Table of contents for Holiday 2020 in Die Cast X

It is interesting how the two feature stories for this issue (which came about completely independently by the way!) both ended up playing on similar themes. Specifically, how two accessible performance cars from the same era grew beyond their original concepts but then, over the course of 50+ years, came back around to embrace their history while simultaneously pushing technology forward. The return of the Shelby GT500 for 2020 takes the idea of the Mega-Motor Mustang to astonishing new performance heights, propelled by a 760-horsepower supercharged V-8 that is the most powerful production engine Ford has ever installed in any vehicle! That led us to reflect on our favorite Pony Powerhouses from the past halfcentury, even as we check out Maisto’s take on the new Shelby and a movie hero…

Ford introduced the first performance version just a couple months after the launch of the first Mustang in 1964, but it wasn’t until Carroll Shelby worked his magic on the “Hi-Po” that it reached its full potential. Shelby massaged an extra 35 horsepower (306 total) out of the K-Code 289 with a new intake, carb, and headers, but the extra power was only the beginning of the transformation. He also yanked nearly 200 pounds out of it and completely overhauled the suspension and brakes. Roughly 34 GT350s underwent even more radical weight savings in becoming GT350R models designated for racing. 1966 saw the introduction of a special GT350H model for the Hertz rental car company, coining the nickname “Rent-a-Racer.” The GT350 would be overshadowed by the arrival of the GT500…

For its first four years of existence, the Mustang largely relied on Shelby to carry its performance banner. That was remedied midway through 1968. The East Coast’s premiere performance Ford dealer—Tasca Ford in Providence, Rhode Island—had developed an engine upgrade package that mounted a set of free-flowing 427 Low-Riser heads on the sturdy long-stroke 428 used in the Galaxie Police Interceptor. It caught the attention of Ford’s in-house engineering team, who replicated it and offered it in the spring of 1968 as a mid-year option for the Mustang GT with the name “Cobra Jet” (not-so-coincidentally borrowing snake imagery directly from Shelby!). In the 428CJ Ford, at last, had a factory Mustang power plant capable of competing with the muscle car elite! MID-YEAR MUSCLE MAKEOVER The only obvious clue to the…

Today Japanese sports cars are an established and respected part of the automotive landscape. Icons like the Toyota Supra, Mazda RX-7, and Acura NSX sit door-handle to door-handle with the Porsche 911 and Chevy’s Corvette as approachable exotics offering world-class performance. But 50 years ago that was far from the case! Here in America, the Japanese brands were known then almost exclusively for cheap economy cars that emphasized efficiency, reliability, and value rather than performance—if they were known at all. And then came the Datsun 240Z. With this one car, Nissan changed not only its own brand’s reputation but the entire trajectory of the Japanese import car in the United States. The Z proved that a Japanese brand could take the virtues it was known for—reliability and value—and instill them…

By 1979 the American car market had undergone a profound transformation from a decade earlier when the original S30 Z was being introduced. The second-generation Z needed to meet the changing times and customer’s demand for a larger, more luxurious, more feature-laden GT car. The body was made lower and wider and the nose more pointed, eliminating the tiny mail-slot grille of the S30 in favor of a face that was reminiscent of the G-nose specials. It carried over the same 2.8L power plant, so to differentiate the new Z in the minds of potential buyers it was christened the 280ZX. The ZX—code S130—was larger and heavier and now offered luxury options like leather seats and T-tops—all the rage for sporty cars of the time. But all that frippery added…

The Z was revamped and returned to its roots when it reappeared as the 350Z in 2003. For the first time in 30 years the Z was offered on just one wheelbase, only as a 2-seater, and with only one engine—one with six naturally-aspirated cylinders. It also brought value back into the equation; with a base price around $30K it was some $15,000 less expensive than the ’96 300ZX Twin Turbo, yet the V-6 (now 3.5L) made nearly the same horsepower: 287. It was also notably less expensive than its competition. Its look was more striking, too; its muscular fenders were thoroughly modern yet the profile channeled the original design philosophy. Designed entirely by Nissan’s North American Design Studio, it, like its 240Z ancestor, was targeted squarely at the American…

