Table of contents for Fall 2020 in Die Cast X

By the time the S2000 came out in 1999 Honda had already established its credentials in a variety of performance models including the exotic NSX, but it is this one that connects most directly with Honda’s original performance car, the 1963 S500. To the casual observer, the S2000 might have seemed like Honda’s attempt to take on the popular Mazda Miata. They share the same layout—a 2-seat roadster—and the same type of drivetrain—a small, rev-happy naturally-aspirated inline-4 driving the rear wheels. But that had also been the formula for Honda’s original S500/S600/S800 roadsters, and it’s hard to miss the name connection. For certain the runaway success of the Mazda’s roadster played a role in the timing of the S2000, but for Honda it represented much more than a me-too-Miata—it was…

Much has been written about the greatness of Dan Gurney—including quite a bit here in the pages of Die Cast X. He is considered by many (and count yours truly among them) to be the greatest American racing driver of all time. He was a renaissance master whose chosen instrument was the steering wheel. He was competitive in anything he drove. He was the first driver ever to win in each of the four major racing series—Formula 1, Le Mans, Indycar and NASCAR (a feat only achieved twice since)—as well as in many “lesser” series like Trans-Am and Can-Am. He is the only man ever to score the first win for three different Formula One constructors—Porsche, Brabham, and Eagle. He was a technical pioneer, inventing the “Gurney flap”—an aerodynamic miracle…

If you’re anything like me, when you hear a celebrity musician who professes to be a car guy you are immediately skeptical. After all, merely being wealthy enough to collect cool cars does not automatically make one an authentic auto aficionado. But if you think Billy F Gibbons falls into the mold of the typical rock star dilettante you’ve missed the mark by a Marshall stack or two! The front-man for blues-rock gods ZZ Top is bona fide gear head of the first order with an irrepressible passion for hot rods and customs that traces back to his teen years in the 1960s. And Gibbons is the creator of one of the most recognizable hotrod builds of the last 50 years—which, incidentally, is the amount of time ZZ Top has…

The year 2017 was the 25th anniversary of the Dodge Viper, and the year we bid Chrysler’s cartoonish supercar a fond farewell. In the late 1980s the Dodge brand was suffering from an image problem. Bob Lutz was in charge of Chrysler product development at the time and he pitched the idea of Dodge building a modern-day Shelby Cobra—and overpowered, over-the-top roadster to turn heads, melt tires, and make headlines. A concept version debuted in 1989 powered by an aluminum version of the mammoth 8.0L Magnum V-10 truck engine that had been revamped for performance by none other than Lamborghini. The Viper concept was so well-received by the press and the public that it was immediately greenlighted for production. The car officially went on sale for the 1992 model year.…

Honda has a rich motorsports history stretching back to the 1960s, but you wouldn’t necessarily have known it by looking at the company’s automotive offerings. Unlike most other manufacturers Honda rarely marketed performance-oriented versions of its cars in its early decades—or even seemed to acknowledge the existence of its racing heritage within its production car line, relying instead on its motorcycles to carry the performance torch. But they certainly did not lack for confidence in their automotive engineering skills; barely one year after the introduction of Honda’s first four-wheel vehicle—the tiny T360 truck in 1963—the company decided to go racing … in Formula One! As absurdly ambitious as that notion would seem, it didn’t take long for Honda to become competitive, scoring their first win in the 1965 Mexican Grand…

It has been famously said that history is written by the victors. In the case of American sports and luxury automobiles of the 1930s the victor was surely Cadillac; as we sit here 8+ decades later Caddy is still going strong, while brands like Duesenberg, Packard and Auburn are something of a footnote in the annals of automotive history. But that is more a reflection of the grim economics of the Depression era than of the merits of the two vehicles you see on these pages. Cadillac had the robust corporate resources of General Motors to help it weather the economic headwinds of the 1930s, while Auburn, as the junior brand in the Auburn/Cord/Duesenberg partnership, was a much smaller operation and much more reliant on the upper end of the…

You have to squint pretty hard to see the Toyota FJ roots beneath the slick exterior of the modern-day Lexus LX series SUV. The earliest FJs were two-door utilitarian off-roaders—quite literally Japanese knock-offs of the original Jeep CJ—and by the 1960s Toyota’s signature 4x4 had developed quite a following both for its reliability and for its terrain-conquering prowess. But for all their strengths, two things those FJs were not were roomy and comfortable, so in 1963—in response to growing demand in the USA and elsewhere—Toyota added a long-wheelbase 4-door version of the iconic FJ40 Land Cruiser dubbed the FJ45. In 1967 that evolved into its own distinct model, the FJ55—a homely but nigh indestructible wagon that came to be nicknamed the “Iron Pig.” Offering seating for up to seven and…

