[REVIEW] Double wagon goodness

I was going to wait for a Wagon Wednesday, but I'll be out of town this Wednesday and then I really need to be packing things up for moving. So here it is, a double-header wagon review.

First up, we have a vintage Matchbox (1977) Mercury Cougar Villager that I recently acquired in a HWEP trade with Carnage. I feel like I got the better end of the deal on that one. According to the Matchbox wiki, this was manufactured between 1978 and '81, but there were no changes between years, so the exact date is not clear. However, I've also seen some blue examples on the interwebz, so I'm not sure exactly what is going on there. This particular example is not pristine (some paint chips), but is in pretty good shape for its age.

Detail is very nice and it seems to be pretty accurate to the real thing. The front grille and hood look great. It would be more accurate if it had woodgrain sides (Matchbox included the outline trim) and a roof rack, so I'll have to ponder that...

Bottom is a pretty generic vintage Matchbox look. The top and the bottom are not going to separate anytime soon.

Tailgate opens for added play value.

Overall, it's a very solid-feeling car and despite being only a few inches long does a good job of evoking the size of a real land-barge. These show up on eBay at not terrible prices, even for mint or near-mint examples, so it's worth checking out if you're a wagon fan.

Next is the Hot Wheels Custom '66 GTO Wagon. The Pontiac GTO was originally an optional performance package offered for the Tempest/Le Mans. In 1966, the GTO was considered a separate model from the Tempest/Le Mans, but still shared the same basic body. There was never an officially offered wagon version of the GTO (although there are 3 or 4 rumored factory GTO wagons), but enthusiasts upgraded the base Tempest wagon or just slapped a GTO badge on it (as with the Chevelle SS Wagon) and Hot Wheels has obliged us as well.

I'd had my eye on this casting for a while, and I think the red/black paintjob on the 2012 model is pretty badass, so I snagged it on eBay recently.

This is a long wagon. I haven't checked it against everything as some of my cars are packed away right now, but it's the longest car on my desk right now (aside from the 1:24 Corvette), slightly edging out the Chevelle Wagon. It's a very simple paint job that suits the car wonderfully. Tampos are good with the nicely detailed GTO badges where appropriate.

It's a little hard to make out because of the black interior against the black top, but there's a dog looking out the back window, which is an interesting touch, reminiscent of some of the Matchbox wagons.

Front looks good. Some versions of this casting had a black grill. I'm not sure if it was a plastic insert or just paint, but it looks great.

Bottom is about what you'd expect. You can see in this picture how far up the wheels go into the wells, which leads to my first minor complaint. Between the obligatory Hot Wheels stance and the Real Riders, the back wheels don't actually turn very freely. Not a big deal because I wasn't really planning on racing it, but this is one wagon that's not nearly as fast as it looks.

My other complaint is the gap between the top and bottom pieces at the front here (also, somebody got some dust on the hood). It honestly looks worse in the picture because of how much bigger than life it is, but it's still a little annoying. It seems to be a common, although not entirely consistent, issue with this casting.

Overall, however, I'm quite pleased with this one. I got it for $6 delivered, which seems to be an average price point for a loose car (this was available in a 30-pack, so lots of loose mint examples as sellers part them out). Between the coolness of the casting and the affordable price point, this should be in every wagon enthusiast's collection.