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 –>