One of the traits that defined the original Datsun 240Z, and one of the things that made it so successful right from the outset, was its value proposition. Datsun had made its reputation selling affordable, reliable, value-oriented economy cars that tended to outperform their modest prices. The Z represented an ambitious step up into the performance car arena, but it was not a fundamental shift in the brand philosophy. The Z also emphasized solid value. It was launched with a sticker price of around $3500—roughly the same as a Triumph TR6, MGB GT, or even a Porsche 914 of the same vintage. But thanks to its light weight, excellent balance, and energetic inline-6 it performed as well or better than all of those, and offered substantially better reliability to boot.…

Back in 2001, I reviewed the original Kyosho 240Z for a website. The last sentences in the review said; “Monumental car, incredible execution—no one should go without this one. Great show, Kyosho! Now please make a BRE/John Morton #46…they’ll sell like hotcakes!” A few years later, I was at a big hobby show on the West Coast and got introduced to Kuni Inomata, Kyosho’s product manager for 1:18 scale diecast. I asked Kuni if he’d seen the review and he said “No” so I said, “Let’s talk.” I told him what I’d written and why. He said, “Put together what I need to know and send it to me in Japan and maybe we can make something happen.” That was the start of a 2-year secret project that Kuni and…

If you were an American automotive enthusiast back in the early ‘70s and saw the Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R you couldn’t be blamed for being a bit perplexed. Sure, it’s nice enough looking, if a little boxy. “Hako,” your Japanese counterpart would translate. But it’s certainly no 240Z! “Sukairain,” (Skyline) he would confirm—with reverence. “Hako-suka!” A car nicknamed “Boxy Skyline” is supposed to be cooler than a Z? What’s the big deal? The big deal is 50 wins in the Japanese touring car championship. Fifty—in less than three seasons, including a mind-boggling 29 in a row! The car you see here is AUTOart’s replica of the one that took that historic 50th win. It happened in March of 1972 at the first round of the Fuji Grand Champion series. Kunimitsu Takahashi…

It seems the old adage “The more things change, the more they stay the same” still rings true, especially for the Hot Wheels `55 Chevy Gasser! The Gasser has been in the spotlight continuously from the moment it was released, and it shows no sign of slowing down. First released in 2013, this high-riding 1955 Chevy Bel Air was designed by Brendon Vetuskey. If you don’t know of Brendon, he’s like most Hot Wheels designers—a car guy through and through. You may have seen his highly modified bare-metal street/track 1969 Pontiac Firebird on the cover of Car Craft magazine, and possibly on the shelves in stores around the world as a Hot Wheels car. Brendon loves American muscle and has a special fondness for the nose-in-the-air cars that ran in…

Split-Window Splendor Auto World American Muscle 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 1:18 | Item no. AW1222 | $90 The ’63 Corvette was a sensation when it debuted in 1963. Low, wide, and sleek, it was completely unlike the car it replaced, sporting such exotic Corvette firsts as an independent rear suspension, flip-up headlights, and a 360hp fuel-injected 327 smallblock—and of course that stunning divided rear window. That last feature was beautiful but not at all practical, and it was eliminated the following year, making the ’63 coupe a true one-of-a-kind. What better way to celebrate than with Auto World’s American Muscle 1963 Corvette Stingray coupe in Saddle Tan with a beige interior, chrome knock-off wheels, and of course that fuelie 327! Autoworldstore.com A Pair of French Rally Aces OttOmobile 1976 Alpine…

