My Hot Wheels Stories: December 2015

Thursday, December 31, 2015

(Another) Kool Kombi

This time, another Volkswagen car to close this year. It's a red Kool Kombi. When I got this one, the blister is not in a good condition. But, it's a Volkswagen. :D

VW Drag Family

So, this is all my VW Drag Bus / Truck. :)

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

VW Drag Bus (HW Light Speeders)

Another VW Drag Bus. It's a Hot Wheels Light Speeders edition of VW Drag Bus. I bought it in an event of TOys MOdel Collector Indonesia (TOMOCI) event.

You can paint it like this, but the paint would be disappear in seconds.

(Another) VW Drag Bus

Now, it's the second Drag Bus of mine. It's an orange VW Drag Bus. I bought it online, informed by my friend.

WARNING, having VW Drag Bus could be so addicted. :p

VW Drag Bus (1st Drag Bus)

In the end of this year, i show you some special collection of mine. It's a green chrome VW Drag Bus. I bought it in loose condition. But, it's OK, because it's my first Drag Bus. :)

The Volkswagen Drag Bus is one of the hottest surprise castings to ever come out of Mattel's factory, and made the debut as 1996 HW First Editions. Whether you love it or hate it, it turned into a collectors #1 favorite. The Volkswagen Drag Bus designed by Phil Riehlman has his initials, P R, cast into the bottom of the rear differential. This casting when released was the heaviest casting Mattel made, and the most popular. You can see the picture of the First HW Drag Bus below.

I thought that i never found pics of it in the real world, but i'm wrong. :)

Friday, December 18, 2015

1971 Buick Riviera

1971 Buick Riviera, i took another classic car. It is based on the actual General Motors production vehicle. It debuted as HW 2005 First Editions Realistix.

Mine is a part of 2015 HW City - Performance. It has green painted body, with a "Mr.Gasket Co." tampo at side.

Origins

The name Riviera, Latin for coastline, was chosen to evoke the allure and affluence of the French Riviera. It first entered the Buick line in 1949, as the designation for the new two-door pillarless hardtop, described in advertising as "stunningly smart". The Buick Roadmaster Riviera coupe (along with the Cadillac Coupe de Ville and Oldsmobile 98 Holiday coupe) constituted the first mass production use of this body style, which was to become extremely popular over the next 30 years. Buick added a two-door Riviera hardtop to the Super the following year, the Special in 1951 and the Century upon its return, after a 12-year absence, in 1954.

Real Life

The Buick Riviera is a personal luxury car produced by Buick from 1963 to 1999. The Riviera name has been given to concept cars displayed at auto shows in 2007 and 2013 in hopes of resurrecting the brand, but no plans to do so are currently in place. GM's first entry into that prestige niche, the Riviera was highly praised by automotive journalists upon its high-profile debut. While early models stayed close to the original form, subsequent generations varied substantially over the Riviera's thirty-year lifespan. In all, 1,127,261 were produced.

The Riviera was radically redesigned for the 1971 model year with flowing and dramatic "boat-tail" styling. Designed under Bill Mitchell's direction, it was penned by Jerry Hirshberg, future head of design for Nissan, mating the two-piece vee-butted fastback rear window, inspired by the 1963 Corvette Sting Ray split window coupe, to the Riviera's platform.

The 455 engine had a lower compression ratio to meet EPA emissions requirements, reducing power to 255 hp (190 kW), with 265 hp (198 kW) in the Gran Sport. Performance remained reasonably brisk, with a 0–60 time of 8.1 seconds for the GS, but the Riviera's sporty image was rapidly fading.