CB's Die Cast Review:  December 11, 1998

1998 First Editions
The Year in Review

Well, I finally have acquired them all, thanks to one of my trading buddies in Baltimore sending me a Double Vision.  In northeast New Jersey, you can’t even find the lint from a Hot Wheels case unless it’s been around for a month or so.  You would think that the greater New York City area, the largest metropolitan concentration on the continent, would be one of the first to see new items, but it is usually the last.  Makes it tough to review newly-released cars.  So, I was grateful to receive the last 1998 First Editions in the mail, if only to have the complete set before too many of next year’s new castings are released.

	Outstanding castings include (back) Tail Dragger, `63 T-Bird, (front) `70 Road Runner, `32 Ford, Dairy Delivery.

When 48 cars were announced for this year, I’m sure collectors had mixed feelings - excitement over so many new castings; concern that they would all be of good quality; and resignation that the cars would be impossible to find, with the historically-stingy release of new castings by Mattel and the increased number of people looking for them.  As it turned out, the ratio of winners to losers on the castings was better than prior years; each car was readily available a month after its release for the most part; and the new influx of consumers hasn’t made the hunt much more difficult.  We ended up with 41 out of the original 48, with the other seven castings held back for 1999.

	End-of-year castings Double Vision and Fathom This left something to be desired.

This is a nice mix of cars, with the majority very good, a handful of outstanding ones, and only a small amount of disappointments.  Most of the cars were better than their poster pictures indicated.  The best of the bunch included Tail Dragger, Dairy Delivery, `32 Ford, `63 T-Bird, `70 Road Runner, `65 Impala and at least five other castings.  The most controversial, Hot Seat, was popular and highly sought months after its release.  Disappointments included Fathom This and Double Vision.

There also was a higher ratio (32%) of metal-body / metal-chassis cars this year than in previous years.  Jaguar D-Type, `63 T-Bird, Mercedes SLK, Lakester, Ford GT-90, Go Kart, Tail Dragger, Super Modified, Chaparral 2, Sweet 16 II, Dodge Concept Car, Cat-a-pult and Ferrari F512M sported the all-metal construction.

	Castings that had paint variations include `40 Ford (back) and Mustang Mach I (front).

The rapid variations haunted collectors this year more so than ever, but we were fortunate that, outside of wheel variations, this affected only a few cars.  Castings affected by rapid color variations were the Jaguar XKE, Mercedes SLK, `40 Ford and Mustang Mach I.  Tampos also changed quickly on Dodge Sidewinder, Mustang Cobra, Super Comp Dragster, Tow Jam, Customized C3500, Bad Mudder and Cat-a-pult.

Only one of the eight cars dropped from the First Editions roster was released in the regular line.  The Ferrari F512M debuted under the "Ferrari Testarossa" label with little fanfare, and many a collector probably assumed the car was an ex-Corgi repaint.  This pattern of releasing a non-FE new casting dates back to 1996:  the Monte Carlo Stocker (under the 1996 Model Series banner) replaced the Lumina Stocker casting; and the `68 Pontiac GTO was originally thought to be FE#8 last year, but was held back for limited editions.

Overall, this was a successful year with the First Editions for Mattel, so much so that 26 new castings have been scheduled for 1999 and the first two already have appeared in the stores.  If you live around New York City though - you might have to wait until 1999 to see them.