Rare Yatming Monaco Military Version

Being a big TV/movie car fan, there is no denying the popularity of the Dodge Monaco or Plymouth Fury. There are hardly any shows or movies from the mid 70's - 80's that don't feature a Monaco as a pursuit or baddie vehicle.

This 1977 Monaco is from die-cast manufacturer Yatming. I have quite a few of these in police, safety and stock versions but this is the first military version I have seen. My guess is that it came in a multi-car set, but who knows? If you have one of these or know how it came packed originally- let me know!

Back with Some New Finds

It has been a few weeks since I posted last, but I'm back!

Here are some new finds from local stores like Kroger, Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart.

Here's the first group:

These are mostly common cars but cool cars none the less. From left to right they are a Kroger only yellow ZL1 Camaro HW, three Z06 Corvette HW new models, a Matchbox classic Seagrave fire engine, 2 Matchbox Land Rover Discoverys, 2 Matchbox BMW R1200 RT-P Police Motorcycles, a 2011 HW BLVD. BRUISER and Buick Grand National with Redline wheels (which are both Wal-Mart exclusives but I found them at Kroger....), a HW A-team van, a team HW '70 Challenger and 70 Chevelle, a Matchbox 2006 Dune Buggy, a HW DC Universe Batmobile, a Matchbox Blizzard Buster, a HW Hot Ones 71 Mustang, a 1970 lime green Dodge Charger and a HW Galaxie 500.

This is a smaller batch but and also has some repeaters.The first one is a JL 1969 Lincoln Continental two door. It's all black and very gangster looking. Next is a 1981 Chevy Citation. This is a really odd-ball casting, I mean who goes to the store hunting for Citations? I bought it as a filler car for my various scale car towns. I bought the next car, a 1965 Impala SS as a filler car as well. The two green ones are more of the 77' Dodge Monaco.

There is also a 1977 Dodge Monaco Matchbox police cruiser, a newer BATMOBILE, another BWM police bike and an additional Seagrave fire truck.

Here are a few shots of the Matchbox and JL Monaco side by side for comparison. The Matchbox has a better front grill but the JL has a better rear bumper area. 

Hot Wheels Toy Show Finds 2

Okay, now back to the toy show finds! 

These three are from the 2003 Muscle Machines Japan GT series. They are pretty hard to find and are really detailed. From left to right: Daishin Advan Silvia S15, a Amemiya Matsumoto -Kiyoshi Aspara RX-7 (LA-NA2) and a Takata Dome NSX (LA-NA2).

The next 16 cars are technically all the same. They are Johnny Lightning Forever 64 series 1977 Dodge Monacos. I have dozens of these cars in all the variations made so far, including the newest yellow cab and plain green versions. The versions shown here are the black squad car with gumball light, yellow cab, CHP patrol car, light blue Dukes style patrol car (it even has the same light bar and gold sheriff tampos), Blue Bossard patrol car with double gumball lights and the plain-jane green one.

The next trio is straight from Hollywood. The A-team, Green Hornet and Starsky and Hutch are some of my favorite classic TV shows. These are all original run vehicles. The A-Team van is an Ertl brand version from 1983. I have quite a few of these but this one was really cheap so I had to pick it up. The Black Beauty is a Johnny Lightning chrome-green version with gold wheels. I have the standard all black Black Beauty MOC, but am glad I could add the chrome version to my collection. The third is a Corgi Jr. Starsky and Hutch Ford Gran Torino. It has some light scuffing but the stripe is in really nice shape. I also have several of these but the stripes always seem to either be dirty or in bad shape.

The next set of cars involve my favorite car ever made, the GENERAL LEE! I have collected dozens and dozens of the Ertl General Lees, mostly the original 1981 versions, but I also have many of the 1997-2005 re-releases. The ones showcased below are all original from 1981, except for the odd ball Yatming "Dixie Special" Dodge Aspen/Dart with opening doors as I am not sure what year it is from. The Cooter's pick-up is the fleetside version with a tow hook and decals still intact. There is also a step-side version but it is much more rare. The Daisy's Jeep is in close to mint condition and looks great. A lot of the Jeeps have bent window frames but this one is untouched. The Boss Hogg's Cadillac is the Hong Kong made version with the smoked windshield. It has some paint chips but isn't in terrible shape. The General Lee is the Singapore made version and is very rare because of the decals it has on it. The 1981 General Lees were made in four locations: Hong Kong, Tiawian, Singapore and the USA. Each countries Charger body mold was different and each country had different style stickers. This Singapore version is rare because it has the USA version stickers on it with an orange background. Every Singapore version I have seen or own, including my very first General Lee, has clear background stickers on them. It's always cool to find a rare decal variation!

The next find  is a 1981 Ertl Dukes of Hazzard car carrying case. It is in remarkably nice shape with very little splitting on the case. The trays were still there and are the correct heavy blue ones. This makes my 9th Dukes case! Going for that even dozen!

The final set of cars from this past weekend is a lot of Ertl and Johnny Lightning Dukes of Hazzard cars. The first few is a Ertl three car "Pursuit set" from the 2005 movie release with an odd package. This package of cars is interesting because it says "Rosco's Patrol Vehicle" but includes a Boss Hogg Caddy instead. The red and white Chevy Malibu from JL is an "undercover" tv car. It was used as the Hogg's Hellcat racer in the episode "Happy Birthday General Lee" . Johnny Lightning has been making movie and TV cars and including them as just "normal" line cars.  

The other 8 cars are Johnny Lightning Dukes series cars. They are the Molly's Plymouth Racer, two Carnival of Thrills Vegas, Cooter's Plymouth Roadrunner, the General Lee from DOH the Beginning, Lucifer Mustang, Enos' race Monaco and a Springville County patrol car. I sold a lot of these JL Dukes cars to my buddy Larry over at the Dukes Collectors site, but as my motto goes, "you can never have too many" haha!