Matchbox = Hotwheels?

[Fadli85 0]

Have you ever notice that some Matchbox cars die-cast is the same with Hot Wheels? Am I buying doubles then? For example look at Corvette ZR-1, both brands have them, same too exept the wheels and color, and some Volkswagen I notice, the Baja Bug, the Thing, Viper GTS, and lot's more, are they playing tricks on us? As for me whenever I'm out hauling I will buy Hotwheels First, Matchbox second. What do you say guys?

(Oh and yes I know both of them are Mattel, but still......)

[dreamer_adrian 0]

Fadli85 wrote:

Have you ever notice that some Matchbox cars die-cast is the same with Hot Wheels? Am I buying doubles then? For example look at Corvette ZR-1, both brands have them, same too exept the wheels and color, and some Volkswagen I notice, the Baja Bug, the Thing, Viper GTS, and lot's more, are they playing tricks on us? As for me whenever I'm out hauling I will buy Hotwheels First, Matchbox second. What do you say guys?

(Oh and yes I know both of them are Mattel, but still......)

Matchbox build die-cast with scale, u can find the 1/64, 1/59 scale below the matchbox chasis... and Hotwheels non.....

for more realistic car collectors, they will pick Matchbox...

Hotwheels normally will TUNED those car to be more lower, big rims, or some bodykit... so Mattel can conquer all the market...

[Raymond 0]

matchbox=cool wheels

very cool and stock car but not much hype la tats y tak laku tat much

[cooolman 0]

At my view, MB and HW are difference kind. Like dreamer_adrian said so , MB more on realistic model, if i want to go for diorama, i will more prefer MB car model....but those wheels pattern that MB using is suck.

[hokuan 0]

Hmm, they didnt use the same casting too I think..MB Audi R8 and HW Audi R8 doesn't seems the same..

[dreamer_adrian 0]

hokuan wrote:

Hmm, they didnt use the same casting too I think..MB Audi R8 and HW Audi R8 doesn't seems the same..

Nope, they are different, Hotwheels R8 is trimmed to shorter and higher

[dreamer_adrian 0]

cooolman wrote:

At my view, MB and HW are difference kind. Like dreamer_adrian said so , MB more on realistic model, if i want to go for diorama, i will more prefer MB car model....but those wheels pattern that MB using is suck.

It is better than past Matchbox wheels... those historic view is more like CHINA product than US product

[sinclair 0]

Matchbox cars are more realistic. Hot Wheels cars are... hot!

[netmatrix 0]

If you can hunt down the history between this companies, you will see how the quality has remained consistent with Matchbox. But HotWheels is only playing catch-up last few years. And MB cars last time can stand abuse more better. Well when i was a kid that is. hehe

[enyomic 0]

ok .. matchbox prides itself of quality product that is close to real item .. look at their castings ... finishing most of the time better and less prone to error.

Hotwheels are just in for the mass market. Easy to make with lots of tampo but not much details ... the worst are sometimes the cars are twisted to out of proportion ....

[MarieJuliette 0]

I think it's because of all those reasons that MB is doing real good in N. America.
I know a lot of collectors that are getting more and more MB because of the quality and the castings.

[kurz 0]

i think MB wheels are cool!
suitable for stock cars

[aphong2681 0]

dreamer_adrian wrote:

Fadli85 wrote:

Have you ever notice that some Matchbox cars die-cast is the same with Hot Wheels? Am I buying doubles then? For example look at Corvette ZR-1, both brands have them, same too exept the wheels and color, and some Volkswagen I notice, the Baja Bug, the Thing, Viper GTS, and lot's more, are they playing tricks on us? As for me whenever I'm out hauling I will buy Hotwheels First, Matchbox second. What do you say guys?

(Oh and yes I know both of them are Mattel, but still......)

Matchbox build die-cast with scale, u can find the 1/64, 1/59 scale below the matchbox chasis... and Hotwheels non.....

for more realistic car collectors, they will pick Matchbox...

Hotwheels normally will TUNED those car to be more lower, big rims, or some bodykit... so Mattel can conquer all the market...

Yup, MB cars comes in scale..even the HW's ZR-1 is not the same as MB's. the size might be similar, but MB's got longer wheel-base (front to rear). They might look like comes from the same casting but actually there'r not. Most HWs are either made in M'sia or Thailand or China, but MB cars mostly from Thailand.

