CB's Die Cast Review:  October 6, 2001

2001 First Editions™
The Year in Review

The 2001 Hot Wheels roster still has a few models to be released, but the entire First Editions series is on the pegs throughout North America and the rest of the world.  This is the seventh year to feature a "First Editions"-type series, and the first time that all of the new castings were widely released in the United States before the end of summer.  And, acting as if it is one of Detroit's major auto manufacturers, Mattel has announced the majority of the new 2002 models, and released a handful of them as well.  That, however, is a discussion for a later time.  The focus of this article is on this year's First Editions, which collectively had trouble living up to the levels reached in the previous six years.

	The only surefire winners in this year's series are Ferrari 156 and Surfin' School Bus, with honorable mention to Hyper Mite, Evil Twin, Old Number 3 and Hooligan.

Mattel continued the trend started in the Hot Wheels 30th anniversary year -- introducing a large quantity of new models.  As in 2000, thirty-six new castings debuted in the basic line worldwide, with a handful of limited-appeal models released in Japan.  The 2001 First Editions series began to appear in November 2000 and, unlike prior years, steadily appeared through the months to its completion this September.  Although the design effort was evident throughout the series, it didn't get my blood pumping the way prior First Editions series have.  While there are some standouts, I wasn't impressed with the group overall.  When the release of the excellent Surfin' School Bus ushered in the series, I hoped at the time that the casting would not be the best of he lot.  Well, my wish was granted partially, since the Ferrari 156 is the penultimate casting in the series.  But as a whole, there were many models that I was indifferent toward, for various reasons I will specify shortly.  The Ferrari 156 (due to its strong faithfulness to the prototype and superior manufacture) and the Surfin' School Bus (due to its concept and design) are by far the two best models.  Hyper Mite, Evil Twin and Old Number 3 also are winners due to their design and engineering, and Hooligan gets a favorable nod for design and introduction of the flat paint finish.

Dodge Viper GTS-R is at the top of the disappointment list, followed by Mega Duty and the highly-antipicated 1971 Plymouth GTX.

There are no obvious total failures, although the sparsely detailed Dodge Viper GTS-R is the casting closest to that distinction.  In many of the models the design is superior, but poorly executed engineering and/or decoration features offset the effort.  Sooo Fast has an operating rear hatch, but the metal hatch easily detaches from the plastic hinge mount.  The four headlights on the 1971 Plymouth GTX are concaved instead of convex (how could have the pilot model possibly received final approval??) and the door relief is noticeably incomplete.  Two different texture inks were used to tamp the stripes on many releases of Cunningham C4R.  This model should have been a nice complement to Jaguar D-Type, but the lack of decorative detail and a plastic chassis force it to fall short.  The innovative XS-IVE consists of an excessive amount of plastic and, in a cost-cutting measure, is missing the tampo decorations on the left side.  Why was it necessary to eliminate four printing pad hits on this model when the beautifully decorated Ford Focus has sixteen pad hits in total on the sides, hood and roof?  Similar decisions were made regarding the Vulture Roadster.  A side number also is absent from Ferrari 156 -- an annoyance, but not enough to detract from this otherwise excellent model.  Some cars such as Maelstrom, Mega Duty and Montezooma look better in the poster concept drawings.

	These non-automobiles may have die-cast chassis, but they don't perform on the track.

Another disappointment is the limited amount of castings with a die-cast chassis.  There are fifteen models in this category, but three are two-wheel or three-wheel vehicles and three feature plastic bodies.  When these adjustments are made, only ten models have all-metal construction in the two major components.  This is the lowest ratio of metal/metal cars in First Editions history.

While some models fall below expectations, others were surprising.  Shredster, Jet Threat 3.0, Krazy 8s and `57 Roadster are better than I expected.  Honda Civic, Ford Focus and Ms-T Suzuka are very well done in spite of their plastic chassis.  The three Le Mans cars are serviceable, although they are missing windshields.  Nevertheless, they are an improvement over last year's Ferrari 333SP.  A number of cars perform well on the stunt sets, including Hooligan, Mega Duty and Old Number 3.

The dimensions of the Le Mans Prototypes match up well with the real racers, and the Cadillac LMP sports a prototypical scheme.

As far as the "lowrider" feature is concerned, do we need this many of them?  Sure, most of them look neat, but many of them can't traverse a loop because they bottom out.  I would like to see more models that can travel over a speed bump without losing the drivetrain.

Wheel variations were kept to a minimum.  There are some paint variations, but all were released in a regular blister pack with new stock and collector numbers.  So far, six of the first seven First Editions have been redressed.  Fortunately, all of the original versions were produced in plentiful quantities and are still available.  The only significant tampo change was on Hyper Mite, but this was due to visibility issues.

Overall, it wasn't a bad year, but not a great year either.  The list of 2002 First Editions plus most of the associated released pictures of pilot models suggest that 2002 will be a bounce-back year.  We will see soon enough, as at least ten models will be readily available before the end of this year.