The folks at WWW.DIECASTLIVE.COM have release the first images of the tentative card design for their 2008 club car. Their White Hot Dodge Daytona Charger is going to look even hotter in this great packaging which will include a 2008 DCL membership card. Final tweaks are still being made to the design including the addition of the sponsor’s names on the back of the card. Here’s a peak at what they’ll look like. Be sure to click any of the images to see them up close!

[via diecastlive.com]

Posted last week over at HOTWHEELSCOLLECTORS.COM, was a RLC-only preview of the next mail-in offering from Hot Wheels. The Dairy Delivery will be the second of four mail-away cars for 2008. Done up in the same paint and tampo scheme as the Volkswagen Drag Truck offered in the current K-mart promotion running through 04/26/08, I’m sure that there will be no lack of participation from Hot Wheels collectors around the country.

The retail location, from which the cars and card backs must be purchased from, has not been announced yet. So stay tuned to HOTWHEELSCOLLECTORS.COM and diecastAUDIO for further information regarding this piece.

The ability to get early notice on great offers like this is yet another reason why Red Line Club membership has its advantages.

[via hotwheelscollectors.com]

As a both a die-cast collector and a Volkswagen enthusiast I can never resist the chance to post about a GTI! Heres a quick look at the upcoming 1:32 scale Mk5 VW GTI from Jada Toys. There’s a free space on my shelf for this one already..!

[via jadatoys.com]

Its been a loooong while since I’ve added anything new over on WWW.DIECASTVIDEO.COM, so I thought this might be a good one to get things going again. RexCarrs shared this amazing video of a painting he created entirely out of diecast cars (Hot Wheels..?) - Pretty cool!

[via diecastvideo.com]

As part of the 40th Anniversary of Hot Wheels, Mattel is pulling out all the stops and creating a new seven car series called Designer’s Challenge. What makes this series special? Well for starters, Mattel asked major automakers to come up with the designs for the castings. Thats something they’ve never done before. Six car companies submitted designs that were judged on by Hot Wheels Executives as well editors of several popular car and men’s magazines.

The final seven cars will never be made into real 1:1 scale vehicles however, the 1/64th scale toys did need to be able to make it all the way around a classic Hot Wheels track loop! Here is a sample of three in the package from the series.

Thanks to Greg from WWW.DIEHARD-DIECAST.COM for sending in the photos! Be sure to keep your eye open for these at your favorite brick and mortar or online retailer as they are starting to appear now!

In Part 2 of our Up Close segment with Johnny Lightning’s new Area-51 Release we’ll be taking a look at the ‘77 Ford Van and the ‘66 Jeep CJ-5. Be sure to check out Part 1 of this Up Close segment to see the other two castings in this release.

First up is the ‘77 Ford Van. In Part 1 I had mentioned that Johnny Lightning had done a good job with applying the Area-51 theme to the castings without going too overboard with the “alien” concept. If there’s a piece in the set that stands out as not quite fitting in, it would be the ‘77 Ford Van. It’s metal flake silver paint paint and large UFO and alien tampos set it apart from the other castings.

I can imagine that it joins the set as the vehicle driven by “true-believers” in search of proof that aliens really do exist - however, perhaps designing the van as an extra-terrestrial transport vehicle that would assist in recovering UFOs might have matched the others in the set a little better. I definitely invite Mr. Zahorsky to comment on the steps that went into the final design decision as I think collectors would enjoy learning about the process.

The last addition to the Area-51 Release is the 1966 Jeep CJ-5. The design returns to the Area-51 security theme with this military-style Jeep. It’s mild camouflage paint scheme and military police tampos compliment the casting nicely. Top it off with real rubber tires, an opening hood and collapsable windshield and you have an excellent piece rounding out this first release.

Don’t forget you can click the thumbnails to see the full images. If you like what you see, then be sure to check out your favorite online retailer as Johnny Lightning Area-51 Release 1 is available now.

Special thanks to Johnny Lightning Senior Design Manager Tom Zahorsky for providing the cars for this week’s segment!

It time for another Up Close segment with Johnny Lightning and you might say its “out of this world!” JL’s new Area-51 Release 1 brings a mixture of interesting castings that are very suitable for the overall theme. As an added bonus, each car comes with an Area-51 themed sticker. The release comes together as follows:

• ‘50 Chevy Pickup
• ‘77 Ford Van
• ‘66 Jeep CJ-5
• ‘67 Ford Fairlane Patrol Car

Each casting fits the theme nicely without going too overboard with the “alien” concept. The only orange in this bowl of apples might be the ‘77 Van, but you’ll have to wait until Part 2 to see why. In this post, I’ll be featuring the ‘50 Chevy Pickup and the ‘67 Ford Fairlane Patrol Car.

First up is the ‘50 Chevy Pickup. Next to the Jeep, this is one of my favorites of the release. It features real rubber tires, high gloss black paint and displays the DARPA logo on each door. Both the hood and tail gate can be opened and closed. One element that really makes the piece stand out is the addition of the “wood” look in the pickup bed.

Next up is the ‘67 Ford Fairlane. This piece also features real rubber tires and high gloss paint (both black and white). While the trunk, hood and doors are not movable, the tampo detail is what really makes this one stand out. The mud splatter detailing raises the piece to a higher level and keeps it from being a repackaged patrol car. The only thing that might make this piece even cooler would be adding a little dirt effect to the tires. Johnny Lightning did something similar to the Italian Job Mini Cooper a few years back, and seeing it here would have been a nice touch. Overall, its a very nice addition to the release.

Don’t forget you can click the thumbnails to see the full images. So far so good, eh? What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know.

Special thanks to Johnny Lightning Senior Design Manager Tom Zahorsky for providing the cars for this week’s segment!

Check out Up Close with JL Area 51, Part 2 –>