Only a handful of HWs cars comes with side mirror, but for MB, only a handful that doesn't . I do agree that MB's cars r more realistic and much nicer compared to HWs. Take the Audi R8 for instance

[redkop 0]

As someone has mentioned earlier on Matchbox has a long history before Hotwheels, it's true, it is still alive and kicking. It depends on whether you are a "realist" or a "futurist". If you falls under the former category then Matchbox would suit you better. A quick look at the 2009 catalogues for both brands suggests that approximately 45% and 75% of Hotwheels and Matchbox cars respectively are real cars. Besides that, Matchbox made up of mainly British and Continental cars while Hotwheels real cars are mainly American cars, with a few exceptions of Japs and Continental cars thrown in. Hence, there's no fix and fast rule to say which is better, depends on your taste. As a general and personal observation, older collectors, say age 35 and above tend to prefer Matchbox than Howheels, but but we can also see younger collectors showing great interest in Matchbox. One notable thing I like about Matchbox of yesteryers cars is that a car is packed into a a small box like that of the Tomicas where you can open up the box as and when you feel like it and fiddle with it and one tends to appreciate the car better, but now it is in blister pack which takes off a big portion of the fun. Now one can only see but cannot hold the car, what a pity.

[netmatrix 0]

Quote :

As someone has mentioned earlier on Matchbox has a long history before Hotwheels,

That someone is me. hahaha. Articles can be found in Matchbox and Hotwheels collecting guide books.

[paanjang16 0]

redkop wrote:

As someone has mentioned earlier on Matchbox has a long history before Hotwheels, it's true, it is still alive and kicking. It depends on whether you are a "realist" or a "futurist". If you falls under the former category then Matchbox would suit you better. A quick look at the 2009 catalogues for both brands suggests that approximately 45% and 75% of Hotwheels and Matchbox cars respectively are real cars. Besides that, Matchbox made up of mainly British and Continental cars while Hotwheels real cars are mainly American cars, with a few exceptions of Japs and Continental cars thrown in. Hence, there's no fix and fast rule to say which is better, depends on your taste. As a general and personal observation, older collectors, say age 35 and above tend to prefer Matchbox than Howheels, but but we can also see younger collectors showing great interest in Matchbox. One notable thing I like about Matchbox of yesteryers cars is that a car is packed into a a small box like that of the Tomicas where you can open up the box as and when you feel like it and fiddle with it and one tends to appreciate the car better, but now it is in blister pack which takes off a big portion of the fun. Now one can only see but cannot hold the car, what a pity.

Well said redkop. I always preferred Matchbox cars since I grew up with them. During those days when comparing Matchbox with Hot Wheels, Hot Wheels are crap (sorry to say this in a HW forum ). Matchbox had operable doors, hood, realistic paintwork and decals and some even had features which are part of the mold (unlike now most are stickers).

Here's an example:-
Dodge Challenger with Big rear tires, soft top, big air intake, racing decals, big exhaust, Dodge wording on hood, number plate front and rear. I highly doubt there is any Hot wheel car from the same era (1980s) that can match this Matchbox.



But the good old days of Matchbox are over unfortunately .More so when Mattel bought them over Would have preferred Hasbro to take over Matchbox than Mattel.

[redkop 0]

Brada Paanjang 16,

Glad to know someone who shares the same opinion here. As much as I do not wanna believe HW is still that yard off Matchbox but I can't help believing so, just taken a look at 1pc of black MB Mercedes-Benz CL500 under magnifying glass, can't find any fault, to me black colour paintwork is the easiest to spot defects, but i couldn't find any. However, one look at the HW metallic Nissan Skyline GT-R-R32, without using the magnifying glass, i can see the red color paint on one side of the tail-lights missing while the other one is half painted, heartache? Not sure am I having a cacat pc, reject pc or an error pc??? Whatever it is, I'm not happy, I keep thinking the tail-lights paintwork is missing.

Yup, I could remember back in the 70s and 80s in Malaysia MB is the order of the day while HW only makes its presence felt only in the early 80s. Not forgetting it comes in those nice little boxes that you can open up, get the car out, race it, slammed it, rammed it, crashed it and fiddle with it.

Phew, you have a piece of a gem here, it must have been from the 70s or 80s? Great piece, keep it that way, don't try to re-paint it. Once read a book about antique on diecast cars, it advises collectors not to restore old diecast cars, such as trying to repaint its surface, this is to retain its authentic value, the author is an authority on antiques and an auctioner, so he must be right then, can't argue much with him.

I'm led to believe, there are lots of collectors out there looking for yesteryear diecast cars and it doesn't come cheap, like the pc of Dodge Challenger that you have, eventhough play worn. Whatever it may be, we certainly hope MB continues to produce quality stuff to keep us collectors happy. Hasbro? ...... hmmm can't comment much on them as i don't collect figures, but feedback from me pals that collects figures suggests that Hasbro has the knack of changing the blister card but with the identical figure and sold as variation and diehard collectors have to follow suit and buy and buy and buy, to complete collection-mah. Some collectors dropped out and some gave up all together, too expensive to keep up. If Hasbro took over we may end up in those situations. Scarry, scarry. As it is now Mattel is already a headache with those colour variations.

