Review of Doc Hudson - 1/24th scale Cars die cast vehicle

Introduction

I've been sucked in with collecting the die cast Cars vehicles since the very first wave. I'm not a huge fan of the movie, although I'm not a hater, either. In the history of Pixar flicks, it will always be toward the bottom of a long list of exceptional movies. But the vehicle designs have made for one of the best line of toys from any film in years, and Mattel has managed the line extremely well.

Over at Matty Collector, they started selling 1/24th scale die cast versions several months ago. They started with Lightning of course, and followed it up with Mater. The third release is Doc Hudson, who just came out last month. I have no idea how many we'll see in this scale, but at a whopping $45 each, I'm hoping they don't dig too deep.

Packaging - ***
Like most Matty products, Doc comes in a white outer box, and I was pretty excited to see "Hornet" on the exterior, thinking that perhaps they ended up going with the Fabulous Hudson Hornet paint job. Sadly, that wasn't the case - what you see in the photos at Matty is what you get, standard Doc Hudson.

On the inside is another cardboard lid that sits on top of the special plastic base. This comes off easily, and there's the car attached to the plastic display base.

The package is very collector friendly, and you can easily take everything out of the white mailer and put it back without any damage. The car is attached to the base with some plastic posts, and these are designed so they can be locked and unlocked with a simple twist.

Sculpting - ***
The car looks great, a dead match for the older champion. There's lots of small details, like the window edges, silver trim, and even the hood ornament.

The top of the car is die cast metal, but the bottom is silver plastic. That's a bit of a disappointment to me, especially at this price point, resulting in the drop in the sculpting score.

The tires are synthetic rubber, and have a tread pattern on them. They all turn of course, and the car rolls pretty well with a push.

I've included a shot with He-man and a standard sized Car so you can get a better feel for how large 1/24th really is. It seems to me that 1/18 tends to be a more common scale, and I would have preferred had they upped these a little bit, making them fit in slightly better with the Hot Wheels Batmobiles for example.

Paint - ***1/2
The paint quality is quite high, with a beautiful metallic blue over the majority of the body. The silver trim is clean and neat, and the eyes are straight and sharp. There's some minor blips around the grill, but they are very minor, and overall the paint looks extremely good.

The small logo on the front grill is extremely well done, with very tiny detailing. I also love the colors added to the front lights, making it look like the desert is reflected in the glass.

Accessories - ***
Normally die cast cars don't have accessories, but these come with plastic display bases.

The top of the base is angled slightly to better show off the car. There are also two logos on the top, one for the Hornet and one for the overall Cars line.

Fun Factor - ****
While the plastic underside was a bit disappointing for me, most kids wouldn't mind. He rolls great, is very sturdy, and kids have shown just how much they love all the characters from the film.

Value - *1/2
At $45, this car is 50% more expensive than the Batmobile, and yet it's slightly smaller in scale. At $30, I think that these would have sold far better, and it's probably no surprise to you that the first two releases are still available.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing! It's very easy to remove the car from the plastic base by turning the locking posts on the bottom. To put it back on the base, attach one post first, then do the second.

Overall - ***
|If you ignore the price tag, Doc does much better overall. The paint job is excellent, and while I'm not thrilled with the plastic underbelly and light weight feel, he looks great on the shelf.

But when you factor in the high price, he becomes a tad less attractive. I've bought all three vehicles so far, but I'm nuts. And even I'm questioning whether there are any other characters I need. Maybe Ramone...or Sarge...or Wingo...oh, who the Hell am I kidding, I'd buy them all.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - ***
Paint - ***1/2
Fun Factor - ****
Value - *1/2
Overall - ****

Where to Buy 
All three of the Cars released so far are still available at Matty Collector. At $45, I'm not particularly surprised, but I'm betting McQueen is going to sell out pretty soon, and once he's gone...he'll be gone since demand hasn't been as big as some other Matty lines.

Related Links -
I've covered very little to do with Cars, which is quite a surprise considering how many I own. I did do one review of the little guys, however.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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