In this series I will showcase DLM cars ranging within the 1/64 and smaller. The 10th one will focus on Matchbox again during the transition years. We will be looking at #6 Ford Pickup.
Will it be white or chrome? Regular or Superfast? Matchbox, a well known and beloved brand of the die cast world which started life in the 50's in England was known to sometimes produced variations of the same model. Here we have 2 identical Ford Pickups but with different front grill and a transition from regular to Superfast wheels. To those not familiar with the regular and superfast wheels term, this all started when Mattel, an American toy company entered the die cast world with their 1/64 Hot Wheels brand known for their spectraflame paint and most of all speed using a cheap, durable, low-friction plastic called Delrin to use as a bushing between the axle and wheel. It was claim that this result in cars that could go up to 200 mph. Whether the 200 mph is based on 1/64 scale or 1:1 I have no idea.
Matchbox uses a thicker metal as axle which was not fast and the wheels look like stock size tires with a round metal that is part of the axle in the center (like hubcaps) which came to be known now as regular wheels. When Hot Wheels was gaining ground due to what some folks claim was “the combination of all of these ingredients — speed, racing tires, Spectraflame paint and mag wheels, plus hot-rod designs based on true American prototypes not seen in great numbers in the competition’s product lines”, Matchbox decided to transition from regular wheels to having speed and mag wheels look which they called Superfast. This occurred between 1969 to 1970.
But that’s not all the difference between the 2 models. The regular wheels has a feature called auto steer, a steering mechanism where pushing down on one side of the body made the wheels turn. This feature is not available on the Superfast model.
So maybe the last question could be “would you like to speed or steer?”