Style and Substance
Our giant feature this issue is all about style, and it’s easy to get lost in all the glorious eye candy from three of Detroit’s all-time greats, but to do so misses the underlying substance that Harley Earl, Virgil Exner, and Bill Mitchell brought to the art of automotive design. Their innovations were far from just skin-deep; they changed how the entire auto industry works in a fundamental way. Earl’s masterpiece the Buick Y-Job certainly invented the category we now think of as the concept car. Auto World makes an excellent 1:18 version, and we review it on page 36. From there, we look at a couple of designs from Virgil Exner. Minichamps’ replica of the lost concept car Chrysler Norseman is a great model with a fascinating backstory, and the Premium X Stutz Blackhawk proved that Exner’s keen sense of style and tradition stayed with him long after he retired from Chrysler.
We got our hands on a brilliant piece from a new player in the 1:18 segment: Almost Real. Its hyperdetailed model of the 2,000,000th Land Rover proves that the brand is aptly named, as this is the most meticulously crafted Rover replica we’ve seen yet. Muscle car fans will rejoice at the pair of first-year Yenko Super Camaros. Supercar Collectibles makes street and drag versions of the ’67 Camaro stuffed with the fire-breathing 427 and tons of detail. The Greyhound Bus Company is an American institution, and Iconic Replicas dishes up a beautiful 1:50 rendition of a vintage 1931 Mack BK parlor coach, one of the machines upon which the Greyhound reputation was built. Caterpillar is an institution in the world of industrial machinery, and Diecast Masters previews the next in its High Line series of Cat equipment: the 349F L XE Loader. AUTOart rounds out our review lineup with Lexus’ latest piece of automotive art: the sleek and sexy LC500 sport coupe.
With this issue, we also welcome a new contributor to Die Cast X. Xin Choo got his start writing and photographing models at the Live
and Let Diecast! blog and now writes his own diecast blog at kinja.com/ragnarulz. Starting with this issue, he’ll be sharing his insights on Asian market models—and much more—in Showroom. Our resident Hot Wheels authority Mike Zarnock attended the Hot Wheels Nationals in Dallas earlier this spring, and he reports on the highly prized event cars from the Texas event. We revisit our new Kit Car Garage section to give you the latest on DIY modeling, and we show you some museum-grade models of a trio of Vietnam-era Huey helicopters from Aiken’s Airplanes in Flightline.
All that and more can be found on the next 60-odd pages, but if you find yourself jonesing for more great content after you’ve pored over this issue, remember that we do an e-newsletter every month with even more of the stories, news, and reviews you love in each print issue. It’s free, so click on over to our website at DCXmag.com and sign up so that you don’t miss a word or a wheel! And check us out on Facebook/diecastxmagazine—you can give us feedback, ask us questions, share pics and videos, and more. Hope to see you there!