertible, The 58 Corvette, The 56 Chevy Nomad, The 1937 Ford Woody and possibly the 1968 Mustang. The 65 GTO is being replaced with the 67 GTO…. The VW Karmann Ghia has been added to the line and a very interesting name appears on my rumor list……. The Custom Volkswagon Bug. Could this be the Bug with the opening sun roof? Is it possible that a VW Bug will appear with an opening trunk? Remember all cars in this line have an opening feature so the Mainline VW Bug can’t be an option. The 56 Flashsider will be new and improved and rumors persist that the 70 Chevy Chevelle and 68 Mercury Cougar are in the line too. Another rumor is that the 70 Dodge Challenger First Edition from 06 was created with an opening hood version for this line….. we’ll see.

The 2006 Line of Ultra Hots had the 1968 Mustang casting….. The 2007 lineup features a 1967 Mustang and a 1969 Mustang casting…… The 2007 mainline First Editions features a 1969 Mustang dub city style…… I can’t for a minute see this as the Ultra Hots car can you? One rumor that I know to be true …. that nobody knows about yet is that Larry Wood designed a 1957 Buick casting……. this casting has an opening feature … likely the hood…… It will debut as an ultra hots car.

One of the things Tyco R/C has done over the past year is move toward branding all of their cars and trucks as ?Hot Wheels R/C?. In case you are not familiar with the term R/C … In this case it stands for Radio Controled Vehicle. This is an effort by Mattel to bring all the speed, power, performance, and attitude of HW to older boys who want to play with R/C vehicles. On the bottom end we will see 6V cars like the Corvette, Mustang, Honda Civic, and soon the Challenger concept, as well as brand new truck designs coming out in January with models like the Ford F-150, Jeep Hurricane, Toyota FJ, and the Chevy Avalanche. The cars run on standard AA batteries (not included) and retail for around $14.99 and the trucks run on a rechargeable 4.8V battery (included) and retail for around $29.99

[via Airland’s Ironbox News Forum on HotWheelsCollectors.com ]

Dear Faithful Listener,

I know its been quite a while since a new show has hit the feed or been made available for download, and if you are reading this then I want to thank you for sticking around. I have received some kind words and feedback from a few of you about how much you like the shows and I certainly appreciate all of it!

It has been quite a crazy summer and fall on many levels. Obviously the warm weather and longer daylight hours was the first distraction. Then of course there was grass to be mowed. Oh the joys of home-ownership! However, the biggest event that threw off my schedule this summer was the acquisition of my company by RightNow Technologies out of Bozeman, Montana. The merger brought on many new projects and responsibilities that kept me far away from the ability to produce new shows and even away from the ability to keep up with collecting!

Now that fall is almost behind us I can’t say that my schedule has gotten any lighter, but I can say that I’m still very motivated to keep the show going. I have a lot of new ideas for both the website and the show, so keep your eyes (and your ears!) peeled for lots of little changes over then course of the next month. So much has happened in the world of diecast this summer that I’m finding myself spending a decent amount of time playing “catch-up”, but new shows and fresh content should be coming forth shortly.

As always, if you have any questions, concerns, suggestions or even words of encouragement, please e-mail me at diecastaudio@gmail.com and stay tuned for new shows very soon!

Thanks for listening!
-Jeff