Oh yeah. With God as my witness, Matchbox cars totally kicked Hot Wheel butt. I realize, however, that I’m the only person still breathing who thinks that.
For one thing, Matchbox cars were the last British cars that worked. It wasn’t long after this video was made that British industry switched over full time to manufacturing nothing but Lucas Replacement Wiring Harness Smoke kits, P/N 530433.
When I was a little kid, I had Matchbox cars. They were really cool. They were exact replicas of real vehicles. I had hundreds of them. I’d pay ten bucks apiece for the Rolls Royce Silver Shadow or the pipe truck right now.
Then came Hot Wheels. I thought they were absurd. They were all strange and misshapen versions of cars, with weird stickers and flames all over them. I thought at the time that cars could never, ever be made to look that garish and infantile and tacky in real life. Apparently I was very, very wrong.