The Mustang did without big-block power for its first three years. Its next three saw a torrent of factory big blocks come tumbling out of Dearborn. First was the tepid 390 in 1967 and the 428 Police Interceptor that brought some heat to the Shelbys. Then there’s the 427 that never actually was, followed by the 428 Cobra Jet in ’68. But the biggest of the big was the Boss 429—so big, in fact, that Ford had to send the Mustangs that were to receive it over to the fabricators at Kar Kraft to chop up and relocate front suspension pieces to make room for the mammoth motor! Built specifically for NASCAR’s high banks, the Boss 429 featured semi-hemispherical combustion chambers, giant valves, and intake ports nearly big enough to…

Since the Ford’s supercharged Shelby GT500 departed the marketplace in 2014 the muscle car world has kind of gone off the deep end. At that time its chief rival—the Chevy Camaro ZL1—trailed in the all-important horsepower arms race 580 to the outgoing Shelby’s 662. But just a year later Dodge launched a 707hp ballistic missile called the 2015 Challenger Hellcat, thereby dethroning the dearly departed Dearborn-built champ. Ford brought back another proud Shelby nameplate in the 2016 GT350, but its naturally-aspirated 526hp V-8 couldn’t really hang with the supercharged Hellcat and ZL1, especially after Chevy released its lighter, 650hp Gen 6 version in 2017. Ford could only stand idly by. AT A GLANCE MODEL 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 MANUFACTURER Maisto GENRE Modern Muscle Car SCALE 1:18 ITEM NO. 31388…

Known as “The Father of the Z Car,” the man most inextricably linked to the performance image of the Datsun/Nissan brands in America is Yutaka Katayama—better known by many as “Mr. K.” As Nissan’s Advertising Manager, Katayama had been instrumental in the creation of the company’s first production sports car back in 1958. In 1960 that little roadster was renamed “Fairlady,” establishing an identity that would become central to the Z car as well. In 1963 the Fairlady was redesigned, at last becoming a legitimate competitor to the entry-level British sports cars like the MG and Austin Healey. But the story of the Z truly begins around 1965. Mr. K had just been promoted to president of the newly created Nissan Motor Corporation U.S.A. The revamped Fairlady roadster was going…

Automotive fashions were changing fast during the early 1980s. The S130 280ZX had drawn many comparisons to the C3 Corvette, so perhaps it’s no surprise that just months after the C4 debuted with dramatically more angular styling a new Z-car with similar wedge design themes arrived. The third-generation Z31 shared similar overall dimensions with the S130 it replaced but the impression it gives is of a shorter, stockier car with a plunging hood-line tapering to a Z-car first: flip-up headlights. The lower hood was made possible by the car’s most notable technical feature—an innovative new 3.0L V-6—to go with the new model name: 300ZX. The L-series inline-6 it replaced was 17 years old, and the modern the VG-series V-6, available in both naturally aspirated and turbocharged form, was lighter, more…

As Nissan contemplated the 2009 replacement for the hugely successful 350Z it had a big problem—and that problem’s nickname was “Godzilla.” Nissan would simultaneously be launching the all-new GT-R, a twin-XSturbocharged monster putting 500 horsepower to the pavement through a radically advanced all-wheel-drive system, and it would finally—finally!—be available in the United States. But that meant the next Z would no longer be Nissan’s flagship performance coupe for North America. With the GT-R Nissan was definitely going big, so with the new Z they decided to go small. They chopped 4 inches and 100 pounds out of the 350Z, preferring to emphasize a smaller, more nimble sports coupe to further differentiate it from the GT-R. The engine was again a naturally aspirated V-6, enlarged slightly to 3.7L, and now producing…

I’ve always loved the Datsun 240Z. Ever since the first time I saw one back in 1970 as I was laying on my bunk reading Road & Track aboard the U.S.S. Okinawa, an aircraft carrier doing rectangular patterns in the South China Sea off the coast of North Viet Nam. Mail call had come and my monthly subscription to R&T was the first thing to get opened. It had a full-page ad showing a Z sitting on a dry lake bed (El Mirage?) with the sun setting behind it. Wow was it pretty; a two-seater that reminded me of a cross between a Jag XKE and a stretched MGB-GT with just a little 250 GTO thrown into the mixture. I looked at it and said to myself, “If this beauty…