Ah .... just taken a look at other pieces of Nissan Skylline GT-R R32, all of them have the same defect. If you happen to carry a piece, I believe it carries the same defect.

[cham2020 0]

here is my opinion on the matchbox = hotwheels issue.h i really agree alot with paanjang16 and redkop about matchbox diecasts are way real detailed and up to scale compare to hotwheels(the comparission is between HOTWHEELS BASIC CAR and MATCHBOX BASIC CARS). lets do not forget about the casting quality. i wonder why for the same price (RM 6.50), the quality differences is very big. o

as akop said about the black R32, it is bad if you ask me. Same goes to the gold color variation. Unpainted front, rear lamps, bad tempos and oxidation on the paint job. Not that I am finding fault with hotwheels but that is the undeniable truth that the quality indeed is not up to standard with matchbox.

another one is the corvette zr1. Initially I thought that the hotwheels version is nice enough but after I visited Benpaul's blog where he featured the matchbox zr1, he highlighted about the carbonfibre textured roof, and I was shocked. I immediately uncarded one of the matchbox zr1 that I had and to my suprise, the texture is up to scale and indeed carbonfibre texture !! My suprise, I never seen such thing in a small scale car !!

And talking about the Honda Civic Type R from matchbox series, I mean the Euro Civic, look at the details around it. It's totally amazing. Painted front and rear lamps, textures at the lamps, and other small details like the Type R embleems and number plates. It's a breeze. Now lets compare the EP3 civic from hotwheels, it's totally out of propotion and lacking in detailing compartment.

Another car would be the Mitsubishi Eclipse. The hotwheels version doesn't have the details painted at all while the Matchbox version had all the details painted and it's very please to the eyes. I think alot of you here will agree with me .

When Adrian told me that Hotwheels doesn't have the scale indicated at the base of the car, I checked every cars that I had and to my suprise, it doesn't have any scale. So I wondered if Hotwheels designed them base on the real dimension of the car or simply just draw them on the CAD and tool them. Matchbox wise, they have scale indicate at the base and the propotion is accurate and close to the real thing.

OK, lets put this simple, matchbox cars have better detailing, quality compare to hotwheels car. But as many said, hotwheels selling strength is the variation and new castings everything and not forgetting tempos on the cars. Another point is treasure hunt. However, to me, although I collect both hotwheels basic cars and matchbox basic cars, I would prefer matchbox more than Hotwheels.


Hope I will not get bombarded at HWCM.

[sinclair 0]

Thanks guys for sharing your opinion.

But perhaps the target market for each brand is different? Hotwheels for the younger market and more fun factor. Matchbox for more serious enthusiasts?

[cham2020 0]

here is the matchbox corvette
see the roof...the CF texture is really nice and up to scale !

[Fadli85 0]

Wow, lucky I bought one, I never knew that before, I didn't open it up, the thing I missed not setting it loose, haish...

[paanjang16 0]

cham2020 wrote:

here is the matchbox corvette
see the roof...the CF texture is really nice and up to scale !

Spoiler:

 

I almost wanted to post the picture of this vette myself. When I first saw it hanging on the pegs, it did not come to me to buy it, after all, I have the Hot wheels version. But then when I had a closer look, I noticed the carbon fiber roof that the HWs did not have

I saw a comparison done on another blog, but they never compare the roof (or probably did mention about it, but the entire site is in some Euro language ). Again, MBX triumphs over HW, even today. Oh, the undercarriage (the base) is even more detailed than the HWs version!

But if you are wondering why Matchbox is better valued then Hot wheels for the same price, it is because Matchbox is now made in Thailand while Hot wheels are made in Penang Malaysia. Labor in Thailand is cheaper than here, hence can have more details. Kinda ironic that our locally made cars are inferior to the Thailand made cars (compare Perdana with Camry , Hot wheels with Matchbox), seems like anything car related industry here is cursed.

@ redkop, I have alot of Matchbox cars, with some Tomicas, Majorettes and Hws as well which the paint is quite battered too. But no way I am selling them off; the nostalgic value on them is simply priceless since I played with them long time ago (20years ago, I'm now 25 ).

Another reason why Matchbox is better was their playsets. I dunno why, Hot Wheels playsets is all about CRASHING your cars into one another. But Matchbox playsets have some good road sets with lights, signboards, bridges, etc. Like this set which I have (the box image I found online). I have the yellow truck, the red BMW, the rally car with red boot kena tarik, the tow truck (different color), the white van etc.


