As 2018 is nearing the end, it’s time to show off the Car Culture that were released by Hot Wheels so on my 162nd post, here is the latest one which was (almost) a total surprise when they came up with a car hauler and their passenger set called Team Transport.
Here are 2 of the 3 car or shall we say 2 pack 3 car set. Let’s look at the first one.
Here is the 3/3 ‘69 Nissan Skyline Van and Carry On. As you probably wonder and probably know the Carry On name is an invention of Hot Wheels and not a license truck while the Skyline is. Let’s first look at the Skyline.
The Skyline was first release under the Car Culture Cargo Carriers and was the most anticipated and sought after model. Even then that series itself was a tough find in our area so I have to resort to ebay to purchase the complete set. This van (station wagon in US) is based on the Nissan Skyline of the late 60's and is fondly called Hakosuka in Japanese which translate to ‘Boxy Skyline’. I anticipated this one to be a hard find not only due to this being a collectors favorite but the Advan livery is a favorite as well. I was really surprise to have found this in Target with the VW transporter.
Although unlicensed which is rare on Car Culture, this truck still resembles a real truck that you see on the streets perhaps a GMC truck? One complain is the bed does not slide out unlike the Maisto brand which came up with their own 2 pack with the bed on the transporter which actually slides out.
Next is the 1/1 Porsche 356 Speedster and VW transporter T1 pickup.
Unlike the previous set, both of these are license models. And the stripes on the top looks great.
Although this casting may seem familiar to most collector, this is different from the previously released HW mainline VW as this is a new casting based on the T1 while the previous release is based on T2. It has the Magnus Walker Urban Outlaw and Fifteen52 tampos on it and features a sliding flat bed which gives it a better play value. The body and chassis are metal with rubber tires and if you’re wondering what that Fifteen52 tampo is, it’s the Fifteen52 Turbomac HD wheels under license from Fifteen52. The sliding bed is plastic.
Lastly here is the Porsche 356 Speedster. This is also tied to the Magnus Walker Urban Outlaw livery which debuted with the matte black Porsche 356 (not the topless) that came out of the mainline. This also has metal body and chassis with rubber tires.
Here’s the surprising thing. We know there are VW fans and whenever a vintage VW is released those were the first ones to disappear. This however was said to be the peg warmer out of the 3 sets. From my experience it seems to be true as I went to Walmart a few days ago and every single Team Transport (about 8) left was this set. Some say it was due to the JDM craze and others due to Mattel packing an extra VW set in a sealed case which then has more of this being available than the other 2. Does anyone think otherwise?
As a bonus here is at this time the latest 356 mainline release with added detail on it.
Before these were released there were a lot of speculation as to the price point of this set. It finally came down to $12.99 in the US. If you happened to find these in different parts of the world, let us know the price point over there.
Lastly Hot Wheels seems to be encouraging us to collect the package as well as these card art looks great.
