Some of you may remember that I have a 1/18 scale Hot Wheels Elite Ferrari F40 LM (nice big name.) Those same people will remember that the post I showed all $85-90 of it in was kinda shite, mostly due to the potato pics. I’ve gone and remedied that.
The racing version of the Ferrari F40, the fastest car of the year it was debuted, was born into a golden era of GT racing. Racing teams clamored at Mclaren to give them a racing version of the F1, and lo, the F1 GTR was born. Similar to Mclaren, the F40 was never supposed to go racing, but was put into service as soon as 1989, in the IMSA GTO series, where it came third to two all-wheel-drive tube-frame Audis at Sebring.
It would see a mildly successful racing career, eventually becoming obsolete because of the aforementioned Mclarens, which had completely wrecked house in the racing world.
This Hot Wheels Elite model does it wonderful justice. I mean, look at it. It’s purposefully beautiful with a certain kind of nuanced character that others don’t have. The front clamshell is quite removable, and although a tad difficult to put back on securely, reveals some great detail.
Those springs don’t move, but the suspension and rolling brake calipers are represented well.
Into the engine we go. While the main part of the twin-turbo V8 is not as detailed as I’d hoped, the numerous radiators, triple exhaust pipes, real formed flow-through bodywork, and transmission make up for it somewhat.
A bit more of that powerplant.
The real fun of most racing models is in the interior. Stripped out, even more so than the spartan street car, with carbon everywhere and imitation alcantara on the wheel and dash, it’s easily one of the better parts of this model. It gets even better.
Peering over that big sidewall we can see all the great detail on the inside of the car- the gear shift is my personal favorite, followed by the detailed dashboard.
So inconclusion, the same rule for this as with all of the good Hot Wheels Elite 1/18- if you can find one at a nice price, which they usually are, it’s a great idea to snatch them up, because Hot Wheels may never make 1/18 Ferraris again.
P.S. Repost for the morning crew, gents, I’ve made this way too late at night.