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 By:
Vic Prochazka
COLLECTOR AT
LARGE
The
Ferrari F355 Challenge from Mattel's Hot Wheels line has caused
quite a stir since its discovery about a week ago. Local collectors
didn't know what to make of it at first. Canadian and International
collectors are used to finding their cars without the aid of
the series name being printed on the card, as the Americans have.
But this one was different. What appeared at first glance to
be a Hot Wheels version of the Matchbox "Challenge Car"
line was quickly proven to be something a little less glamourous.
The base casting clearly shows "F355 CHALLENGE" to
be the actual name of the car. The red stripe, upon  closer examination, is actually made up of an
orange and red checkered flag pattern (see inset, right). This,
combined with the yellow lettering, would normally indicate a
series car. But the lack of the telltale "No.X of 4"
made that unlikely. A printing error was also ruled out, due
to the number of these cars found. After some quick research,
the picture is a little clearer now. A visit to the popular auction
website Up4Sale quickly turned
up a match. It is now evident that this car is #1115 of the American
"Collector Number" line of Hot Wheels (see U.S. inset,
below).  In fact,
several of the next few cars in the sequence are Ferraris, and
all bear the new red checkered stripe. The change from the black-to-blue
fade stripe took place somewhere between this car, and #1107,
the Chrysler Thunderbolt. So if you thought you had something
rare, think again. Of the few F355's that have received bids,
none have sold for over $2 U.S. 
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appears
in both sets. But this time around, more than just the paint
scheme is different. Alert variation enthusiasts will notice
that last year's Malaysia casting is slightly different than
this year's Thailand casting. Just for fun, let's make a little
contest out of it. I'll send a random 1999 Hot Wheels car to
the first person who can tell me what the difference is, not
including the wheels, paint, or tampos. Send me an email to the
address above with your guess. I'll post the winner right here,
so everyone can see what a sharp-eyed variation-detector you
are! 
a little hard
to explain, when compared to some of the nicer sets to come out
this year. While '50s Cruisers is a nice compilation of
classic cars with snazzy paint jobs, the Show Biz cars
are from no particular era. And while it's nice to see the '63
T-Bird make its first Gift Pack 
appearance, the Ferrari has already been
in one, and even in the same colour. But at least this time around,
3 of the 5 cars have both a metal body and chassis. 