The original Z car was a comprehensively conceived and exceptionally executed sports car—a remarkable achievement for a company that had previously been regarded primarily as a purveyor of “cheap” economy cars (at least here in America.) The Z utterly transformed the Datsun brand image. In its first road test, Car and Driver showered the Z with praise: “The difference between the Datsun 240Z and your everyday three-and-a-half thousand dollar sports car is that about twice as much thinking went into the Datsun. It shows. For the money, the 240Z is an almost brilliant car.” Today, 50 years on, admiration for the Z has not faded. AT A GLANCE MODEL 1969 Nissan Fairlady Z432 MANUFACTURER AUTOart GENRE Classic Sports Car SCALE 1:18 ITEM NO. 77436 PRICE $150 WHAT WE LIKE +…

We have tremendous respect for a model company with the dedication to become the recognized leader in any niche market. Often, such specialization comes from a personal passion for the subject. Certainly such is the case for Iconic Replicas, which is one of the largest in the field of diecast bus and motorcoach replicas from both past and present. The passion and expertise that has driven Iconic Replicas in this admittedly specialized genre come from company principal (officially “Director of Innovation & Design”) Jeff Silver. Before Jeff made model buses he collected them, and before that he actually drove tour buses in the Canadian Rockies back in the 1980s. That level of personal connection helps him both in selecting subjects with the most interest and historical significance to the North…

This issue has highlighted the groundbreaking 240Z but let’s remember that Chevrolet beat Datsun to the punch by almost 3 years with its own Z-car! Andy Ruiz certainly remembers, and he shows his love for Chevy’s Z with this tough-looking custom restomod based on an Ertl ‘73 Z28. What we dig most about Andy’s interpretation is how each of his chosen mods are 100% authentic to the kind of upgraded Camaro you can find at full-scale car shows all the time. Some of the highlights include: Andy posted his Z28 on Custom Garage—our newest feature section on the DCX website. We specifically designed the Custom Garage for you guys to be able to easily share and show off your custom creations. Be sure to check it out at diecastxmagazine.com/dcx-custom-garage—you could…

Ford’s Mustang has a lot going for it. And no wonder—throughout most of its life, it has had a lot of motor to get it going! The degree of muscularity in Ford’s signature muscle car has varied a bit over the years, but with 56 years of heritage, it is second only to Chevy’s Corvette as America’s longest continuously-produced performance car. With that much history to draw from, there have been some truly impressive power plants pushing the original pony-car to ever loftier performance heights. With Ford having just launched the new Shelby GT500, we thought it was the perfect time to look back and recount our favorite powerhouse Mustangs and the diecast models that have called upon them for inspiration.…

When the Camaro joined the pony car race in 1967, Ford anticipated that its little 289 wouldn’t be able to match Chevy’s engine lineup, so the Mustang’s ’67 refresh included a big-block option for the first time. Unfortunately, that engine—a 320hp 390—was woefully outgunned by the Camaro’s 375-horse 396. But just like he had two years prior with the original GT350, Carroll Shelby had a plan. This time it involved shoehorning a 428 Police Interceptor V-8 from a full-size Ford between the Mustang’s narrow fenders. Again he added an aluminum performance intake manifold (this time topped by two Holley carbs!) plus a host of new styling elements and dubbed it the GT500. MORE SHOW, MORE GO For the first time the ’67 Shelby had all-new nose and tailpieces, making it…

Movie cars present a difficult challenge for model manufacturers. To stay within budget limits and meet maniacal production schedules Hollywood film crews often have to cut corners on little details they think most audiences won’t notice. Things like technical particulars and continuity involving car footage, for example. But for fans like us, those contradictory details loom large on the big screen—particularly when filmmakers choose a timeless classic car to star in their movie! So a model maker has to figure out how to somehow reconcile those lapses in detail and continuity when translating a movie car into diecast. That brings us to John Wick—an action flick that became a surprise breakout hit in 2014, spawning a pair of sequels in 2017, and again in 2019, with a fourth chapter due…

