CB's Die Cast Review:  December 5, 1999

1999 First Editions
The Year in Review

The time has arrived as we approach the end of this decade, of this century, to look back upon this year's group of First Editions.  While there are more collectors, dealers and speculators than ever before, I have managed to secure a complete set, although not without difficulty, and not without the help of friends and fellow collectors.

	Among the best castings this year were the (front) 1970 Chevelle SS, Fiat 500C, (back) 1936 Cord, `56 Ford Truck and Phaeton.

Trying to build on the success of producing 41 new basic-line castings in its 30th anniversary Hot Wheels year, Mattel has released another 30 new models this year.  The 1999 models included six of the First Editions postponed from last year, 20 new First editions and four Ferrari castings released as an unannounced Segment series in the basic line.  With the exception of late-winter and summer-long dry spells, the cars were relatively available throughout the year.  Mattel expanded its variation policy, with some castings receiving three or more paint and/or tampo schemes.  This, coupled with Mattel's decision to trickle the new releases into the market, kept the demand high.  As with last year, all the cars were released by December, to make way for the first Y2K castings.

	The lesser-desired cars included the Jeepster and Shadow Mk IIa.

You would think there would be a letdown after the 30th anniversary year, but that definitely was not the case.  Mattel's designers strived to continue the streak of successful seasons, and they did not disappoint.  There were many excellent castings, some of them incredibly designed, others long overdue.  Highlights of the year included the 1970 Chevelle SS, Fiat 500C, 1936 Cord, Phaeton, `56 Ford Truck and others.  The infant stroller hot rod Baby Boomer benefited by having its release pushed back to 1999, and stood out as this year's outrageous design.  Not too many disappointments, although the concept Jeepster doesn't have much to it.  And the Shadow Mk IIa, while accurate and calling to mind the old AFX slot car, doesn't get your blood pumping.

	Variations abounded, sometimes too many, as shown on the Olds Aurora GTS-1.

This was a good year for the Mattel concepts, the best overall in a while, with designs such as Screamin' Hauler and Turbolence paying homage to the early designs of the late 1960s.  Another pleasantly surprising note is the ratio of all-metal cars.  This year, an impressive 58%, or 17 cars, have a metal chassis and body.  This is the largest amount of all-metal cars in years.

As a result of the exclusive manufacturing rights Mattel secured with Ferrari, an unofficial four-car Segment series was released in October.  All of the cars are well detailed, and two of them, the F355 Challenge and F50, are more intricate newly tooled versions of previous First Editions releases.

This is another strong group of First Editions for Mattel.  The number of Segment cars for 2000 has been cut back, but the number of First Editions has been increased to 36.  As with last year, some of the cars already have been released to create some pre-New Year's buzz.