HW 1980 Greyhound Bus

According to Hot Wheels Wikia, this Greyhound was the first of three, produced in Hong Kong before production moving to Malaysia in the same year, and then to Mexico in '83 for it's final appearance. Ironically, Greyhound suffered a widespread driver's strike for nearly two months at the end of that same year. I don't remember if I received it for a birthday or Christmas, but it was a favorite to roll down the ramps of my Hot Wheels City playset. It's a hefty, all diecast piece with a dual axle in back, and deceptively plain. The tiny paneling lines & rivets in the body add realism to the bus, and am ashamed to say, I don't think I ever noticed the wipers cast onto the plastic, dual-paned windshields. Nice! Hot Wheels isn't the only company to released a miniature based on the MC-8 "Americruiser", introduced by Greyhound in 1973, 2,100 of which were delivered by 1979 (Greyhound.Com). Mine is pretty beat up but getting a replacement, even in gently worn shape, can be costly...

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Childhood Tomica Castings

Among my collection of childhood diecast were these highly realistic Tomica cars, released in North America through Tomy Corp. as "Pocket Cars" from 1974-1986. I likely got ahold of these in the early '80s, and remember having a few more that these four- certainly a Cadillac ambulance, a Toyota Celica Turbo, a Toyota Land Cruiser, and maybe a VW Rabbit. Their detailed appointments and hinged doors appealed to greatly, and though I played with them vigorously as my Hot Wheels & Matchbox cars, I remember thinking they were something special...

Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, 1976
I always liked the long body of this blue Caddie, which played the role of VIP transport in my childhood diecast adventures. I didn't wipe these down too much after finding them at Mom's house over the recent Labor Day weekend- I think there's a cobweb in the driver's side door of this one if you look closely ...!

1981 Cadillac Seville
This is the single casting without a year stamped on the undercarriage- I'm unsure if it has to do with having been released in the North American market on the "Pocket Cars" blister card, nor do I clearly recall the packaging on any of these when purchased. I did faintly remember the series at retail however, and upon some internet investigation realize they must indeed be Pocket Cars for me to have gotten ahold of them out here in the Midwest. Finding an image of the carded Seville pictured to the right sparked my memory of the denim pocket card these came on...

School Bus, 1976
I've said before that yellow isn't one of my favorite colors for a diecast vehicle, yet oddly I do gravitate toward school buses, perhaps in memory of my elementary school days. As a youngster, I rode on a bus almost exactly like this one, and was fascinated by the vehicle's operation. It was so big!

Honda Civic, 1974
This was a neat little car that survived pretty well! It doesn't have the same numbering as my other Pocket Cars which start with an "F" (foreign), numbering up to 70, which may have to do with it being a Japanese car.

Visit the Tomica Pocket Cars Database I found online for more background on these!

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More Childhood Matchbox Cars...

While scrubbing off the Matchbox construction vehicles for my last post, I also found a few others from my childhood, including this red Lincoln Continental Mark V from '79. This one was definitely a favorite!

I always loved the working hatchback on this '78 LeCar/Renault 57L by Matchbox, the American Motors Co. North American branding of the subcompact Renault 5. Small cars like this seem to be favored by a lot of collectors across the decades...

While on the subject of small cars, this Ford Escort RS2000 was a favorite from childhood. Later on as a teenager, I actually drove an Escort- unfortunately not one this cool. I'm unsure why Matchbox cars like this and a LeCar have a trailer hitch, which seems to appear on a lot of models that don't seem appropriate, but what do I know? This one still rolls good...

My favorite of all these is this 1982 Matchbox '62 Corvette- the Blue Flame! My little brother favored this car, so it reminds me of him. I'm not always crazy about white cars, but the vac-metal interior and orange/blue graphics really do it for me. What a fun car!

The oldest of these is the 1971 Stretcha Fetcha, a classic Matchbox model! I think every American kid was just sent one of these in the '70s- everyone had one! As you can see, mine survived a thorough tour of duty. I always liked that Lensey put a patient in the ambulance, who looks a little like (laughs) a carved memorial sarcophagus! I also liked the red painted undercarriage on this- all of these had metal bases, something we usually on get when the car body is plastic these days...

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'70s Matchbox Construction Vehicles

I'd nearly forgotten some of my childhood Matchbox cars down in the basement until photographing the Matchbox On a Mission 5-pack in my last post. For myself, the distinction between Matchbox & Hot Wheels was non-existent in my youth- a diecast car was a diecast car, all the same to me. I now appreciate these examples of British manufactured cars a little more, produced within a decade prior to Lensey's bankruptcy and subsequent sale. In 1982, Universal Toy Co. absorbed the Matchbox brand, soon thereafter moving production to China.

Tractor Shovel, 1976

So very little has changed on this tractor shovel, the new blue one I got even bearing the same year stamped into the base. As with all of these, the worn condition tells me I treasured this tractor shovel, and I must say that I like the new one as much.

Site Dumper, 1976

The site dumper has a little less wear than the tractor shovel, but the axles are bent worse. I actually scrubbed some soil out of the bed when cleaning these up. There was also one released with a red dumpbucket as well...

Faun Dump Truck, 1975

Released in '76, my Faun Dump Truck has a '75 date on the bottom and a metal bed, which Mattel replaced with a plastic bed around 2007. It looks more realistic than my new 3-axle dump truck, like an old Tonka with it's yellow paint. A Faun Quarry, as they are sometimes referred to, was released in '79 with a red dump bed, but was otherwise released in this original form annually from '76 to '82. (Matchbox Wikia)

Fork Lift, 1972
I'm unsure of the circumstances surrounding my acquisition of this forklift, but '72 was the year I was born, so I probably received it later in the '70s, or possibly in a trade in '80 or '81. Still, I remember it from pretty far back, and favored it for the moving lift and bright red color. There was a variant with a painted yellow lift and gray forks as well...

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