The 1990 300ZX shared a name with its predecessor but that’s where the similarities ended. The soft, rounded lines of the Z32 were a dramatic departure stylistically, and it was a quantum leap forward in terms of performance and technology. The VG30 V-6 gained double-overhead cams and variable valve timing which boosted the naturally aspirated version’s power by 62 horsepower, making it 22hp stronger than the previous Turbo! And the Turbo was upgraded by DOHC heads and twin turbochargers, taking its power up to an even 300! Turbos also got electronically adjustable suspension and an exotic four-wheel-steering steering system to increase cornering stability and grip. As before, both short-wheelbase 2-seater and long-wheelbase 2+2 models were offered in both standard and Turbo models, with either manual or automatic transmissions. 1993 saw…

It’s been about 20 years since Kyosho first decided to make a 1:18 scale diecast of Datsun’s 240Z. When the real car was first introduced, it set the automotive world ablaze. Anybody who could accept the limitations of driving a two-seat sports car wanted to have one. It was beautiful with shapely lines and a wind-cutting profile and layout similar to the Jaguar XKE, it offered solid performance but was reasonably priced. Many young adults (and some not so young) got in line to buy a Z. AT A GLANCE MODEL 1970 Nissan Fairlady Z-L/1971 Datsun 240Z MANUFACTURER Kyosho GENRE Classic Sports Car SCALE 1:18 ITEM NO. 08220 PRICE $150est WHAT WE LIKE + Perfect contours to the Z casting—then and now + Exquisite engine detail and accuracy + Variety…

F.A.S.T. has to be the best acronym—and one of the best concepts—for a racing series ever devised. It stands for “Factory-Appearing Stock Tire,” and, as it sounds, the idea is pretty simple: a bunch of bone-stock-looking classic muscle cars racing on period-correct tires of the size and type equipped when the car was new. Take the car on these pages. Aside from a few stickers and grease-pencil marks on the glass Dave Dudek Jr.’s Road Runner looks just as the black Hemi Plymouth post coupe rolled off the showroom floor in 1969. But actually, it is just the way it rolled off the cover of Hemmings Muscle Machines 40 years later—specifically the August 2009 issue with the cover story entitled “Chasing F.A.S.T.’s 10 Second Club.” As in 10 seconds to…

Kyosho is a big believer in models of big SUVs. They’ve produced numerous such luxury land yachts in diecast going back many years. They also have an expansive licensing deal with BMW, but up until now, those two specialties haven’t had an opportunity to converge as BMW’s product range had focused on small to midsize SAVs (“sports activity vehicles” in Bimmer-speak). That finally changed in 2019, and the behemoth you see on this page is the result. As you might surmise from the name, the X7 has seating for seven in three rows (in 2-3-2 configuration). You might also surmise that the trim level—xDrive40i—would indicate perhaps a 4-liter engine…but on that you’d be mistaken. It has a 3.0L twin-turbo inline-6 making 335hp—the base engine for the X7. How BMW gets…

Throughout the 1950s automotive performance was traditionally regarded as a luxury feature, but by the ‘60s it had become obvious to General Motors that speed sold cars in any price range, so it started offering performance trim levels across its entire brand and size spectrum—from compact to intermediate, to full-size. Chevy and Pontiac occupied the bottom two rungs on the GM brand strategy ladder, but what those divisions lacked in prestige they made up for with performance bragging rights on a whole range of vehicles! AMT offers up a huge line of muscle car kits; here are three that represent different sizes of mid-‘60s GM muscle. Each can be built stock or customized to showcase even more performance hardware. 1963 CHEVROLET IMPALA SS HARDTOP AMT 4-IN-1 KIT 1:25 | AMT1149M…