Back in February I attended the New York Toy Fair and while there I visited with the folks at Round2 (parent company of Johnny Lightning) and was surprised—and thrilled—to see prototypes of a new line of 1:64 Bond cars from JL. Fast forward a few months; the world is a pretty different place, but the first of the JL Bond cars is now production-ready and at least this much hasn’t changed—they are still thrilling! Full disclosure: I’m a certified (and possibly certifiable) Bond film nut. I’ve seen each film numerous times. I can list them in order from memory (including the two non-canon movies), name which of the six Bond actors stars in each and, most importantly for my day job, identify the signature Bond cars from each film off…

From model train layouts to playing in the sandbox, the Oshkosh Snowplow has been a popular casting for many different types of small-scale collectors. Hot Wheels released its first rendition in 1983 as part of its Workhorses series of vehicles, and it has continued to produce it to this day in many different variations. Hot Wheels original casting of the Oshkosh was done in three separate parts. First was the hood, interior and the four fenders as one piece, then then cab and sander box together as another, and the chassis as the third piece. The front V-Plow is molded in orange plastic. The body pieces were all painted in bright orange enamel and riveted onto an unpainted metal Hong Kong chassis rolling on all large construction tires with wheel…

When discussing the modern Honda Civic Type R we should address the obvious right up front so we can get it out of the way. I’m talking about the looks. If we’re being diplomatic we could say the styling is an acquired taste. Pretty it is not. But woah baby does it have personality! It took 20 years—and five generations—for the Civic Type R to finally come to North America, and the one we got—code FK8—is about as subtle as a flying karate kick to the face. It’s also nothing short of the quickest production front-wheel-drive car ever sold to the public. This 5-door hatchback handily out-drags rear- and all-wheel-drive dedicated performance cars from rival Japanese manufacturers like Subaru’s WRX STi and the Nissan 370Z. It’s even more ruthless on…

Our annual Collector’s Guide is really like nothing else we do in the pages of Die Cast X throughout the year. Instead of getting up-close on a single model and focusing on its intricate details, the Guide is a chance for us to take a step back and look at the big picture. Contemplating dozens, even hundreds of models as part of a single overall story is a great way to spot emerging trends, and getting input from manufacturers and retailers at the same time and about the same story gives an excellent snapshot about the state of the hobby. We get to see it all, and hear it from the source — all at one time. We see cutting edge cars and innovative manufacturing techniques expanding the choices and…

Among racing drivers of the 1960s and 70s there is one in particular who had a very successful career that many racing fans still tend to overlook. He won championships in the Can-Am, Trans-Am, USRRC and the SCCA’s Formula A, but he raced in numerous other series. In his first race in Formula One he scored a point as a 39 year old rookie, an age when most F1 drivers have retired (or are seriously thinking about it!). His second F1 race saw him standing on the podium. He drove a USAC Champ Car and won an IndyCar race at Phoenix with a stock-block powered race car. He also raced in NASCAR’s Winston Cup, the International Race of Champions (IROC), won his class at the 12 hours of Sebring, and…

The 2008 Aston Martin DBS made its debut in the 2006 Bond-franchise reboot Casino Royale, which also marked the debut of Daniel Craig as 007. Both acquitted themselves commendably in their respective roles, but with the sequel Quantum of Solace arriving in theaters in 2008—the year the DBS actually went on sale—what was Aston to do for a follow-up? Well, since the script has the Quantum storyline picking up about 15 minutes after the end of Casino they tossed Craig (more likely his stunt double) a set of keys to a production DBS (the Casino cars had been prototypes) in a dapper new hue and told the production team to have at it. Actually, they tossed six sets of DBS keys to the Quantum crew because, as Bond fans know,…

During the run-up to this issue we convinced the IT guys in the DCX office to set up a way where you—our creative and industrious readers—could show off your custom diecast projects and share them with us too so that we might feature them in upcoming issues. What we came up with is the DCX Custom Garage, where you can post your custom projects and check out projects posted by others. When you post it creates a dedicated page for your project vehicle that you can then link to, share on social media, or do whatever you want with it! It also sends a link here to our editors so we can check out your project too. If we like what we see the images and info you posted can…