Bringing it all together
The best part about my job as executive editor of DieCastX is also the worst part: thinking up ways to connect models from far-flung corners of the diecast world into a cohesive story. Sometimes it’s easy. Relating a barely disguised racecar Porsche from 45 years ago with the current track-monster Mercedes isn’t too much of a stretch; they’re both German, both sports cars, and both have been stripped of any non-speed-related parts in search of optimal lap times.
Aside from the country of origin, that started to sound like the latest Shelby Mustang offering too, but how to work in a ’71 Camaro? Sure, it’s a sporty car too, but hardly a track car. Its got the dressy Rally Sport appearance package, for pity’s sake! Hold on—an RS? The Porsche is an RS. That Shelby is a GT350R. And the Merc is a GT … R too! Ok, we’re in business! Now all I need to do is put together a feature with a few other R cars to tie it all together. And that’s where it got difficult. Because there aren’t a few other R cars—there are hundreds! The winnowing down of that list of R cars was positively heartbreaking—so many fantastic, eminently worthy subjects left on the cutting room floor. Like I said, the best thing is also the worst thing.
One great part about this job that doesn’t have a downside is bringing in new contributors to share their knowledge, perspectives, or just a great tale! This time we have five: three new voices and two familiar ones. We welcome
Chaim Haffner—the man behind themodelcarcritic.com blog site—who brings his expertise to the review of the AUTOart Mercedes GT R. Custom builder Paul Gray shares his journey creating the Evil Twin GTO, the alter-ego of a ’66 GTO he owned nearly 50 years ago. And Justin Sharp kicks the tires on Maisto’s Lamborghini HuracánPerformante. Our old friend Bill Bennett returns to the fold to examine the Team Clarence Dixon Cheetah, the first in a new series from Replicarz. And our resident Hot Wheels guru reports his tour inside Hot Wheels HQ to sit on a council evaluating the next big product launch—Hot Wheels id. Plus we take a look a three cool Pontiac muscle cars from Auto World and examine the list of exciting prizes coming in the Dream Sweeps from Maisto (see the official announcement on inside front cover.) As you can see, we have a lot going on this issue. One might say it’s replete with resplendent replicas—even a few that aren’t R models!
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