The 2017 Hot Wheels Lamborghini Series deserves your attention

This has been a long time coming. If you are in the UK, you have already probably been and gotten this set by now. If you are in the US, I would be surprised if you haven’t found it either, but there’s a chance for you to trade since it’s been here for some time now!

It has been a while since my last post but that is what happens when you are bogged down with other projects (especially when those other projects are what make you money, rather than a hobby blog!) and since I have been inundated with fantastic items recently, including Matchbox old and new, I have found it difficult to keep up with cataloguing everything. But worry not, there is a lot to come. I have also come up with some storage solutions and my Matchbox dealer has just gotten me into Matchbox Majors.

I was in TRU recently not expecting to find anything interesting (they have reduced their Majorette stock rather drastically, so now it takes around twenty seconds to check out the pegs)

However I did discover to my surprise a box in the aisle labelled “HW Lamborghini”. Naturally my curiosity was piqued so I took a look… and wow! What a fantastic find! A box just full of Lambos. It was an 8-car series, but I only picked up four, since £20 seemed a bit steep to grab all of them at once. Oh, and I haven’t been collecting Hot Wheels of late. I’ve just gone off them for some reason.

The series includes:

• Lamborghini Countach (Red)
• Lamborghini Murcielago (Yellow)
• Lamborghini Estoque (White)
• Lamborghini Reventón (White)
• Lamborghini Reventón Roadster (Silver)
• Lamborghini Urus (Dark red)
• Lamborghini Sesto Elemento (Black)
• Lamborghini Aventador (Black)

These vanished off the pegs almost instantly, so I was lucky to grab the four I did when I had the opportunity. Anyway, enjoy these photos of the ones I bought, and a brief review of each model.

I did not pick up the Urus because I hate it as a car; it’s ugly and a bandwagon mobile. I didn’t get the Reventón because the Roadster looks cooler; the Sesto Elemento was too black, and I already have a more attractive colour, and I don’t care enough about the Aventador to buy another one.

Lamborghini Countach LP500

I can’t think of a more legendary shape for a car. Certainly the Countach is well known amongst petrol heads for being the pioneer of the wedge shaped era. The Countach has been covered by most diecast brands; however, for such a legendary car, it’s hard to find one which captures the looks of the Countach right – the lowness and the unnatural angles have to be spot-on, and the wheels can make or break the looks. This latest Hot Wheels Countach isn’t perfect, but it’s one of the best I’ve seen.

I don’t think Hot Wheels quite managed to capture the lowness of the Countach (there are some really big gaps in the wheel arches – I think having the “Hot Wheels treatment” on the wheels here doesn’t work as well as a set of matching wheels would have done. The headlight tampos work really nicely and, as a pleasant surprise, are nice and accurate. The indicator light is also a nice touch on the front fenders, and the black stripe is retro cool.

This Countach is the LP500 model, easily distinguished from the earlier models by the aggressive air scoops and wheel arches that look a bit like afterthoughts on Gandini’s original design.

The spoiler adds to the aggressive styling, and distracts from the fact the back end of the car sits way too high thanks to those oversized wheels; the lack of tail lights is a bit frustrating with the thick paints, but one can’t be too critical; after all, this is a Hot Wheel. Oh, and did I mention it has a metal base? This is one heavy model. It’s awesome to pick up a full metal casting these days.

Would you argue this is still one of the best looking Lambos in small scale? I certainly would. I hope Hot Wheels make extra use of this casting in the near future; I’d love to see white, gold, and black for this car.

Lamborghini Murciélago

I am not a massive fan of modern Lamborghinis, but the Murciélago is about as Lamborghini as a modern Lamborghini can get, with its angular styling, scissor doors, and cliché naming conventions.

I only picked up four Hot Wheels Lamborghini models, and it was actually a tough decision, since it was such a desirable series; the Murciélago was one which had to hop in my basket, since the design and colour was so attractive. This model is a great example of why Hot Wheels don’t need big, silly wheels at the back and tiny ones at the front; it looks super by just sitting nice and flat against the ground. This is especially true for Lamborghinis and the Murciélago, since it has such a low-slung look and dramatic styling.

Another reason this one popped out was the attractive and wonderfully accurate tampo arrangement. Hot Wheels are approaching premium prices with this line here in the UK and it’s good to see they’re making the effort to have nice looking designs on their cars. Yellow paint is sometimes an issue for coverage and comes out quite thick; this one has not been the victim of hidden body lines, and the smooth shape comes out nicely.

It was also clever of them to integrate the plastic base plate into the rear light/vent cluster arrangement, even if it does look to be a bit all over the place. I love the rear light cluster. This is the earlier design from around 2002, later models had much cleaner styling.

The front tampo design is also very pretty, though I think it could have done without the stripes and instead had some black-out on the lower intake (strange that they didn’t use the base plate there, as they did on the back!) I also think some door mirror would have been nice, but perhaps it was thought they’d distract from the slippery profile.

Lamborghini Reventón Roadster

Even if you are unfamiliar with or even dislike Lamborghinis, there are some names you will recognise, simply because you get them repeated all the time on car shows and celebrities love them. Others cause a stir because only a small number are made. Murciélago is one, as is, I would say, Aventador, and to a lesser extent, Reventón.

It strikes me that the Reventón had cult status destined for itself simply for its low production numbers and out-of-this-world price tag. It was Lamborghini’s most expensive model before the arrival of the Sesto Elemento (you can get the HW version of that one too – I’ve got the blue one) and it sold out in a snap. As far as I can tell, the Roadster is yet a concept. If anyone has any news on the Reventón Roadster I will gladly receive it.

Hot Wheels sure did a number on this car. It’s low, the wheels are mean, and the details are intense. I love the metalflake silver and the headlight tampos. Once again, it’s a shame the lower intakes aren’t blacked out. The model looks surprisingly true to the original concept, however they’ve stuck a rather unnecessary black stripe on the bonnet. The real thing is totally dramatic with that low profile and scissor doors, and Hot Wheels were the right ones to capture it.

Once can’t expect Hot Wheels to capture the wheel design and paint scheme perfectly, but I think these ten-spokes look just as good on the model as a more true-to-the-original design would have done. The body of the car is fantastically low, very impressive.

Things look even more dramatic at the rear. There’s plenty of detail on the rear deck, a nice black Lamborghini logo, and those big moody tail lights and vents work super well as part of the base plate.

The interior is pretty well detailed too; you can make out details on the seats and dash, and the steering wheel isn’t a mere blob, which makes you appreciate it more, even if it’s all black and hard to make out. I love the Reventón Roadster, and so it had to come with me!

Lamborghini Estoque

From one concept to another, the Estoque is a bit of a departure from what we might expect from Lamborghini. Here is a concept for a four door sedan that only the 1% can afford. With no current plans to produce it, the Hot Wheels looks like it might be the one to develop this car fame.

It is an interesting model, and I picked it up for curiosity’s sake, since I had never heard of the Estoque. It is not an ugly car but neither is it beautiful, and Hot Wheels have opted for a minimalist approach on its design – white, with headlight tampos and nothing at the rear give it a half-finished look. The grey pinstripes end in a Hot Wheels logo on the boot lid, and the wheels are incredibly bling.

For a Lamborghini, the design might be considered somewhat underwhelming – a four door sedan? “Estoque” refers to the sword that kills the bull in Spain’s iconic heritage – let’s hope that’s not a gloomy omen for this company.

This car reminds me a little of the Lamborghini Marzal, the true four-seater that gained more fame as a scale model than as a real car. I wonder if this might be true of the Estoque.

Thanks for reading, and keep collecting!