Some Matchbox which I have. Although lost its windows, the doors can still open and all 4 wheels still can turn.


I dun think you can have so many decals and openable doors in todays Matchbox/HWs, Majorettes/Tomicas for less then RM 5.

[danny90 0]

i remember when my father give me mbx,is heavy but now i lost it when move to kl huhuhu

[BoneShaker 0]

I guess if you look at the history of both these companies, you'll see that Matchbox came first (1953), and Hot Wheels came years later (1968). And in 1996, Mattel acquired rights to the Matchbox brand.

[zint3000 0]

whoa...
the textures of the CF is nice...
thanks for sharing my cham~
now i wanna go uncard my zr-1 too...

[Peter1 0]

sinclair wrote:

Matchbox cars are more realistic. Hot Wheels cars are... hot!

Temperature wise they are the same. LOL.

[heytang 0]

the zr-1 is going to be a hot item because the discussion about its "carbon" roof

[redkop 0]

hi buddy paanjang16, your MBs have gone thru the test of times and is still going strong as i can see, the more paint that came off the better it is, a testimony of the extreme tests that the cars have gone thru. Keep the cars that way just to show you have an ori piece. Yup, keep the antique pcs that you have and it is near impossible to get, i mean locally.

Cheers.

[redkop 0]

heytang wrote:

the zr-1 is going to be a hot item because the discussion about its "carbon" roof

Yup, better be quick, can see the car dissapearing fast. Try to use a mini screw driver to run across the bottomside of the roof and it is actually textured not merely lines shown on the surface of the roof.

[cham2020 0]

wow
redkop, it's really texture not just lines
matchbox really pawn hotwheels now

[redkop 0]

cham2020 wrote:

wow
redkop, it's really texture not just lines
matchbox really pawn hotwheels now

a new kind of a experience.

[cham2020 0]

ok...lets off topic a bit
realtoy( tesco ) vs hotwheels ?

[Fadli85 0]

is it comparable? hehehhe.......

[cham2020 0]

why say so?

[Fadli85 0]

I don't know, just asking, hehe...

[redkop 0]

Real Toy cars looks quite similar to that of Maisto. Some are quite nice, particularly Maisto with some latest latest BMWs, Mercedes, Jaguars, Porches etc.

[kurz 0]

real toy swap wheels with hw..it will look cool! heh

[zint3000 0]

i nvr bought real toys before...
got any pics hehe

[enyomic 0]

matchbox ... they save on the tampos to give u near accurate toys ...

[felipaopsp91 0]

paanjang16 wrote:

redkop wrote:

As someone has mentioned earlier on Matchbox has a long history before Hotwheels, it's true, it is still alive and kicking. It depends on whether you are a "realist" or a "futurist". If you falls under the former category then Matchbox would suit you better. A quick look at the 2009 catalogues for both brands suggests that approximately 45% and 75% of Hotwheels and Matchbox cars respectively are real cars. Besides that, Matchbox made up of mainly British and Continental cars while Hotwheels real cars are mainly American cars, with a few exceptions of Japs and Continental cars thrown in. Hence, there's no fix and fast rule to say which is better, depends on your taste. As a general and personal observation, older collectors, say age 35 and above tend to prefer Matchbox than Howheels, but but we can also see younger collectors showing great interest in Matchbox. One notable thing I like about Matchbox of yesteryers cars is that a car is packed into a a small box like that of the Tomicas where you can open up the box as and when you feel like it and fiddle with it and one tends to appreciate the car better, but now it is in blister pack which takes off a big portion of the fun. Now one can only see but cannot hold the car, what a pity.

Well said redkop. I always preferred Matchbox cars since I grew up with them. During those days when comparing Matchbox with Hot Wheels, Hot Wheels are crap (sorry to say this in a HW forum ). Matchbox had operable doors, hood, realistic paintwork and decals and some even had features which are part of the mold (unlike now most are stickers).

Here's an example:-
Dodge Challenger with Big rear tires, soft top, big air intake, racing decals, big exhaust, Dodge wording on hood, number plate front and rear. I highly doubt there is any Hot wheel car from the same era (1980s) that can match this Matchbox.



But the good old days of Matchbox are over unfortunately .More so when Mattel bought them over Would have preferred Hasbro to take over Matchbox than Mattel.

Hi everyone I'm from Mexico, and in my childhood I preferred Matchbox that were resistant and had a better design, and I also Challenger, beautiful car



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Greetings!

[sahama 0]

Nice mbx cars