HOT WHEELS - The custom '77 Dodge Van is one of the not bad customised vans, done but not in your face.

A strange one this is, i would not normally like anything like this, but it must be the eyes on the side, they make me smile every time i see them, and thats probably why i got this one model, the Custom 1977 Dodge Van is a real van, with MC5 wheels and MOONEYES livery on the side, it is quite a heavy model too, compared to a lot of the others in the range.

The short card has great card art, and really gets this van off to a tee, it is part of the HW City section and is numbered #20/250, the black and white stripes on the side are not normally a favourite of mine but they really suit this van a lot, like the slightly smaller front wheels, it's a customised van, but done subtly and without being vulgar and garish.

HOT WHEELS - The Super Volt, based on the Chevy Volt but taken too far into fantasy land.

This model is based on a real car, but taken a few steps further, and not good ones at that, the Chevrolet Volt is there first proper Electric Vehicle (EV) and had some success, not the sales they had hoped for, but it was a reasonable seller throughout its first generation life, it had some interesting looks, some of which are here on this casting, but they get lost with the garish paint scheme, which i really do not like, and the giant silver plastic engine and spoiler that protrude from the car stupidly.

The black PR5 wheels with a red rim also to a degree look out of place, i would have had silver rim rather than red, but hey, i am just the customer, not the designer, the scaling of the model also looks a little "out" with the space between the wheels looking squashed.

Both these models are on long cards and the card art looks far superior than the model it looks down on, it comes from the HW City section of the range and is numbered #22/250, that's all i really have to say about this, as i am not a fan, and don't know why i bought two, or even one to be honest.

HOT WHEELS - The Lamborghini URUS in White and in blue, a super car SUV, more on road than off i think.

Years ago, Lamborghini had an SUV within it's range the LM200, it was more like a HumVee, a huge luxury off roader that crushed everything in it's way, and then it was gone, no replacement, no updated model, nothing, then Lamborghini was taken over by Volkswagen through it's AUDI brand, and things changed, the world changed, the SUV took over the world, and as an aside, the SUV Market in Europe, has, in 2015, become the biggest automotive segment, out performing all others for the very first time, and not the last.

New cars came for Lambo, and then we had this, the URUS Concept, a vision of what a new Lambo SUV could look like, and it is being built, with very minimal changes from it's concept, the pointy straight edged design style of the brand continues into this model which is it's self based on the underpinnings of the Audi Q7, Bentley 9 F, Porsche Cayenne and VW Touareg.

The Hot Wheels version has come in three colours to date, deep red, White and blue, and later this year there will be an Orange version (Below), the blue one at the bottom is on a short card, the rest are on long cars and are numbered as #23/250, and are with within teh HW City section or teh new for 2016 HW Hot Trucks section, PR5 or OH5 wheels are on these models, my preference is teh PR5, the OH5 looks a little to weird on this, the card Art is, like always brilliant.

HOT WHEELS - A great looking concept car from Cadillac, the Elmiraj in two colours, and multiple models.

Another realistic model from Hot Wheels, this time a concept car from the US Luxury brand Cadillac, a company that's been on the move for the last couple of years, new cars, better specified, decent interiors and new "design language" has made Caddy a brand of choice once again, the Elmiraj is a two door coupe, a BIG two door coupe, that just hits the spot nicely.

The models here, in red and blue, will be joined in about two weeks by a black version, i have these models on the way to me now, so like the BMW M4 in red, i will do a separate report on these when they get here, again, both colours have the same code number #25/250, the two models at the top are on short cards, and the rest, all below, are on long ones, the card art is stunning and brings out the front light treatment well, this has been a Caddy favourite for some while now, the thin lights that bend over the top, both front and rear on some of the real cars.

the Ten Spoke wheels give the car an added air of speed or sportiness, it is therefore a shame that, for me at least, the side vents have not been picked out in silver, this would have been a nice touch, but without, it does not detract from an overall, good casting, I am eagerly awaiting the black as that's my favourite paint scheme, on any car, this car will not make production into a real model, but it showcases design hints at what other cars within the brand may well take note of.

HOT WHEELS - The BMW M4 a double hit here, with the blue and gold versions from 2015, a nice realistic model.

2015 was a great year for realistic models from Hot Wheels, this is a case in point, the BMW M4 was a bit of a surprise to many, and they have mastered this quite well, but first, a little info about me and BMW, I hate the company, with a passion, ever since they screwed Rover Group into the ground, striped it of everything they wanted and left the unprofitable parts to the Phoenix Four to cock up, it also has to be said that the end of this car company can be traced back 50 years with all the merging, cost cutting, unreliability issues and so on.

So, you can see that when i say the model is quite good, it actually is, the M4 is nothing but a rebadged 3-Series like the 2-Series is a re-badged 1-Series, they have taken the coupe and convertible and M range and given them new numbers, now that does not mean anything really, except that it gives them another range of cars, which is great for the collector.

I love the baby poo, or goldy colour one over the blue, and the new deep rich red one which will be with me in about a a week, looks even better, i will post that as a separate post, the PR5 wheels are also a great choice, and really suit this model well, the blue ones are on short cars the gold on long, and the card art is great too, my only gripe is that it maybe sits a little too high for a sports saloon, but then that's it, i love the fact that they have not ruined it with garish colours and liveries, but a nice Euro spec race car might be a nice addition after the red one, but we will have to wait and see what's next.

Both models come with the same code, #24/250 so keeping them together in my picture file is a lot easier, 

HOT WHEELS - Two different colours of the same car with the same livery, and they both work well.

Another Hot Wheels, this time the 2009 Corvette ZR1, and in a livery scheme that has been used many times on various HW models, this one, is Gulf as in the Oil company, I currently have four of these, three in Blue and orange the other in white and orange, and all with the same livery.

All four are on the short card, and have black PR5 wheels with an orange rim and with the range of HW's now running at 250 per year, this one at number 12/250 has been used a number of times in differing colour schemes.

Unusually it has side, top and front tampoing, which for mattel these days, is more than normal, but is a nice touch.

HOT WHEELS - The awesome Aston Martin V8 Vantage, the 2005 first editions looks great in bright yellow.

Ah, an Aston, everything seems OK after you look at one of these, a beautiful, svelte, British brute of a car, and this one with the V8, is up there with the best of them, this model, dates back 11 years, from 2005, the year MG-Rover, the UK's biggest British owned motor manufacturer went bust with the loss of 6,000 direct jobs and up to 25,000 indirect jobs.

At the time Ford still owned Aston within the PAG (Première Automotive Group), along with Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover and Lincoln, Ford still owns Lincoln, the rest were sold off.

The model here however, is the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, and is the 2005 First Editions model, meaning this is the launch car, a car that would in various colours and sets remain in the HW range for years to come, the generic card art is not pretty, and this would not last like this for long, until they decided to have art on the cards of the model within the blister.

This is a great little casting, not spoiled with garish graphics or flames, which is something HWs are famous for, and the PR5 wheels look spot on for the model too.